Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

" Here - all alone, He and I —  He, with all His greatness, and I with all my miseries — He, all fire; and I, burning in the midst of His Divine Passion!...My darkness is lost in the midst of His light...and my icy heart melts inside of His. Here my sins are forgiven and my sorrows —  O! my sorrows are united to His own, giving them value...How many treasures are enclosed in this holy place, consecrated through the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament! Heaven is here, because He is here! I would not exchange these four walls for the most glorious palace on earth! You can feel Him, yes... here the Lord can be felt...here He can be found...here the soul loses itself in His arms. It cries out contritely, is anxious to suffer, and loves Him!"   ( Holy Hours -   Concepcion Carbrera de Armida)

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "I think that there may be some people for whom Adoration may be considered a salutary devotion, but still on the periphery of Church life. I fear there may even be priests for whom things like Holy Hours and extended periods of Eucharistic Adoration are nothing more than quaint relics of a past piety or something which ought to take second place to the pursuit of social justice and the search to find the face of Jesus in the poor. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth!" Bishop Edward J. Slattery

“I contemplate You, red with blood and dying for me, O Jesus, most pure Ideal of my soul! If, giving my life, I could save Yours! But it necessary that my Treasure should die to give me the life of grace and of love. Photo©Michael Seagriff My heart breaks upon contemplating that innocent Body broken, but it is my own doing , and I tremble upon contemplating it! But, nonetheless, since I have been the cause of Your suffering, I wish to console You…and with my breath…and with my voluntary sacrifices, and with all the tenderness of my heart, today I want to bring You solace…I will never offend You again, my Jesus, and from now on I will give You only caresses…the best of my soul, my vitality, my entire being, hiding You from Your enemies deep in my heart.

My child your heart must be an altar upon which the innocent Victim constantly sacrifices Himself for the sake of the world… I do not remain in the tabernacle for any reason other than to arrive in your heart. I do not raise myself in the monstrance for any reason other than to descend into your heart… Then if I desire to live within you, must you be an altar, a tabernacle, and a monstrance for Me? Must not your heart be an altar on which I sacrifice Myself…a tabernacle in which I hide Myself…a monstrance in which I manifest Myself?.. Be then My altar, holy and free of every stain so that you may constantly remind yourself that ‘No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for a friend’ and if you are My altar, you will continually experience the sacrifice of the Incarnate Word within yourself…and the most intense fire of His love… If your heart is My altar, I also want it to be the tabernacle in which I hide…My child, noise doe...