Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

"The seven dispositions with relation to our Lord in which you should exercise yourself are as follows:                              Love Him with most ardent love;                              Fear Him above all things;                            Render Him the honor and respect which are His due;                            Have a most constant zeal in His service;                              T hank and praise Him;                              Obey promptly and perfectly all His commands;...

 

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 . David  Torkington "Christian prayer is above all about love, and therefore first and foremost it is about learning to love a person. Just as in human love, the more you love and are loved by another, then the more you forget yourself. The joy that you experience is the result or the by-product of loving and being loved. If you seek it for itself, you will lose it, if you find it in the first place. The moment that love is turned into its counterfeit is the moment when selfishness desecrates the only thing that makes life worth living. Christian prayer begins by getting to know Jesus Christ, as the first disciples came to know him, and love him, and then through his love, entered into him. " (From Wisdom of Christian Mystics - How To Pray The Christian Way)   Blaise Pascal "There are only two ki...

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 . Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O. A preacher endowed with learning but of only mediocre piety may be able to paint a picture of Christian Truth that will stir souls, bring them a little closer to God, even increase their faith. But if one is to fill souls with the life-giving savor of virtue, he must first have tasted the true spirit of the Gospel and made it enter into the substance of his own life by means of mental prayer.  (From The Soul of the Apostolate)  

In order to avoid spiritual complacency, we need periodic reminders from the spiritual masters of years gone by to keep us on the right track:

((Source: Wikimedia Commons ) 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. St. Bernard "If we shall have to account for idle words, consider how rigorously we shall be judged for lying, sharp and stinging, insulting and derisive, presumptuous, unbecoming, flattering, complaining or slanderous words! How true is the statement that in much speaking sin is unavoidable!" (As quoted by Mother Julienne Morrell, O.P. in A Treatise on the Spiritual Life )

(Photo©Michael Seagriff) 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.   St. Francis de Sales "However small the sins that you may confess may be, always have sincere sorrow for them, together with a firm resolution to correct them in the future. Many who confess their venial sins out of custom and concern for order, but without thought of amendment, remain burdened with them for their whole lives and thus lose many spiritual benefits and advantages." (From Introduction to the Devout Life )

((Source: Wikimedia Commons ) 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. Blessed John Paul II "...the numbing of conscience, their indifference to good and evil, their deviations, are a great threat for man. Indirectly, they are also a great threat for society, because in the the last analysis the level of morality of society depends on the human conscience." ( Angelus , March 15, 1981)

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. St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P. "Just as it is better to illuminate than merely to shine, so to pass on what one has contemplated is better than to merely contemplate." (From Summa Theologica , II— II, 188) Mother Julienne Morrell, O.P. "He is not poor who never lacks anything but possesses an ample supply of everything. If we wish to be truly poor in spirit, we must be poor in fact, contenting ourselves, as do the poor, with having what is strictly necessary in regard to food, drink, clothes and bedding, neither seeking nor desiring anything superfluous but rather rejoicing when we lack for anything and are thereby enabled to practice this very precious virtue of poverty of spirit. " (From Commentary, Chapter 1, A Treatise on The Spiritual Life by St. Vincent Ferrer) Johann Tauler, O.P. ...

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. St. Vincent Ferrer   "...for when the soul is completely occupied by charity there is no longer any room in her for vanity. All that she thinks, says and does is inspired by charity...vanity finds no place in a heart filled with charity. What concern can he still have for temporal advantages, since he looks upon them as refuse? How can the desire for praise enter his heart, when he see himself before God as a vile dunghill, as a miserable sinner inclined toward every kind of sin and who would commit them all, did not the hand of the Creator constantly support him? How can he take pride in any good work when he sees clearer than daylight that he could do no  good if divine power did not impel him and constrain him, so to speak, at every moment?. How can he attribute anything whatever to himself when he has experienced not a hundred ...