Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

“If a man is ever to enjoy communion with Christ, so as to have the blood of God running in his veins and the spirit of God's throbbing in his soul, he must die to the lower life of the flesh. He must be born again… And hence the lore of Calvary is the lore of every Christian: unless there is the cross there will never be the resurrection, unless there is the defeat of the Calvary there will never be the victory of Easter, unless there are the nails there will never be the glorious wounds, unless there is the garment of scorn there will never be the robes blazing like the sun,   unless there is the crown of thorns there will never be the halo of light...for the law laid down at the beginning of time which shall be effective until time shall be no more, is that no one shall be crowned unless he has struggled and overcome." (Ven. Fulton J. Sheen from The Moral Universe )

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "By a beautiful paradox of Divine love, God makes His Cross the very means of our salvation and our life. We have slain Him; we have nailed Him there and crucified Him; but the Love in His eternal heart could not be extinguished. He willed to give us the very life we slew; to give us the very Food we destroyed; to nourish us with the very Bread we buried, and the very Blood we poured forth. He made our very crime into a happy fault; He turned a Crucifixion into a Redemption; a Consecration into a Communion; a death into Life Everlasting." Venerable Fulton Sheen

We thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with them and their followers .   Monday Musings – I Kissed His Fee t (Originally posted January 2, 2017) (Photo©Michael Seagriff) God calls all of us to walk the Via Dolorosa with Him, to spend time at the foot of His cross, to be there as He is nailed to it, to be there throughout the entire three hours of His agonizing death, to be there as He is taken down from the cross, to be there as He is placed in His mother’s arms and to be there at the tomb.  I have tried from time to time to obey Him. But I have found it hard to do. Painful would be more accurate. I don’t want to be reminded of the price He paid for my sins. I don’t want to acknowledge how ungrateful I have been for such an undeserved sacrificial gift. I am afraid of wh...

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 Anthony J. Paone, S.J. Man’s earthly life is full of miseries and crosses. Wherever you turn, you will find a cross. If you carry it willingly, you will find greater strength in the cross, and it will lead you towards Heaven. If you bear it unwillingly, you only make it a greater burden than it already is; and you still have to bear it. One who runs away from the cross is only running toward another cross, perhaps a heavier one. There is no other road to Heaven except the way of the cross. No man can escape his cross.” (From My Daily Bread )

"By a beautiful paradox of Divine love, God makes His Cross the very means of our salvation and our life. We have slain Him; we have nailed Him there and crucified Him; but the Love in His eternal heart could not be extinguished. He willed to give us the very life we slew; to give us the very Food we destroyed; to nourish us with the very Bread we buried, and the very Blood we poured forth. He made our very crime into a happy fault; He turned a Crucifixion into a Redemption; a Consecration into a Communion; a death into Life Everlasting."                 (Venerable Fulton J. Sheen from Calvary and the Mass: A Missal Companion )

T hank you, Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You   and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting . It is a privilege for us to share our work with you and your readers each week.  Stop by for a visit now . Here is my contribution:   Eucharistic Reflection - Do You Have Any Marks of the Cross?    (Originally posted February 6, 2018) “I can remember when, after four months in the hospital, I began to recover: I was reading Mass on an altar constructed over the bed before a few priests and friends. I spontaneously gave a sermon, which I remember so well. I said that I was glad that I had open-heart surgery, because when the Lord comes to take us all, He will look to see if we have any marks of the Cross upon ourselves. He will look at our hands to see if they are crucified from sacrificial giving; He will look at our feet to see if they have been thorn-brui...

(Photo©Michael Seagriff) If we want to stop finding fault with others, let us come to the foot of the Cross and gaze into the eyes of our suffering, dying, loving God. Start your journey here .

“I can remember when, after four months in the hospital, I began to recover: I was reading Mass on an altar constructed over the bed before a few priests and friends. I spontaneously gave a sermon, which I remember so well. I said that I was glad that I had open-heart surgery, because when the Lord comes to take us all, He will look to see if we have any marks of the Cross upon ourselves. He will look at our hands to see if they are crucified from sacrificial giving; He will look at our feet to see if they have been thorn-bruised and nail-pierced searching for lost sheep; He will look at our heart to see if that has been opened to receive His Divine Heart. Oh what joy is mine just to have endured the minuscule imitation of His suffering on the Cross by having a wounded side. Maybe He will recognize me from that scar and receive me into His Kingdom." (Venerable Fulton J Sheen – Treasure in Clay )

We thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You   and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for  hosting Catholic bloggers at Worth   Revisiting .  It is a privilege for us to share our work with them and their followers . Stop by for a visit now .  Here is my contribution this week: Monday Musings - How Few There Really Are (Originally published on August 28, 2017) We often forget that Jesus told His disciples: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mt. 16:24). The next time we try to run away from this command, let us recall the following reflection: "...There is no health of soul nor hope of eternal life but in the Cross. The more the flesh is brought down by affliction, the more is the spirit strengthened by interior grace. We are not exhorted to pray for the Cross, but we may and ought to pray for a...