Monday Musings - Place Yourself Entirely In HIs Hands

 

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - March 6, 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.

Patrick Stewart  

“…the most important thing about the duty of the moment is this: the duty of the moment is where we meet Christ. He’s waiting for us in the duty of the moment, in His will for us. Where am I supposed to be now? What am I supposed to be doing now? That’s where Christ is. That’s where He is waiting for me. Not in the chapel. Of course, He’s in the chapel, but if I’m supposed to be chopping wood right now, he’s not in the chapel waiting for me. He’s at the woodpile. If I’m supposed to be cleaning the dorm, that’s where He is waiting for me. Where am I going to meet my Beloved? Wherever I am supposed to be. It’s so simple. And so wonderful.” 

(From the July-August 2022 issue of Restoration, the monthly newspaper of the Madonna House Apostolate (https://www.madonnahouse.org).

 

William of Saint Thierry, Abbot

“…You first loved us so that we might love You, not because You needed our love but because we could not be what You created us to be, except by loving You.”

(From The Office of Readings for December 16, 2024)

 

Father Jose Gonzalez

“In our own lives, God is constantly calling us to seek Him out and worship Him…How is He calling you? In what way is He sending you a star to follow? Many times when God speaks, we ignore His voice. We must learn from the Magi and diligently respond when He calls. We must not hesitate and must seek to daily be attentive to the way God invites us to a deeper trust, surrender and worship.

Reflect today, upon God’s call in your life. Are you listening? Are you responding? Are you ready and willing to abandon all else in life so as to swerve His Holy Will?"

Seek Him, wait on Him and respond.

(From the Daily Gospel Reflection for January 5, 2025)

 

 

Monday Musings - Talk to Him As A Friend to a Friend

 Jesus to St. M. Faustina Kowalska;

“Poor soul, I see that you suffer much and that you do not have even the strength to converse with me. So I will speak to you. Even though your sufferings were very great, do not lose heart or give in to despondency. But tell Me, my child, who has dared to wound your heart? Tell Me about everything, be sincere in dealing with Me, reveal all the wounds of your heart. I will heal them and your suffering will become a source of your sanctification…

My child do not be discouraged. I know your boundless trust in Me; I know that you are aware of My goodness and mercy. Let us talk in detail about everything that weighs so heavily upon your heart…

Talk to me simply, as a friend to a friend. Tell Me now, my child, what hinders you from advancing in holiness?…

My child make the resolution never to rely on people. Entrust yourself completely to My will saying ‘Not as I want, but according to Your Will, O God, let it be done unto me.’  These words, spoken from the depths of one's heart, can raise a soul to the summit of sanctity in a short time. In such a soul I delight. Such a soul gives Me glory. Such a soul fills heaven with the fragrance of her virtue. But understand that the strength by which you bear sufferings comes from frequent Communions. So, approach this fountain of mercy often, to draw with the vessel of trust whatever you need.

(From Divine Mercy in My Soul – Diary of St. M. Faustina Kowalska (1487)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - February 29, 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.

Caryll Houselander

"You see, God's will for you is to serve Him, in His way, as He chooses, now. It is only a want of humility to think of extreme vocations, like being a nun or a nurse, while you try to bypass your present obvious vocation, which is to restore your will to God's, so that you may become what He wants you to be, and may be able to use the faculties He has given  to you for His service."

(From The Letters of Caryll Houselander)

St. Paul of the Cross

"Build an oratory within yourself, and there have Jesus on the altar of your heart. Speak to Him often while you are doing your work. Speak to Him of His holy love, of His holy sufferings and of the sorrow of most holy Mary."

(From Flower of the Passion -Thoughts of St. Paul of the Cross)

St. Francis de Sales

"It is horrible irreverence to Him who with so much love and sweetness invites us to perfection, to say, 'I don't want to be holy, or perfect, or to have a greater share in Your friendship, or to follow the counsels You give me to advance in it."

(From Finding God's Will For You)

Monday Musings - Do His Work

 

Monday Musings - God's Hands

 

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - October 27, 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.

 

 

 

St. John Marie Vianney

"I can't stop praying for poor sinners who are on the road to hell. If they come to die in that state, they will be lost for all eternity. What a pity! We have to pray for sinners! Praying for sinners is the most beautiful and useful of prayers because the just are on the way to heaven, the souls of purgatory are sure to enter there, but the poor sinners will be lost forever. All devotions are good but there is no better one than such prayer for sinners."

(From I Thirst For Your Love)

 

Alexander de Rouville 

My child, God will not allow you to be tempted, tested or tormented beyond your strength. His help will always be equal to the trial He sends. 

Give heed to His grace, for it already speaks to you, and respond to His inspirations. If God has more crosses in store for someone, He gives greater graces that the person may bear them.

Crosses are the most precious gifts God can give His creature; and the creature's acceptance of them is the most pleasing sacrifice it can offer its Creator. 

If the crosses He intends for you are heavy, that means He has great plans for your sanctification. Do you want to prevent those divine plans being fulfilled?

Your disturbance and fears will not take the crosses from you, whatever you do; you must carry them. What, then, is the wiser thing for you to do?

It is to submit, my child, to all that God bids you do. You must say: The Lord is the master; let Him do with me as He thinks best 9cf. Luke 1:38).

Then you will see God moved by your submission; faithful to His promises, He will make lighter than you thought possible the crosses which from a distance seemed so heavy. He will make them so light that you will say: Just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so too, through Christ, do we receive consolation in equal measure (2 Cor 1:5).

(From The Imitation of Mary)

 

 

Sister Lucia of Fatima

"Since we all need to pray, God asks of us, as a kind of daily installment, a prayer which is within our reach: the Rosary, which can be recited either in common or in private, either in church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament or at home, either with the rest of the family or alone, either when traveling or while walking quietly in the fields. A mother of a family can say the Rosary while she rocks her baby’s cradle or does the housework. Our day has 24 hours in it. It is not asking a great deal to set aside a quarter of an hour for the spiritual life, for our intimate and familiar converse with God."

(From Daily Catholic Wisdom)

Monday Musings-Are We Making The Right Choice?

[Sit Down. Quiet your soul. Surrender to the Silence. Ponder God saying to you that which he silently uttered to Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan:]

“Why torment yourself? All you have done…is excellent work, the work of God, but it is not God! If God wants you to give it all up and put the work in His hands, do it and trust Him. God will do the work infinitely better than you…You have only to choose God not the work of God.” 

(From Who Are We in COVID-Time? written by Cheryl Ann Smith and published in the February 2021 issue of Restoration)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - October 15, 2020

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

 

 

 

Father Kevin M. Cusick

“When we are ashamed of the truth about how God made us, and ashamed to tell others that truth, we are asking our Lord to be ashamed of us before His heavenly Father when we stand before the throne of the Triune God at the end of our earthly lives.”

(From article, The Kingdom For A Pronoun, published in the October 1, 2020 issue of The Wanderer)

 

Venerable Bruno Lanteri

 

Be on guard against discouragement and lack of trust. Strive to do well all that you do, but do this with respect for your humanity, without striving for impossible perfection, focusing simply on the day at hand. Remember that "the just man falls seven times a day," and so you will find blessing in beginning not only every day, but every hour."

(From Overcoming Spiritual Discouragement) 

 

Jesus to St. Catherine of Siena

"Nothing has ever happened and nothing happens save by the plan of My divine Providence. In all things that I permit, in all things that I give you, in tribulations and in consolations, temporal or spiritual, I do nothing save for your good, so that yo may be sanctified in Me and that My Truth be fulfilled in you."

(From The Dialogue)