Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

"But I hear You complain, O my Sacramental Jesus:  I was a stranger, and you took Me not in (Matt. xxv. 43); that You came on earth to be our guest for our good, and that we have not welcomed You. You are right, Lord, You are right; and I am one of these ungrateful creatures who have left You alone, without even visiting You. Chastise me as You please; but not by depriving me of Your presence, which is the chastisement I deserve. No, I will repair my fault, and the indignities which I have heaped upon You. From this day forward I will not only visit You often, but will remain with You for as long a time as I can."   (St. Alphonsus Liguori from Visits  to the Most Blessed Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin Mary)

  (Image Source: Wikipedia Commons ) Father, you did it again! You are so gifted in so many ways. Your sermon was right on. The poem you shared was a shock to the heart and soul. But when you refused to hold up our Blessed Lord’s Body and Blood while the bells were rung three times; When you so irritatingly directed the Extraordinary minister of the Cup as to where she was to stand; When you interrupted the distribution of Holy Communion to encourage communicants to stop and pick up a copy of   the poem you read at Mass and which you had placed on the altar rail; When you just threw our Lord into my wife’s hands. This is all too much. There was nothing reverent and Sacred about the manner in which you distributed Holy Communion today. No one's belief in our Lord's Real Presence would have been enhanced. It was offensive... Father…please pause…take a close look at what others see…and adjust what you do.

  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 ...

Stirring Slumbering Souls predated our Bishops' plea to rediscover belief in the Real Presence. This book received a Seal of Approval from the Catholic Writer's Guild. It provides fuel to set your heart ablaze and reignite your love for our ever-present Eucharistic Lord. Look at what others have had to say about this remarkable and timely book - Stirring Slumbering Souls - 250 Eucharistic Reflections  This book accomplished what author Michael Seagriff hoped: that is to ignite my heart and stir my soul to love Jesus more and more. The words contained in this volume speak Truth and breathe Life and offer the reader a broad sampling of some of the finest thoughts and reflections on the Eucharist--our source and summit and surest Love. I can't wait to get to Adoration!...“Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful gem with me. I feel like every single Catholic should read it and have a copy and then share it with someone who isn’t and then we would be all set in...

More than a century and half ago, St. Peter Eymard made the following observations: “Alas, it is but too true: Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is not loved! He is not loved by millions of pagans, by millions of infidels, by the millions of schismatics and heretics who either do not know anything of the Eucharist or have no notions about it. Among so many thousands of creatures in whom God has placed a heart capable of loving, how many would love the Blessed Sacrament if only they knew it as I do! Must I not at least try to love it for them in their stead? Even among Catholics, few, very few love Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. How many think of Him frequently, speak of Him, come to adore Him? What is the reason for this forgetfulness and coldness? People have never experienced the Eucharist, its sweetness, the delights of His Love. They have never known the goodness of Jesus! They have no idea of the extent of His love in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Some of them have faith in J...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) I will continue to share this post so long as the issues it discusses continue to be ignored. There can be no authentic Eucharistic Revival until we reestablish the sense of the Sacred in our Churches. Few people warm up to lepers or prophets. That is most unfortunate. In Jesus’ time, lepers were shunned. Rarely would they show themselves in public and when they did so they kept their distance from the rest of the community – warning those nearby of their diseased presence by their voices and/or by ringing bells. What great courage and faith it took for them to seek Jesus out. They knew He was the source of mercy, forgiveness, healing and eternal life. They begged Him to have mercy on them and cleanse them physically. Jesus, defying the norms of His day, not only approached them, He touched and healed them. Unfortunately, true to human nature, not all of those cured expressed their thanksgiving and gratitude for the opport...

(Image Source: Hands at Mass) "Dear Eucharistic soul: In that hour [of the Last Supper] Jesus thought of you. Have no doubt about it. He thought of you in particular, and had you before His eyes. He understood that, without that small, white, consecrated wafer, which you adore and which you receive every morning, you would feel lonely, very lonely, in your exile here below. He knew that your heart would hunger and thirst for love and be the prey of unmitigated nostalgia for heaven. He knew that on the road through life you would find many a cause for grief and, behind a smiling appearance, would have to conceal many a galling sorrow.  And for your sake, dear soul, lest you be orphaned and without a loyal friend in whose understanding heart you might pour out the overflowing bitterness of your heart, Jesus overlooked all those sacrileges, profanations and ingratitudes and, in that night, instituted the Eucharist for you—understand this well!—just for you. And for your sake He has r...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) "The most significant crisis in the Catholic Church [and our world] today, from which all the other problems we are experiencing flow, is the fact that an overwhelming majority of those identifying themselves as Catholic, no longer believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is really, truly and substantially present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament!... The late Apostle of the Eucharist, Father John Hardon, S.J., realized 'that everything, everything , quote EVERTHING of our faith (indeed the virtue of faith itself) depends on our faith in God being really present with us today in both His human and Divine nature, united in His Divine Person in the Holy Eucharist'. Each of us must come to that same realization if we and those around us are to be the holy people God has called us to be... Stop a minute and ponder these Truths. Our God does not need any of us, not even for a millisecond. Yet, as Jesus hung from the...

[I have shared this post before. Its content is forever relevant and worthy of our consideration.] The gifts of the Magi - gold, frankincense, and myrrh - were expensive and very significant physical gifts. But they pale in comparison to the spiritual gifts we can give our Infant, Crucified, and Risen Lord – if we would but choose to do so. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) The gifts I am about to describe, when given to our Lord in love and gratitude, weekly (daily if possible), will not only please Him, but will result in our being united more intimately with the Prince of Peace. What follows are some concrete suggestions as to what each of us can and should do every time we attend Mass, if we are serious about loving God as He deserves and as we ought. We don’t need any one’s permission to do any of these things.  We will just do these things out of love and reverence and let God do the rest:        Read and ponder the Mass reading...

Am I understanding this correctly? Catholics have been poorly catechized for more than five decades. They do not know their Faith and very few  practice it. Their spiritual shepherds (for the most part) have not taught them the Faith.  Polls indicate that the majority of those claiming to be "Catholic" actually reject many of the Church’s teachings on such fundamental issues as the Real Presence of our Lord in the Sacred Eucharist, attendance at Sunday Mass, abortion, artificial insemination, contraception, euthanasia, the family, active homosexual lifestyle, same sex marriage and transgenderism. Yet these same shepherds who have failed to teach, fraternally correct or defend the fundamental Truths of our Catholic Faith are now going to listen to, and to seek the opinion of, “Catholics” who don’t know their faith, don’t live or practice their Faith, and even publicly oppose the teachings of the Catholic Church. They will also "listen" to the viewpoints of non-Ca...