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.   Raoul Plus, S.J "That is the essential word: mission. Everyone who is baptized, if he understands the part he has to play, is a missionary. He may not be called upon to go to foreign lands; his apostolate may be destined only to affect his near neighbors. But he must understand that wherever he may happen to be, he has a function to perform there: he not only has to save himself, but he also has to sanctify and save his brethren."   (An excerpt from  How To Pray Always ) St. Francis de Sales   If during vocal prayer your heart is drawn to mental prayer, do not restrain it, but let your devotion take that channel, omitting the vocal prayers which you intended to say: that which takes their place is more acceptable to God, and more useful to your own soul."   ...

Prayer is the primary method by which we establish a real and loving relationship with our Lord – wherein we talk to Him and He with us – one heart to another.   Prayer takes on many forms and serves a number of diverse purposes. Sometimes we use the words of others, sometimes our own and on other occasions we simply listen to the silent promptings that stir our souls. But prayer can become complicated and even unsettling. What is mental prayer? What is contemplative prayer? How does one progress from one form of prayer to another? How would one know which contemporary prayer models, even those popular among Catholics, are not really authentic forms of prayer? Many of us - prayer novices and veterans alike - are searching for answers to these and a myriad of other questions. Nearly everyone can use guidance as to how to pray, how to discern what they experience during prayer and how to know if it is really God who is speaking to their hearts. Some may not know where to t...

  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. Paul of the Cross “Do not live any longer in yourself, but let Jesus Christ live in you in such a way that the virtue of this Divine Savior may be resplendent in all your actions, in order that all may see in you a true portrait of the Crucified and sense the sweetest fragrance of the holy virtues of the Lord, in interior and exterior modesty, in patience, in gentleness, suffering, charity, humility, and in all others that follow.” (From Flowers of the Passion-Thoughts of St. Paul of the Cross )

A simple but powerful way to view mental prayer: