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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.
Peter Kreeft, Ph.D.
"The object of
faith is not feelings but truth, and the subject and agent of faith is
will, not feelings. The will is like the ocean, and the feelings are like
the waves. The ocean is always reliably there even though the waves are
high one day and low the next."
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(From his book
Calvinist to Catholic)
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St. Catherine of Siena
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"I've
appointed the Devil to tempt and to trouble My creatures in this life [St.
Catherine of Siena reports that Our Lord said to her]. I've done this, not
so that My creatures will be overcome, but so that they may overcome,
proving their virtue and receiving from Me the glory of victory. And no one
should fear any battle or temptation of the Devil that may come to him,
because I've made My creatures strong, and I've given them strength of
will, fortified in the Blood of My Son.
Neither
the Devil nor any other creature can control this free will, because it's
yours, given to you by Me. By your own choice, then, you hold it or let it
go if you please. It's a weapon, and if you place it in the hands of the
Devil, it right away becomes a knife that he'll use to stab and kill you.
On the other hand, if you don't place this knife that is your will into the
hands of the Devil—that is, if you don't consent to his temptations and
harassments—you will never be injured by the guilt of sin in any
temptation. Instead, you'll actually be strengthened by the temptation, as
long as you open the eyes of your mind to see My love, and to understand
why I allowed you to be tempted: so you could develop virtue by having it
proved. My love permits these temptations, for the Devil is weak. He can do
nothing by himself unless I allow him. So I let him tempt you because I
love you, not because I hate you. I want you to conquer, not to be
conquered, and to come to a perfect knowledge of yourself and of Me."
(An excerpt from Manual
for Spiritual Warfare)
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Patrick
Madrid
"Like an hourglass with a certain number of
grains of sand within it, God has appointed your life to last only a
certain number of days, and you have absolutely no idea how many there are.
... In God’s presence, consider: I have no idea when my life will end. All
I know is that death will come for me eventually. Am I doing anything to
prepare for the real possibility that God may call me, sooner rather than
later? If he called me into eternity today, would I be ready?"
(An excerpt
from A Year with the Bible)
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