Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

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. Francis de Sales "God detests failings because they are failings. On the other hand, however, in a certain sense, He loves failings since they give to Him an opportunity to show His mercy and to us an opportunity to remain humble and to understand and to sympathize with our neighbor's failings." (As quoted by Servant of God, John Paul I in his September 20, 1976 General Audience)

(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. St. Leo the Great "Whoever truly wishes to venerate the Passion of the Lord should contemplate Jesus crucified with eyes of his soul, and in such a way that he identifies his own body with that of Jesus." (From Sermon 15 on the Passion ) St. Alphonsus Liguori "But God is merciful. Behold another common delusion by which the devil encourages sinners to persevere in sin! A certain author has said that more souls have been sent to hell by the mercy of God than by His justice. This indeed is the case; for men are induced by the deceits of the devil to persevere in sin, through confidence in God's mercy; and thus they are lost." (From Sermons For All the Sundays of the Year )   Servant of God, Madeleine Delbrel "In the area of God's work we are all a...

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. Servant of God Madeleine Delbrel   “To the extent that our world tries to break itself away from God, that people believe that they can get by without God, that they can organize things apart from God, God becomes for the world something new, and the living God of the Gospel once again becomes news.”    (From We, the Ordinary People of the Streets )   Benedict XVI Today…it is particularly important to clarify the criteria used to distinguish the authentic s ensus fidelium from its counterfeits. In fact, it is not some kind of public opinion of the Church, and it is unthinkable to mention it in order to challenge the teachings of the Magisterium, this because the sensus fidei cannot grow authentically in the believer except to the extent in which he or she fully participates in the life of the Church, and ...

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. Servant of God, Madeleine Delbrel "The basic revelation of the Gospel is the overwhelming, penetrating presence of God. It is a call to encounter God, and God allows Himself to be encountered only in solitude." (From We, the Ordinary People of the Streets ) John of Kronstadt, a Russian Orthodox priest and saint "What would happen, O my Lord God, Jesus Christ, if You made the light of Your divinty to shine from Your most Holy Sacrament, when the priest brings It in his hands to a sick person? Before this light, all who would encounter It or see It would fall prostrate on the groune spontaneously, just as the angels cover their faces before this Sacrament. While on the other hand, so many treat this heavenly Sacrament with indifference." (From Dominus Est - It Is The Lord! by Most Rev. Athansius Schneid...

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...

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     “Once we have heard God’s Word, we no longer have the right not to accept it; once we have accepted it, we no longer have the right not to let it become flesh in us; once it has become flesh in us, we no longer have the right to keep it for ourselves alone. Henceforward, we belong to all those who are waiting for the Word.”     (From We, the Ordinary People of the Streets ) Sister Josefa Menendez   “I saw several souls fall into Hell, and among them a child of fifteen, cursing her parents for not having taught her to fear God, and that Hell actually exits.” (From The Way of Divine Love ) Anne Costa   “There are no unforgivable sins, only unconfessed ones, and there are no sins greater than God’s mercy.”   (From...

A Reminder : The Purpose of Pondering Tidbits of Truth We are all busy people. Many of us have convinced ourselves that we simply do not have the time to read, ponder and reflect on the Scriptures and the wealth of spiritual wisdom our Church has accumulated over the centuries. Yet, we owe God and ourselves this reflective time. If we spend little or no time, pondering the truths and mysteries of our Faith, we are not going to progress spiritually - a growth essential to our eternal well-being and that of those around us. 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. Rarely will they share a common thread. Today is an exception. Every other Thursday, I will offer some quotations for your reflection. This is my challenge to you. Read and ponder them. Invest at least five minutes of your time on each of them over the course of two weeks, asking God to let you understand what He wants...