Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

"Home... That’s the word that the Lord lays on my heart when I walk into the Adoration Chapel. But it wasn’t always that way. For a couple of years, I went to Adoration, to beg, borrow, plead, and to try and 'make a deal' with God; what I’d do for Him, if He’d only do what I wanted for me. But that isn’t how God works. He loves us too much to give us what we 'want,' instead, in His Love for us, He gives us what we 'need.' And often times in my life, well, in my 'old' life, those two things were rarely the same. And so, I literally spent hundreds of hours in Adoration, trying to 'convince' God that I knew better. But today, I thank God without ceasing for loving me too much to give me what I 'thought' was best, instead; because of His love for me, He chose to give me more than I ever could have imagined or even conceived of asking Him for. And since He’s given these things to me, has my life smoothed out and gotten happy, or fun, or e...

“The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin … If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors .” (Pope Pius XI –   Encyclical - Gravescentibus malis )

(Image Source: Marge Hendry Photo©Michael Seagriff) [Another prophetic but ignored excerpt and plea from the Apostolic Letter On The    Rosary of The Virgin Mary ] "The Rosary of the Virgin Mary, which gradually took form in the second millennium under the guidance of the Spirit of God, is a prayer loved by countless Saints and encouraged by the Magisterium. Simple yet profound, it still remains, at the dawn of this third millennium, a prayer of great significance, destined to bring forth a harvest of holiness. It blends easily into the spiritual journey of the Christian life, which, after two thousand years, has lost none of the freshness of its beginnings and feels drawn by the Spirit of God to “set out into the deep” ( duc in altum! ) in order once more to proclaim, and even cry out, before the world that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour, “the way, and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6), 'the goal of human history and the point on which the desires of history and civilizatio...

    Oh, my dear silent One. Let me hear Your voice again. Let me rest my head so close on Your heart that I may HEAR the sound of Your heartbeat. Let it lull me to sleep, the sleep of the saints who rest in the peace that transcends understanding.   Let the sound of Your heart then move me to humility, obedience, charity. You sought the Lowest place. Here I am, may you once again reach down to me in mercy.   Move my heart from fear to trust, to transformation, to the union You desire with me.   Let me meet Your gaze with mine that I may SEE Your tender wounded heart and it’ transforming love for me. In my weakness Let me Adore this Sacred Heart in union with Mary and the Saints.   Let the sight of the thorns that surround Your heart, lead me to take but one and replace it with a Rose of Sacrifice.   With a Rose of Sacrifice, a sacrifice of a heart content with the prayer and trials You want to give me;...

 

  (Photo©Michael Seagriff) “The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.” (Venerable Sister Lucia dos Santos)

There is confusion among some Catholics these days – no doubt planted by the Evil One, who fears the Blessed Mother and the power of her Rosary. Some would have us believe that recitation of the Rosary is an antiquated devotion no longer relevant or needed in current times. Nothing could be further from the truth as can be seen by the Blessed Mother’s promise to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de Roche and as she herself re-emphasized to the children at Fatima: - Whoever shall faithfully serve me  by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive powerful graces.  - I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. - The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies - It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desir...

  "The faults of children are not always imputed to the parents, especially when they have instructed them and given good example. Our Lord, in His wondrous Providence, allows children to break the hearts of devout fathers and mothers. Thus the decisions your children have made don't make you a failure as a parent in God's eyes. You are entitled to feel sorrow, but not necessarily guilt. Do not cease praying for your children; God's grace can touch a hardened heart. Commend your children to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. When parents pray the Rosary, at the end of each decade they should hold the Rosary aloft and say to her, 'With these beads bind my children to your Immaculate Heart"'. She will attend to their souls." (St. Louise de Marillac)

 

Finally, after far too long of a delay, Archbishop Fulton J Sheen has been beatified. Pray God that his canonization will follow in short order! There can be no better example for our priests and those men discerning a priestly vocation to follow than Blessed Fulton Sheen's practice of making a Holy Hour in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament every day!   How many of our bishops, priests and seminarians have followed Sheen's advice?  If Blessed Fulton Sheen preached the homily at his own beatification Mass, what might he have had to say about this issue? This is exactly what Kevin Wells asked himself.  Please! You must read his post, Fulton Sheen's Last Word,   published by Crisis Magazine on September 30, 2026. You will find it in its entirety here. We need fearless and faithful shepherds unafraid to speak and teach the Truth and to challenge their brethren when they fail to do so.  Thank you Mr. Wells for giving us a taste of what the good Archbish...

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 Richard D. Breton "The Eucharist...challenges us to ask how we are giving ourselves to others. A Catholic cannot receive the Body of Christ and then refuse to become a gift to his family, his parish, his neighbor or the person who needs mercy. The Eucharist sends us forth. We come to the altar empty. We receive Christ. And we are sent back into the world to bring Christ with us. This is why Eucharistic devotion cannot end when Mass ends. The Church gives us the beautiful gift of Eucharistic adoration because the Eucharistic Lord remains with us. The tabernacle is not a decorative piece of furniture. It is a place of encounter. Jesus is there, waiting quietly and patiently for us." (From The Eucharist: When Heaven Comes Down to Earth , published in the September 17, 2026 issue of The Wanderer ) Dorothy Day, Servant of God "When ...