Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) It had been nearly five years since I last saw my friend, Bernie. After I relocated to a distant city, we kept in touch with periodic phone calls. They eventually ended. Bernie found it difficult to care for himself and his large home. He moved closer to a daughter and eventually moved into an assisted living situation. After a time, he began to deteriorate; that deterioration was rapid. I received a phone call informing me that he was in comfort care; he was not likely to live much longer. The caller was correct. Bernie died the following morning, surrounded by his loving family. I could not make it to the wake but was present at his funeral Mass. It was a blessing to be there. As I approached the altar to receive Holy Communion, I paused momentarily, bent over and placed my head on his casket – my fond farewell. When I returned to my pew, with my Lord still on my tongue, a few tears fell down my cheek as I was filled with gratitude for the...

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 tha...

    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 ...

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. Countle...

  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...

[ 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 va...