Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

  (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) The immediate impetus for this post can be found in the writings of St. Gregory the Great (540–604), a Marian apparition, conflicting statements of two Catholic Cardinals, and zeal for the salvation of souls. Bear with m e, please, as I explain. The second reading in the Office of Readings for this past Sunday were selections from St. Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Guide which you can find here . (I recommend that you read and ponder it in its entirety). Let me, however,emphasize the following excerpts: “A spiritual guide should be silent when discretion requires and speak when words are of service. Otherwise, he may say what he should not or be silent when he should speak…Indiscreet speech may lead men into error and an imprudent silence may leave in error those who could have been taught… The name of prophet is sometimes given in the sacred writings to teachers who both declare the present to be fleeting and reveal what is to come. Th...

T hank you 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 you and your followers .  We Are Own Worse Enemies (Originally published on November 25, 2013)   (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Far too many Catholics are not well-formed in the teachings of Christ's Church. Given this tragic reality, one would expect Catholic media to only publish the work of individuals and columnists who accurately set forth the tenets of the Catholic Church.  Over the years, too many publications claiming to be "Catholic" have consistently demonstrated a preference for doing just the opposite. A most recent example of this proclivity is a column that a local Diocesean newspaper published wherein its author wrote the following: “Putting an end to the killing of unborn babies is a priority for me, and it is a priority fo...

Thank you, 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 you and your followers . Here is my contribution: Just Saying You Are Catholic Does Not Make You Catholic! (Originally posted on August 5, 2013) (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) [Not much has changed since I wrote this post nearly six years ago save for adding the names of other prominent politicians claiming to be Catholic but who reject Church teaching like Andrew Cuomo, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tim Kaine, Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bob Casey, Susan Collins, Bob Menendez, Lisa Murkowski, and Patty Murray to name just a few. The list of Catholic Bishops who have publicly barred legislators within their Diocese from receiving Communion after they passed radical pro-abortion legislation currently contains just one name: Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of ...

Why Did You Not Tell Us? (Originally posted on February 11, 2019) (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) No caring person would allow an inattentive soul about to run off a cliff to do so without shouting and attempting to warn them of that danger and of their imminent demise.  Should we not do the same for those Catholic politicians and public officials who legislatively support intrinsic evils, who remain silent in the face of the dismemberment and sale of infant body parts, or who consent to the killing of children born alive? We would if we cared about them since there is nothing more important than the salvation of souls. Yet most of us are rarely reminded of this truth. Satan relishes his success in having convinced so many that hell does not exist and that no one inhabits it – even using the mouths and/or silence of some Catholic priests and Bishops to get his message out. "There is no such thing as si...

T hank you Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb  and Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting . We appreciate sharing our work with you and your readers each week.  Stop by for a visit now . Here is my contribution: Monday Musings - Silence Slays Souls - The Souls of Individuals and the Souls of Nations (Originally published May 28, 2018 Sunday’s Gospel command (Matthew 8:16-20) to make disciples of all nations baptizing them in name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit prompts this question: Have we Catholics abandoned our Christ-given mission? For years, our Church has downplayed the importance of conversion and the salvation of all souls, choosing in their stead the promotion of social justice and worldly objectives. We act as if the solution to the world’s problems remain in the secular realm when in fact it can be fought and defeated only on the spiritual plain.  ...

Sunday’s Gospel command (Matthew 8:16-20) to make disciples of all nations baptizing them in name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit prompts this question: Have we Catholics abandoned our Christ-given mission? For years, our Church has downplayed the importance of conversion and the salvation of all souls, choosing in their stead the promotion of social justice and worldly objectives. We act as if the solution to the world’s problems remain in the secular realm when in fact it can be fought and defeated only on the spiritual plain.  (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Our silence in light of such misguided efforts slays souls and emboldens Satan. We have limited our ineffective evangelization efforts (for the most part) to just those calling themselves Catholic, thereby reinforcing the secular belief that one religion is just as good as another. Most Catholics do not know their faith and few live it – because they have often not been taught it. Even thoug...

I recently ran across the following quote attributed to St. Peter Canisius, a Jesuit and a Doctor of our Church: (Photo©Michael Seagriff) "Better that only a few Catholics should be left, staunch and sincere in their religion, than that they should, remaining many, desire as it were to be in collusion with the Church's enemies and in conformity with the open foes of our faith.”  Nearly five centuries after sharing this opinion, I suspect this good priest would not appreciate the current chaos of doctrinal ambiguity and/or dissent that permeates our Church and, most especially, among some of the contemporary members of his own religious order. What do you think? 

Few Pontiffs spoke with such clarity and authority than the late St. John Paul II. Anchor your soul to the certainty of His teaching.  Run from those who wish to replace the clear waters of Truth with doubt and uncertainty. They will lead you to eternal damnation. Truth does not hide itself behind ambiguity. Satan does:  

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. Josemaria Escriva "...prayer is not a question of what you say or feel, but of Love. And you love when you try to say something to the Lord, even though you might not actually say anything." (From Furrow )  Vatican II "Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be the followers of the Lord, but they differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself is divided. Certainly, such division openly contradicts the Will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the most holy cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature." (From Decree on Ecumenism)    St. John Paul II  "...the presence of the devil in the history of humanity is increa...

(Photo©Michael Seagriff) 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. Justice Antonin Scalia  “[Christ’s] message was not the need to eliminate hunger or misery or misfortune, but rather the need for each individual to love and help the hungry, the miserable, and the unfortunate. To the extent that the State takes upon itself one of the corporal works of mercy that could and would have been undertaken privately, it deprives individuals of an opportunity for sanctification and deprives the Body of Christ of an occasion for the interchange of love among its members.

Thank you Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for your weekly invitation to re-post our favorite articles on Worth Revisiting . Go here now (and every Wednesday) and let an interesting group of Catholic bloggers nourish you in your Faith journey. V isit Allison at   Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb during the rest of each week.   They have much to offer. I decided to share this post:  Monday Musings - I Wish (Originally posted August 1, 2016) (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) The answers to the problems facing our nation and world will not be solved by any of our political parties or politicians. These issues are spiritual in nature and beyond the ability of mere mortal men and women to rectify.  Unfortunately, far too many of our  religious leaders have failed to properly guide us or defend God's Truth. Unless and until they do so and unless we surrender our wills to our Almighty and lov...

If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, (Image from Biblebios.com) I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing) generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.   It is so easy to say you are a Catholic. Just read the newspapers and watch television and you will see countless examples of those in public life claiming to be Catholic at the same time they support policies contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

(Image from Biblebios.com) If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing) generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.   I recently read a short but interesting article written by Father Michael Orsi. It is entitled How Same-Sex Marriage Won . You can read his article here at Catholic Exchange .  As I am wont to do, I simply passed it along to several social media sites with the same question I posed in today's post. That's all I did. What a stir it created.   

Upon further reflection and prayer, I prefer this version to that post which I previously posted.   After recently reading the familiar Gospel story about Lazarus and the rich man, I saw the following internet headline: “Pastor who does not believe in hell fired!”   God’s timing is impeccable, isn’t it? My immediate thought after reading this headline was: “and this pastor was caught off guard by his dismissal?”   The sad reality is that it is not just this specific minister, but so many other Christians, including many Catholics (even some of their priests), who have abandoned the fundamental truth that there are eternal consequences to a life lived in unrepentant and unconfessed sin (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sections 1033-1041).   “Our God is far too merciful,” these dissidents argue, “than to banish anyone to an eternity in hell.” What Scripture and what Catechism do they read? How have we arrived at this state of confusion on such...