Pondering Tidbits of Truth - April 24, 2025

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. Peter Kreeft, Ph.D.  "The object of faith is not feelings but truth, and the subject and agent of faith is will, not feelings. The will is like the ocean, and the feelings are like the waves. The ocean is always reliably there even though the waves are high one day and low the next."

 (From his book Calvinist to Catholic)

St. Catherine of Siena   "I've appointed the Devil to tempt and to trouble My creatures in this life [St. Catherine of Siena reports that Our Lord said to her]. I've done this, not so that My creatures will be overcome, but so that they may overcome, proving their virtue and receiving from Me the glory of victory. And no one should fear any battle or temptation of the Devil that may come to him, because I've made My creatures strong, and I've given them strength of will, fortified in the Blood of My Son.  Neither the Devil nor any other creature can control this free will, because it's yours, given to you by Me. By your own choice, then, you hold it or let it go if you please. It's a weapon, and if you place it in the hands of the Devil, it right away becomes a knife that he'll use to stab and kill you. On the other hand, if you don't place this knife that is your will into the hands of the Devil—that is, if you don't consent to his temptations and harassments—you will never be injured by the guilt of sin in any temptation. Instead, you'll actually be strengthened by the temptation, as long as you open the eyes of your mind to see My love, and to understand why I allowed you to be tempted: so you could develop virtue by having it proved. My love permits these temptations, for the Devil is weak. He can do nothing by himself unless I allow him. So I let him tempt you because I love you, not because I hate you. I want you to conquer, not to be conquered, and to come to a perfect knowledge of yourself and of Me."   (An excerpt from Manual for Spiritual Warfare)   Patrick Madrid "Like an hourglass with a certain number of grains of sand within it, God has appointed your life to last only a certain number of days, and you have absolutely no idea how many there are. ... In God’s presence, consider: I have no idea when my life will end. All I know is that death will come for me eventually. Am I doing anything to prepare for the real possibility that God may call me, sooner rather than later? If he called me into eternity today, would I be ready?" (An excerpt from A Year with the Bible)

 

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - May 26, 2022

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Venerable Louis of Granada, O.P.

"The abominable sin of detraction is so prevalent at the present day that there is scarcely a society. a family an individual not guilty of it. There are some persons so perversely inclined that they cannot bear to hear any good of another, but are always alive to their neighbors faults, always ready to tear his character to pieces.

Detraction is committed when we tell another’s real faults; calumny, when the fault we mention is not real but the invention of our malicious lies. Thus though we may not be guilty of calumny, how often does it happen that a person, from criticizing the failings of others which are generally known, is gradually led to mention some hidden and grave sin which robs him of his reputation and his honor! That the fault revealed is true in no manner saves the detractor from the guilt of mortal sin…

Henceforward consider your neighbor's character as a forbidden tree which you cannot touch. Be no less slow in praising yourself than in censoring others, for the first indicates vanity and the second a want of charity. Speak of the virtues of your neighbor, but be silent as to his faults. Let nothing that you say lead others to think that he is aught but a man of virtue and honor.”

(From The Sinner’s Guide)

 

St. Francis of Paola

“I earnestly admonish you, therefore, my brothers, to look after your spiritual well-being with judicious concern. Death is certain; life is short and vanishes like smoke. Fix your minds, then, on the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Inflamed with love for us, he came down from heaven to redeem us. For our sake he endured every torment of body and soul and shrank from no bodily pain. He himself gave us an example of perfect patience and love. We, then, are to be patient in adversity."

 (From Office of Readings for April 2^nd, the memorial of St. Francis of Pala)

 

Robert Cardinal Sarah

“Silence is not the exile of speech it is the love of the one Word. Conversely, the abundance of words is the symptom of doubt. Incredulity is always talkative.

We often forget that Christ loved to be silent. He set out for the desert not to go into exile but to encounter God. And at the most crucial moment in His life, when there was screaming on all sides, covering Him with all sorts of lies and calumnies, when the high priest asked Him: ‘Have you no answer to make Jesus’ preferred silence.

It is a case of true amnesia. Catholics no longer know that silence is sacred because it is God's dwelling place. How can we rediscover the sense of silence as the manifestation of God? This is the tragedy of the modern world: man separates himself from God because he no longer believes in the value of silence.

Without silence, God disappears in the noise. And this noise becomes all the more obsessive because God is absent. Unless the world rediscovers silence, it is lost. The earth then rushes into nothingness.”

(From The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise)

Don't Die Without It! - Book Review - The Art of Dying (Ars Moriendi)

Everything we need to know or have forgotten about assisting a dying soul is set forth in The Art of Dying (Ars Moriendi), an “immensely popular and influential text of the Middle Ages”. This treasure was recently translated with Introduction and Notes by Br. Columba Thomas, O.P., M.D. and a Forward by Mother Agnes Mary Donovan, SV.

Few Catholics know or live their Faith anymore. A substantial number no longer believe there is a hell or if there is such a place, they believe God is too merciful to send anyone there. (The Truth is we send ourselves there by the choices we make in this life).

Few are prepared to die and fewer still are equipped to assist dying souls overcome Satan’s last-ditch efforts to snatch their souls from eternal bliss.

The Art of Dying was, and is, “aimed at equipping the faithful for death and dying.” It is needed just as much now (if not more so) than when it was first published centuries ago. We have lost our zeal for the salvation of souls. Countless people die without the Last Rites either because there are no priests available at the time, or the family never calls the priest or waits too long to do so.

Many do not know what to do at the bed of a loved one who is dying. More often than not the family’s focus is on the physical ailments and alleviation of pain suffered by their loved ones, and not the salvation of their soul. Brother Columba Thomas, O.P., M.D. wants to see that unwise approach changed.

During the worse of the COVID pandemic, numerous souls died alone without the benefit of the Last Rites or the presence of loved ones. We must resolve never again to leave any soul unaccompanied on death’s journey.

The Art of Dying will arm you and your family (especially those members who do not know their Faith) with the sound counsel and prayers which will allow you and them to help one to die in peace and grace.

This is a book that must be placed in the hands of every Catholic, most especially family members and those who minister to the sick and dying.

Do not delay getting your copy of The Art of Dying, since neither we nor our loved ones know the day or the time we will be called to stand before the Throne of Justice. Get your copy here.

A Different Kind of New Year's Resolution

 

A Happy and Blessed New Year!

 

A Different Kind of New Year's Exercise 

(Originally posted on January 1, 2018)


Those who visit here, know how blessed I have been over the years to spend time in retreat at the Abbey at the Genesee in Piffard, New York. [If you missed those posts and wish to take a peek, you can find them here, here, here and here.]

(Image Source: Abbey at the Genesee)

This present post was prompted by an e-mail I received last week from the Abbey’s Retreat House manager, reminding me of what a perfect time of the year it is to visit this Trappist monastery. He enclosed this breathtakingly beautiful image of our Blessed Mother located near the entrance door to the Abbey.

Since death can occur at any time and since we must always be prepared for it, the beginning of this new year seems an appropriate time for me to highlight some of what Father John Eudes, O.C.S.O. shared when I last made a retreat at the Abbey.

He began his presentation by reminding us that “there are many surprises in life, that some are life-changing, and that our life in this world is uncertain.” This gifted monk told us to be keenly aware of these truths since no one ever knows when God will call them to stand before His Throne of Justice.

Monday Musings - Have We Become Too Complacent About Death and Judgment?

[Last week I shared a silly whimsical glance into the particular judgment of one attorney - the judgment that occurs immediately after death. Today, we cast aside that foolishness, and get real. The salvation of souls is at stake. Ponder what Ven. Louis of Granada, O.P. had to say on the subject.]

 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

“Consider, also, how uncertain is the hour of death. It generally comes when man is most forgetful of eternal things, overturning his plans for an earthly future, and opening before him the appalling vision of eternity. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures tell us that it comes as a thief in the night; that is, when men are plunged in sleep and least apprehensive of danger. The forerunner of death is usually a grave illness with its attendant weariness, sufferings, and pains, which weaken the powers of the body and give entrance to the king of terrors. Just as an enemy who wishes to take a citadel destroys the outer fortifications, so death with its vanguard of sickness breaks down the strength of the body, and, as it is about to fall before the repeated assaults of its enemy, the soul, no longer able to resist, takes its flight from the ruins…

 

'Men aspiring to perfection," says the holy Doctor [St. Gregory]... "constantly reflect upon the justice of the Sovereign Judge who is to pronounce sentence upon them in the dread hour which terminates their earthly career. They unceasingly examine themselves upon the account they are to render before this supreme tribunal. And if happily they find themselves innocent of sinful actions, they still ask with fear whether they are equally free from the guilt of sinful thoughts. For if it be comparatively easy to resist sinful actions, it is more difficult to conquer in the war which we must wage against evil thoughts. And though the fear of God's judgment is always before them, yet it is redoubled at the hour of death, when they are about to appear before His inflexible tribunal. At this moment the mind is freed from the disturbances of the flesh; earthly desires and delusive dreams fade from the imagination; the things of this world vanish at the portals of another life; and the dying man sees but God and himself. If he recalls no good which he has omitted, yet he feels that he cannot trust himself to give a correct and impartial judgment. Hence his fear and terror of the rigorous account to be exacted of him.' (Moral., 24:16, 17).

Do not these words of the great Doctor prove that this last hour and this supreme tribunal are more to be dreaded than worldly men imagine? If just men tremble at this hour, what must be the terror of those who make no preparation for it, whose lives are spent in the pursuit of vanities and in contempt of God's commandments? If the cedar of Lebanon be thus shaken, how can the reed of the wilderness stand? "And," as St. Peter tells us, "if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1Pet. 4:18).

Reflect, then, on the sentiments that will be yours when you will stand before the tribunal of God, with no defenders but your good works, with no companion but your own conscience. And if then you will not be able to satisfy your Judge, who will give expression to the bitterness of your anguish? For the question at issue is not a fleeting temporal life, but an eternity of happiness or an eternity of misery. Whither will you turn? What protection will you seek? Your tears will be powerless to soften your Judge; the time for repentance will be past. Little will honors, dignities, and wealth avail you, for "Riches," says the Wise Man, "shall not profit in the day of vengeance, but justice shall deliver a man from death." (Prov. 11:4).

The unhappy soul can only exclaim with the prophet, "The sorrows of death have encompassed me, and the perils of hell have found me." (Ps. 114:3). Unhappy wretch! How swiftly this hour has come upon me! What does it now avail me that I had friends, or honors, or dignities or wealth? All that I can now claim is a few feet of earth and a windings-sheet. My wealth which I hoarded I must leave to be squandered by others, while the sins of injustice which I here committed will pursue me into the next world and there condemn me to eternal torments. Of all my guilty pleasures the sting of remorse alone remains. Why have I made no preparation for this hour? Why was I deaf to the salutary warnings I received? "Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproofs, and have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to my masters?" (Prov. 5:12-13).

To preserve you, my dear Christian, from these vain regrets, I beg you to gather from what has been said three considerations, and to keep them continually before your mind. The first is the terrible remorse which your sins will awaken in you at the hour of death; the second is how ardently, though how vainly, you will wish that you had faithfully served God during life; and the third is how willingly you would accept the most rigorous penance, were you given time for repentance.

Acting on this advice, you will now begin to regulate your life according as you will then wish to have done."

(From The Sinner’s Guide by Ven. Louis of Granada, O.P.)