Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

As our parish journeys through its fifteenth year of Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, I marvel at, and give God thanks for, the hundreds of faithful Adorers who have spent time in His Presence over the years. It is hard to believe that sixty-seven of them have passed on into eternity.  Many of their names and faces pop into my consciousness from time to time – a reminder of the impact their lives and examples have had on me and countless others. With each passing year, I become increasingly aware of my own approaching death – at a time and under circumstances fully and solely in God’s hands. Although modern sensitivities discourage reflection on our immortality as a morbid and useless effort, nothing could be further from the truth , as you will glean from these words of Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. from his book, The Way of God: “So it is wise for me always to remember that I must die and that I ought always to be ready. This reminds me of a story told abou...

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons) I believe everything the Church teaches about the Holy Eucharist. I believe, even if I do not understand, even if I do not see. I know that those are blessed who do not see and yet believe. The Savior said so. It reminds me of the story that is told about St. Louis IX of France. One day a miracle took place in a nearby church. Someone came rush­ing to the King and said: "Hurry, Your Majesty! Jesus has appeared in the Host in human figure during Mass." But the King did not hurry. He did not even go. He said: "Let those go to see the miracle who have any doubt about the Real Presence. I need no miracle. I believe."

“The holy Gospels tell us again and again that while the Savior was visibly with us on earth He healed the sick by His mere passing by; and with an only word He raised the dead to life. If such were His active goodness then – and who would venture even to think of doubting it? – what works of charity must He do now, in His Eucharistic life! Oh, He does not merely pass before me now, He does not only speak to me – nay, He actually enters under my roof and transforms me into Himself.  

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.   Madeleine Delbrel, Servant of God   “To take the Word of God seriously, we need all the strength of the Holy Spirit. If our witness is often mediocre, it is because we have not realized that the same kind of heroism is needed to be a witness as to be a martyr.” (From We, the Ordinary People of the Streets )   Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S.   "I am sure many lost souls in hell right now would cry out to preachers and writers if they could: Oh, why did you not tell us more about the horrors of hell? Why did you not strike such fear into our hearts by your realistic description of hell that we would have made greater efforts to avoid it?...Why did you spare our feelings in a matter of such eternal moment? Oh, why did you not make hell a thousand times hotter than you did, then perhaps we would not be h...

“Jesus loves poverty with a very special love – so much so, indeed, that, because He could not find it in heaven, He came down and sought it here on earth. He took nothing along with Him from heaven. The tiny bit of glory that He gets on earth is the free gift of the few generous hearts that are trying to show how much they love Him. He is at His lovers’ mercy! Were merely a little wafer of bread denied Him, He could not remain in our midst on earth – He, the Lord of the Universe!... Jesus begs. I wonder for what?   He [Jesus] begs for one little word of kindly considerate greeting when I pass by a church… for a short ejaculatory prayer from time to time…for at least one loving aspiration when the bells ring out from the church towers…for a thought, one only thought, when I am alone. A word surely…at least a word I would not even refuse the most despicable criminal. But for Jesus?...Have I a word for Jesus?...How many? He begs for a little company. For hou...

“When Jesus remains in the quiet of the altar, in the tabernacle’s shadow, people in their blind carelessness let Him alone, they forget all about Him. And when He exposes Himself upon the altar, he is hurt to the Heart by the irreverence of so many who either have no faith at all or a faith that is very weak. When He goes through the streets in order to bring unspeakable blessings to His beloved children, He hears curses and blasphemies that make out of His errand of mercy another way of the cross. But in the midst of all these bitternesses one hope sustains Him – the hope of a place of refuge that will offer the love and peace He craves. The bitter chalice which others continually place to His lips He drinks with resignation; for He is sustained by the hope of a loving reception in my heart by way of reparation. One only hour spent in the enjoyment of my love, and He forgets years and years of suffering… Altar and tabernacle, monstrance and church, are merely the avenues...

“It is nightfall...One by one the lights go out in the dwellings of men...Millions of stars twinkle in the vast vault of heaven...But on earth one only star still glimmers - the tiny star of light in the sanctuary lamp.” “Its feeble rays struggle through the windows of a little church...it moves unsteadily to and fro...until it reaches you...Do you not see it? Jesus sends it to tell you that He never rests, that day and night, year in and year out, His heart is busy loving you, and the poor, and the unhappy - yes, even those who crucify Him.” (Eucharistic Whisperings by Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

Listen. Jesus is speaking …Being in heaven I came down to earth; and then I instituted the Blessed Sacrament in order to be with you always. In Holy Communion I really and truly come to you…And you?...When do you come to Me? In Holy Communion I visit you; but, tell Me, My child, when do you visit Me? Perhaps our sacred meeting in the morning satisfies you; it does not satisfy Me. I long to see you here in My presence again before evening. My child. That is why I now invite you. Won’t you accept the invitation? ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS) Image credit to Pat Gohn

“Ah, how it hurts to see in what manner our Savior is treated! There He is in the tabernacle, the Prisoner of Love, waiting for souls to come and visit Him. But who ever gives Him even a thought, one only thought?...It would cause so very little trouble to go to Him...for just a sweet moment. It would be so very easy to cast a tender glance upon that tiny door...to send a loving thought a-speeding towards that tabernacle...to breathe a few whispered words of affection...but, alas! When it comes to doing something for Jesus that something, no matter how small, becomes at once irksome and grievous-so weak are we!” ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

“I told Him this morning in Holy Communion that I want to belong wholly to Him and that always…What a loving glance He gave me then!...O how far away from Him my thoughts already are…how far away my heart…how far! O why do I treat Him so? Poor Jesus! He always thinks of me, and I think so seldom of Him.” ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

           Far too many Catholics complain they find the Mass to be “boring” or that they “get nothing out of it”.   It is unlikely they would feel that way if they knew the answers to the following questions:   What is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? What happens at Mass? Who is present there? What benefits do we receive by participating at Mass?             In his powerful book, The Way to God, Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. tells us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass “is not a mere commemoration of the sacrifice of the cross.   No it is the same, the actuality, the renewal, the continuation, the representation of the sacrifice of the cross… so that when I assist at Mass I am present at the Sacrifice of the cross as much as Mary, John and Magdalen were.   It is the unbloody renewal of the bloody Sacrifice of the cross.” Does this essential truth of our ...