Eucharistic Reflection - Different From Every Other Place In The World

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

"The Blessed Sacrament is that Presence which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be, holy."

Blessed (soon to be Saint) John Henry Newman

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - June 21, 2018

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 Henry Newman

"Never had a soul true happiness but in conformity to God, in obedience to His will. We must become what we are not; we must learn to love what we do not love, and practice ourselves in what is difficult. We must have the law of the Spirit of life written and set up in our hearts, that the righteousnesss of the law may be fulfilled in us, and that we may learn to please and to love God."

(From Parochial and Plain Sermons)

Worth Revisiting - Come Join the Saints and Angels

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan (Theology Is A Verb) for another opportunity to re-publish our favorite posts on Worth Revisiting.

Stop for a visit now (and every Wednesday). The gifted hostesses and other writers who post each week will no doubt have much of value to offer you..

May you find the following post worth pondering...

 

Monday Musings - Come Join the Saints and Angels

(Originally published 12/5/16)

[We MUST listen to Blessed John Henry Newman. 

We MUST conduct ourselves with the utmost reverence every time we enter a Catholic Church since our loving Lord is really and substantially present there. It is His House!  

We MUST understand why we come to, who is really present at, and what is actually happening during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Our continued failure to address these issues  jeopardizes the salvation of lost and confused souls.]

 

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

“…all we do in Church is done on a principle of reverence; it is done with the thought that we are in God's presence. But irreverent persons, not understanding this, when they come into Church, and find nothing there of a striking kind, when they find everything is read from a book, and in a calm, quiet way, and still more, when they come a second and a third time, and find everything just the same, over and over again, they are offended and tired. "There is nothing," they say, "to rouse or interest them." They think God's service dull and tiresome, if I may use such words; for they do not come to Church to honor God, but to please themselves. They want something new. They think the prayers are long, and wish that there was more preaching, and that in a striking oratorical way, with loud voice and florid style.

Worth Revisiting - You Are Not At Home - You Are in God's House!

Another Wednesday and another opportunity to thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for their weekly invitation to re-post our favorite posts on Worth Revisiting.

Go there now (and every Wednesday) and let an interesting group of Catholic bloggers nourish you in your Faith journey.

I wanted to share this post:

Monday Musings - You Are Not At Home - You Are In God's House!

(Originally published November 28, 2017)

When we enter any Catholic Church, we are entitled to a sacred, silent space. Our loving Lord who resides there deserves nothing less than our adoration and worship. We should, as Blessed John Henry Newman, comport ourselves as the angels do in heaven:

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

“When, then, a man enters Church, as many do, carelessly and familiarly, thinking of himself, not of God, sits down coldly and at his ease, either does not say a prayer at all, or merely hides his face for form's sake, sitting all the while, not standing or kneeling; then looks about to see who is in the Church, and who is not, and makes himself easy and comfortable in his seat, and uses the kneeler for no other purpose than to put his feet upon; in short, comes to Church as a place, not of meeting God and His holy Angels, but of seeing what is to be seen with the bodily eyes, and hearing what is to be heard with the bodily ears, and then goes and gives his judgment about the sermon freely, and says, ‘I do not like this or that,’ or ‘This is a good argument, but that is a bad one,’ or ‘I do not like this person so much as that’, and so on; I mean when a man acts in all respects as if he was at home, and not in God's House, - all I can say is, that he ventures to do in God's presence what neither Cherubim nor Seraphim venture to do, for they veil their faces, and, as if not daring to address God, praise Him to each other, in few words, and those continually repeated, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.”

From Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII by Blessed John Henry Newman)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - January 26, 2017

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. Alphonsus Liguori 

"There will be those who say: 'that is exactly why I don't go to Communion more often, because I realize my love is cold...' If you are cold, do you think it sensible to move away from the fire? Precisely because you feel your heart frozen you should go 'more frequently' to Holy Communion, provided you feel a sincere desire to love Jesus Christ. 'Go to Holy Communion', says St. Bonaventure, 'even when you feel lukewarm, leaving everything in God's hands. The more my sickness debilitates me, the more urgently do I need a doctor."

(From The Practice of Love for Jesus)

Eucharistic Reflection - May My Heart Beat With Yours

O most Sacred, most loving Heart of Jesus, You are concealed in the Holy Eucharist, and You beat for us still... I worship You with all my best love and awe, with my fervent affection, with my most subdued, most resolved will.

O my God, when You condescend to suffer me to receive You, to eat and drink You, and You for a while take up Your abode within me, 0 make my heart beat with Your Heart.

Purify it of all that is earthly, all that is proud and sensual, all that is hard and cruel, of all perversity, of all disorder, of all deadness.

So fill it with You, that neither the events of the day nor the circumstances of the time may have power to ruffle it, but that in Your love and Your fear it may have peace. Amen.

(From The Sacred Heart -Meditations and Devotions,  Part III [XVI} para. 3 by John Henry Newman)

Monday Musings - Come Join the Saints and Angels

[We MUST listen to Blessed John Henry Newman. 

We MUST conduct ourselves with the utmost reverence every time we enter a Catholic Church since our loving Lord is really and substantially present there. It is His House!  

We MUST understand why we come to, who is really present at, and what is actually happening during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Our continued failure to address these issues  jeopardizes the salvation of lost and confused souls.]

 

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

“…all we do in Church is done on a principle of reverence; it is done with the thought that we are in God's presence. But irreverent persons, not understanding this, when they come into Church, and find nothing there of a striking kind, when they find everything is read from a book, and in a calm, quiet way, and still more, when they come a second and a third time, and find everything just the same, over and over again, they are offended and tired. "There is nothing," they say, "to rouse or interest them." They think God's service dull and tiresome, if I may use such words; for they do not come to Church to honor God, but to please themselves. They want something new. They think the prayers are long, and wish that there was more preaching, and that in a striking oratorical way, with loud voice and florid style.

Monday Musings - You Are Not At Home - You Are in God's House!

When we enter any Catholic Church, we are entitled to a sacred, silent space. Our loving Lord who resides there deserves nothing less than our adoration and worship. We should, as Blessed John Henry Newman, comport ourselves as the angels do in heaven:

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

“When, then, a man enters Church, as many do, carelessly and familiarly, thinking of himself, not of God, sits down coldly and at his ease, either does not say a prayer at all, or merely hides his face for form's sake, sitting all the while, not standing or kneeling; then looks about to see who is in the Church, and who is not, and makes himself easy and comfortable in his seat, and uses the kneeler for no other purpose than to put his feet upon; in short, comes to Church as a place, not of meeting God and His holy Angels, but of seeing what is to be seen with the bodily eyes, and hearing what is to be heard with the bodily ears, and then goes and gives his judgment about the sermon freely, and says, ‘I do not like this or that,’ or ‘This is a good argument, but that is a bad one,’ or ‘I do not like this person so much as that’, and so on; I mean when a man acts in all respects as if he was at home, and not in God's House, - all I can say is, that he ventures to do in God's presence what neither Cherubim nor Seraphim venture to do, for they veil their faces, and, as if not daring to address God, praise Him to each other, in few words, and those continually repeated, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.”

From Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII by Blessed John Henry Newman)