Pondering Tidbits of Truth - January 18, 2024

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. John of the Cross

"What more do you want, O soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfactions, fullness, and kingdom - your Beloved Whom you desire and seek? Be joyful and gladdened in your interior recollection with Him, for you have Him so close to you. Desire Him there, adore Him there. Do not go in pursuit of Him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and wearied thereby, and you shall not find Him, nor enjoy Him more securely, nor sooner, nor more intimately by seeking Him within you."

(From The Spiritual Canticle)

Mother Julienne Morrell, O.P.

“Human praises are indeed to be shunned on account of the great harm they produce. They are nothing else, in the words of St. Bernard, but a hollow whistle, a little wind in the ears, blinding and inflating the heart, fanning the flames of envy, causing delusions and pride with regard to self. They are poison to humility.”

(Commentary from A Treatise on the Spiritual Life by St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P.)

Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. 

"We moderns shrink from pain; we shun all that can afflict body or mind. We have forgotten that we were saved by the Body's agony and the Mind's torture. We have forgotten that the problem of evil was solved by ropes, whips, and thorns, nails that were pounded through the flesh of God and by three hours of anguish such as no other human has or ever will know. We have forgotten that pain has a sacred purpose; that all suffering can be and should be sublimated into Sacrifice - His Sacrifice. We have forgotten that we are Christians — members of a Body whose Head is thorn-crowned! We have forgotten that since there is sin, there must be suffering that will atone."

(From God, A Woman, and the Way)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - November 4, 2021

 

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.

 

 

 Johann Tauler, O.P.

"Be sure of this: there is no creature ever made by God who can set you free or help you; only God can do it. Run about as you will, search high and low the whole world over, you will never find the help you need anywhere except in God. If the Lord chooses to use an instrument, man or angel, to achieve this, He can; but He must do it and no one else."

(From Spiritual Conferences)

Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.

"Today is a day of ultimates and of clear-cut choices. For the lines are sharply drawn. Either we stand with Mary beneath the cross, or we stand with the shouting rabble about the cross. We find ourselves either as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, or are found to be members of the mystical body of antichrist. We become totalitarian Christians and give our all to God, or we become totalitarian anti-christians and have our all taken by the State. Pius XI stated absolutely that 'in this conflict there is really a question of the fundamental problem of the universe and of the most important decision proposed to man's free will: For God or against God...there is no middle ground, no island on which we can stand, no fence we can straddle. It is Christ or it is antichrist'."

(From God, A Woman and The Way)

 

Kevin Vost, Psy.D.

"What is the deadliest sin in the world? St. Thomas, following St. Gregory the Great, argued that one sin was in a sense the deadliest of all, more prone to generate other sins, more directly opposed to the goodness of God than even the capital seven. All of the deadly sins have this sin in common, if not as their direct cause, then as an indirect consequence. The sin that has pride of place is the sin of pride itself." 

(From The Seven Deadly Sins - A Thomistic Guide to Vanquishing Vice and Sin)

Monday Musings - It's Our Fault As Well!

We humans have suffered from selective deafness  from the moment God created us. Over the centuries, He has sent countless prophets to guide us, but we have ignored them. He sent His only Son and our ancestors killed Him. We continue to torment Him  with our sins and ingratitude.

Few books that I have read have had more of an impact on me than God, A Woman and The Way, written in 1954 by Trappist, Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. Unfortunately, getting copies of this superlative book now is a challenge.

Today, we are quick to blame our bishops and priests for the sorry condition of our world and God's Church. It is true that far too many of them can be justly criticized for not teaching and defending the Truth, for creating ambiguity in the Church's teaching where none existed, and for living lives inconsistent with their call to be alter Christus.

But their failures, however, do not excuse our own. We lay folk far outnumber our ordained and flawed shepherds. As Father Raymond points out, our world would be far different if we lay Catholics had fulfilled our obligation to be true witnesses of Christ.

Let this gifted Trappist set the stage for his observations with these excerpts from Pope Pius XI's Quas Primas: 

“if Christ is to reign as King of nations, he must first reign totally as King of individuals…Christ must reign in our minds - which must assent firmly and submissively to all revealed truth and to all Christ's teachings. He must reign in our wills - which should bow in obedience to God's law and precepts. He must reign in our hearts which turning aside from all natural desires should love God above all things and cling to Him alone. He must reign in our bodies and our members which should serve as instruments of our souls’ sanctification.”

Now let Father Raymond's observations penetrate our hearts and souls:

"If each Catholic in these United States acted at all times as a Catholic should, the impact on Communism [insert the “ism”  of your choice - Marxism, socialism, modernism, transgenderism, etc.] in these United States and all over the world would be very like the impact of the tiny stone David flung at Goliath. We may be numerically small in comparison with the whole; the “armor of Saul” most likely will not fit us; but we have the sling and we have the stones from the brook. Is it that we lack courage?

It takes courage to be a Christian. It takes great courage to go out and meet Christ when He is on the road to Calvary…It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus. But it is glory! And if Faith be the central problem of our day, then faith with fortitude is the only solution. Each of us who has been baptized is called upon to be a witness to Christ.

Do you know what that means?...A witness is a man whose life and faith are so completely one that when the challenge comes to step out and testify for his faith, he does so, disregarding all risks, accepting all consequences… 

[Whittaker] Chambers says a life of faith must be one. That is, the individual must not only have a lively faith but must live his faith. He must believe with his whole being what he professes to believe with his lips. He must say aloud his Credo, not with words, but with every action of his life. He must be a Catholic not only for the hour or so he spends in church on Sunday, but he must be Christ twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks of the year..."

Have you been an effective witness of Christ? If not, begin today.