Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Forgive this old man BUT: (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) PLEASE stop fanning the flames of natural fear. Instead , stoke up the furnaces of supernatural faith and trust in God. Be men of courage and faith. Stand up for God and not grovel at the feet of civil authority awaiting their permission (which you don’t need) for you to do what God commands. Of course, all of us must use common sense. Stay out of public areas and Churches if you are not feeling well or evidence any symptoms of illness. There is, and never has been, any real authority for, or reason to, hold hands while praying the Our Father, exchange a physical sign of peace, or offer communicants the precious Body and Blood from a chalice at every Sunday Mass. These practices are unnecessary and should be permanently abandoned. In these challenging times, stop placing your faith solely in hand sanitizer, disinfecting sprays, masks, and the confusing, inconsistent and oft-times unreliable recommendations made by som...

A few months ago, I shared some suggestions as to how we, as individuals, could approach Mass attendance differently and as a result receive greater graces and benefits from participating in the Holy Sacrifice.  If you missed that post, you can read it here. All the suggestions made in that article, were things we could do and which required no one's permission. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Today's post offers another list of suggestions to reinstate a sense of the Sacred within our Churches and during Mass, to encourage greater Mass attendance, to increase reverence for and belief in Jesus's Real Presence among us, and to help others rediscover awe and amazement in the great gift of our Lord's physical presence  among us.  Unlike the first post, all of the suggestions that follow will require the consent, catechesis and support of your pastor. Let us not be fearful in seeking such support. Those parishes who have engaged in this effort, have found ...

Once again we thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for hosting "Worth Revisiting” every Wednesday and inviting Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles there. Go there now (and every Wednesday). You will be inspired by the variety of spiritual insights these authors share. Visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb during the rest of the week.  It will be time well spent. Here is my contribution:  Of Priests, the Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass  (Slightly modified version of a March 28, 2013 post) When Jesus told His followers that unless they ate His Body and drank His Blood, they could not have eternal life, large numbers left and never returned. Their initial repulsion to this direction was understandable: who would want to eat the flesh and drink the blood of another living human being? Yet, many had come to believe that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. The...

If we are to restore a sense of the Sacred to our Churches and rediscover a sense of awe and wonder in the Eucharist as Father  Richard Heilman recently suggested   [and we must], we have a long way to go. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons) "Man should tremble, the world should quake, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest." St.  Francis of Assisi