Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Today we Dominicans joyfully remember our beloved sister, St. Catherine of Siena.    [I am re-publishing this post since the words of this fearless servant of God are as relevant today as they were when she wrote them more than 800 years ago.] (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) What a treasure St. Catherine of Siena is! One does not become a Doctor of the Church by being fearful to express, teach and live God's Truth in its entirety.  How ill-advised we are to discount, ignore or try to nuance the wisdom God has shared over the centuries through such faithful servants as she.  Less likely would we be to commit this error if our primary concern was the salvation of souls. No wonder those who wish to only tickle our ears and destroy our consciences ignore these great spiritual writers, abandoning God's Truth for a less demanding and counterfeit one. The following words  Jesus shared with St. Catherine in the 14th century are clear and unambiguous directio

What follows is just one of 175 Eucharistic Reflections intended to draw you closer to our Eucharistic Lord.  Have you gotten your copy yet? Here You are, quietly waiting…waiting for me to come and spend some time with You. I could have chosen not to come…You give me the freedom to say no. A thousand and one excuses could have kept me away. Even so, You would have waited patiently for me. Why do You wait? You wait only for me to give back to You a few minutes of the precious time that You have given me as a gift…time I often fill with mindless activity or useless worry. Of what value is my time to You? You created the universe and hold everything in existence. You created me. You know me through and through—better even than I know myself. You know my every thought. And still, You wait for me in silence. I come. Do I realize the privilege of being alone with You in this quiet place? Or am I distracted, thinking of the many other things I could be doing? Again, you wait, while I

 

Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time. Father Jacques Philippe   “The fact that we can’t save ourselves is something we acknowledge in words, but in fact we find it very hard to accept. We’d all like to be saved by our own efforts…to shine in other people’s eyes, even on the spiritual level. Worldly people want to be highly regarded because they have luxurious cars, expensive watches, designer clothes, professional prestige, and go around with beautiful people. As good Christians, we may want to stand out for our virtues, charisms, experience, and sound judgement. Then we consider that we are on the right path. But in fact we’re in danger of ending up with exactly the same mindset as the worldly people described above. Very often, without realizing it, we have a worldly outlook on the spiritual life: self-fulfillment, self-affirmation, expansion of the ego, etc. And spiritual pride, w

“I adore you, O Christ, and I praise you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”   I come before you, Lord, in adoration, kneeling before Your Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. I bow before Your Body and Blood broken and poured out on the cross. The image of the Annunciation embossed on the golden door of the tabernacle fills my mind with wonder and gratitude for the gift of Your incarnation. You are here. I am here. You are God. I am not. You are the creator. I am your creature. You are life. I am alive. You are the Redeemer. I am redeemed. You are the Savior. I am saved. You are mercy. I am forgiven. You are love. I am loved. You are Lord. I am Your unworthy servant. You are the way. I am a pilgrim. You are the truth. I believe. You are the life. I live in You. You are the master. I am your disciple. You are the Bread come down from heaven. I receive You. You are God made man. I share in Your divine life. In humbling Yourself to b

The previous quotation is from Fire & Light - Learning to Receive the Gift of God .  The following questions follow Father Philippe's quotation and are excerpted from Pondering Tidbits of Truth, Volume 6 : PAUSE AND PONDER :  How welcoming and inviting am I to those I encounter daily? Do people feel comfortable around me? Am I able to treat everyone as God would?

"At this time in history, with news crashing on upon us from every side - mostly bad news, and some of it frankly scandalous in the extreme, as it reveals the callous complicity with, approbation of, and dedication to evil on the part of many in the hierarchy of the Church, who were supposed to be our guides to holiness and our models of it - nothing could be better than for us to go regularly before the Lord in Adoration.  Fair weather or foul, super-busy or at loose ends, it doesn't matter; this is what we should be doing for our Church, for our clergy, for ourselves. This is what Our Lord is waiting for: a sign from us, an unmistakable sign, that we love Him for His own sake, and above all things on earth. When enough of us are taking real steps to love Him in exactly this way - with our whole mind, our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole strength - we may then count on a new flood of graces inundating the Church." ( Dr. Peter Kwasniewski f rom The Holy Bread

  It should come as no surprise that the efforts of the Lay Dominicans of St. Joseph Province to help  promote Eucharistic Adoration are bearing fruit. Here is one Adoration Chapel where two copies of  their book, Godhead Here in Hiding Whom I Do Adore - Lay Dominicans Reflect on Eucharistic Adoration ,  have found a home. The reflections in this book are stirring souls and touching hearts. Have you gotten your copy yet? Is there one in your Adoration Chapel?  Why not? May Father' Bruno's observations  encourage you to do so: “Hidden within these pages, the reader discovers the God who has chosen to dwell within the Tabernacle of the human heart. Each reflection is its own monstrance, bearing the shape of its unique human author, while manifesting our heavenly Father's Spirit of Truth. Here you will find thoughts and events that are ordinary and surprising, instructive and lyrical, worthy of both cross and crown. The common life of the early Dominicans was called ‘the holy

Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time. Ven. Fulton J. Sheen “So long as mercy is available for all who despair of their own confusion and conflicts and inner incompleteness, it follows that sin is never the worst thing that can happen to man. The worst thing is the refusal to recognize his sins. For if we are sinners, there is a Savior. If there is a Savior, there is a Cross. If there is a Cross, there is a way of appropriating it to our own lives and our lives to it. When that is done, despair is driven out and we will have the 'peace which the world cannot give’.” (From the Fulton Sheen Institute - March 17,   2024)   St. M. Faustina Kowalska “[Let] the greatest sinners place their trust in My mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My mercy...Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me! To such souls, I grant even more graces than they ask.

[The tabernacle should be a Bethany for us] a quiet and pleasant place where Christ resides. A place where we can tell Him about our worries, our sufferings, our desires, our joys, with the same sort of simplicity and naturalness as Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.    (St. Josemaria Escriva from  Christ is Passing By)   PAUSE AND PONDER : Do I make a daily visit to the Blessed Sacrament a priority in my life? Do I look froward to spending time in His Presence? How comfortable am I in pouring my heart out to Him? [This is just one of the 150 challenging quotations you will find  in  Pondering Tidbits of Truth, Volume 6    to fuel your contemplation.] 

"To a crowd surrounding Segatashya [purported visionary to whom our Lady of Kibeho spoke] asking for a miracle from Jesus, Segatashya replies, 'our Lord says to stop asking for miracles… because your lives are miracles. A true miracle is a child in the womb; a mother’s love is a miracle; a forgiving heart is a miracle. Your lives are filled with miracles, but you’re too distracted by material things to see them. Jesus tells you to open your ears to hear his messages and open your hearts to receive his love. Too many people have lost their way and walk the easy road that leads away from God. Jesus says to pray to his mother, and the Blessed Virgin Mary will lead you to God Almighty. The Lord has come to you with messages of love and the promise of eternal happiness, yet you ask for miracles instead. Stop looking to the sky for miracles. Open your heart to God; true miracles occur in the heart'.” (Excerpted from the February 26, 2024 gospel reflection on Missio Dei , entit