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."   ...

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 John Catoir   "The more you trust God, the happier you will be...The great spiritual masters tell us that the path to both happiness and holiness is found in fidelity to the duty of the present moment. If you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. Be faithful to the duty of the present moment. Do it for the Lord, and be at peace."  (An excerpt from Uplifting Thoughts for Every Day ) St. Peter Julian Eymard   “What displeases God most on earth and in us is sin. You must give this truth your attentive consideration. The just and the saints themselves are not exempt from sin. And we, have we not at least venial sins on our conscience? The just and the saints themselves are not exempt from sin. Have we never had to weep for mortal sins?...

T hank you Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers .    Eucharistic Reflection-He Loves Us Even When We Fail To Love Him (Originally posted on February 23, 2013) Can this adorable Savior, Who has done so much to gain the hearts of men, refuse anything to those who themselves ask of Him a place in His Heart? If Jesus Christ allows Himself to be given even to those who do not love Him, and would have Himself carried to dying persons who never condescended to visit Him in their lifetime, and who have been insensible both to the manifest marks of love which He gave them and to the cruel outrages He received in the adorable Eucharist, to persons who have perhaps themselves ill-treated Him, what will He not do for faithful servants who, sensibly touched at seeing their dear Lord so little loved, so rarely visited, so cruelly outraged, make H...

Add caption 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 of Avila "Dear brothers and sisters, I pray God may open your eyes and let you see what hidden treasures he bestows on us in the trials from which the world thinks only to flee. Shame turns into honor when we seek God's glory. Present affliction become the source of heavenly glory. To those who suffer wounds in fighting his battles God opens his arms in loving, tender friendship. That is why he (Christ) tells us that if we want to join him, we shall travel the way He took. It is surely not right that the Son of God should go His way on the path of shame while the sons of men walk the way of worldly honor: 'The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant greater than his master'." 

  (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) "Consider that in receiving this Divine Sacrament you have received the same body of Jesus, which was formed by the Holy Spirit from the most pure blood of Mary, which worked so many miracles, suffered so much fatigue and endured so much evil for us during His mortal life, and which is now glorious and is seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven; this same blood of Jesus, which was shed from His infancy in the Circumcision and was shed in greater abundance and unto the last drop upon the altar of the Cross; this same soul of Jesus which from the moment of the Incarnation was full of grace, of wisdom, and of virtue, which surpasses the angels and the saints in every manner of perfection, which descended into Limbo and which has been raised glorious; this same Divinity of Jesus which created Heaven and earth, and which is in the Father and the Holy Spirit…”  (Father Jacques Nouet, S,J. - The Mystical Life of Jesus in t...

Another Wednesday and another opportunity to thank Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan for their weekly invitation to re-post our favorite posts on Worth Revisiting. Go there now (and every Wednesday) and let an interesting group of Catholic bloggers nourish you in your Faith journey. V isit Allison at   Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb during the rest of each week.   You will enjoy your visit. May you find the following worth pondering: Eucharistic Reflection - Enormous Ingratitude (Originally posted August 11, 2015) “And Jesus answering, said: ‘Were not ten [lepers] made clean? And where are the nine ?Is there no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger?’  (Photo©Michael Seagriff) In the world, we cannot endure ingratitude. It is only when God is in question that we do not concern ourselves about being ungrateful. This wonderful cure,...

Thank you Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan, for inviting your fellow Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on it’s "Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.   Go there now (and every Wednesday) and enjoy what these authors have to offer. During the rest of each week. visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb .  What follows is a clear, necessary and unambiguous challenge : Eucharistic Reflection - The Jesus We Ignore (Originally posted on August 12, 2013) "Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of us in the same manner He dwelt at Nazareth amidst His relatives. He was there without being known by them, and without working in their favor, the miracles that He wrought elsewhere. Our blindness and evil dispositions prevent Him from letting us experience the wonderful operations with which He favors those whom He finds well disposed… (St. Agatha's, Canastota, NY)

Merry Christmas to Allison Gingras, Elizabeth Reardon, and all the bloggers and visitors who stop by every week at "Worth Revisiting Wednesday". I am sure you will enjoy this week's contributions which you can view here. You can also show your appreciation to Allison and Elizabeth for hosting this weekly post by visiting them at Reconciled to You and Theology Is A Verb . I hope you enjoy this gift from Father Hardon: The Mysteries of Christmas and the Eucharist (Originally posted December 26, 2013) Take a few minutes to view Christmas and the Eucharist through the eyes of an Apostle of the Eucharist - another great gift from the late and beloved Father John A. Hardon, S.J. You can find this saintly priest's reflection here.

“It is extraordinary that there are to be found Christians, and those not a few, who grow weary and do not know what to do at Mass.  (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Can a sick man be tired of seeing the efforts made to cure him? Or can a person, loaded with debts, find it difficult to know what to do, in the presence of a powerful monarch who has offered him all his treasures?  You do not know what to do at Mass? How is this? says Fr. la Colombiere, in his Reflections on this subject; have you never received any favor from God? Alas, we are surrounded, loaded, overwhelmed with His benefits, and we have never thanked Him as we ought. At Mass, at least, give a thought to these various benefits; so many sins over- looked, so loving a Providence continually exercised in your regard, so sweet and so constant an effort to draw you to Him, to gain your heart, to make you holy. The graces that you receive in one single day would suffice to occupy you during the...

“As the sanctity and merit of our actions depends on the motive and spirit with which they are actuated, the practice of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, however holy, would be of little use, unless it were animated with the spirit and the motive which                    gives it all its value. This motive, as we have said, is to repair, as far as possible, by our love, our adoration, and by every kind of homage the indignities and outrages which Jesus Christ has endured, and still daily endures, in the most Blessed Sacrament. It is in this spirit, and in these sentiments, the devotion should be practiced.”                                     (From De...

“And Jesus answering, said: ‘Were not ten [lepers] made clean? And where are the nine ?Is there is no one found to return and give glory to God, but this stranger?’  (Photo©Michael Seagriff) In the world, we cannot endure ingratitude. It is only when God is in question that we do not concern ourselves about being ungrateful. This wonderful cure, this miracle, had been extended to ten persons, and of them all, one only was found who thanked his Benefactor.

St. Mary's - Baldwinsville, NY -Photo©Michael Seagriff After this [Jesus telling His followers that he who feeds on His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life] many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away ? This question came from a Heart so inflamed with love, and was in itself so strong a proof of excessive tenderness, that it could not fail to oblige those, to whom it was directed, to love Jesus Christ yet more ardently. It had also all the effect that this Divine Savior desired; and this increase of fervor in the Apostles, consoled Him a little, for the affliction He felt, at the departure of those who had forsaken Him. Jesus Christ often asks us the same question, and for the same reason. How happy should we be, if it had the same effect!

If Jesus Christ, in coming to us, gives us sensible marks of His presence, as is generally the case with those who have a tender devotion to His Sacred Heart, let us profit by these precious moments, let us preserve great interior recollection, let us listen to our Lord, let us allow grace to work. If we do not hinder its operation by voluntary distractions, and a kind of dissipation by which the devil seeks to make us lose all the fruit of Communion, it will work wonders in us. The occupation of a fervent soul at this time, shouldbe principally, to abandon herself entirely to the loveof her Divine Savior, and to enjoy the sweetness of His presence.

Let us say some prayers before Communion, but let us spend at least a quarter of an hour in making profound reflections on the action we are about to perform. It is very difficult for a person to be convinced that he is going to receive Jesus Christ, and yet to have no desire of it, not to think of it, and to be but little impressed with it.

Let us imagine that the Communion, for which we are preparing, is to be the last in our lives. Let us prepare, every time, as though, on quitting the holy table, we had to pass from this life to eternity. If we desire that the sacrament of the Eucharist should produce in us sentiments of the love of God, let us think of the immense love which God has shown us in instituting this mystery, and of His design to oblige us thereby to love Him perfectly.

  “Were we to communicate only once in our life, our whole life, however long it might be, would  not be too long to prepare ourselves worthily for receiving so holy and so awful a mystery. This  should not, however, keep us from it. It should only urge us to approach it with the requisite  dispositions. We are wrong, then, when we say: '' I will not communicate, because I feel I am  unworthy." We should say, on the contrary: “I will endeavor, as far as possible, by the innocence  and regularity of my life, to make myself worthy to communicate."   To approach worthily, is to believe ourselves unworthy; while, at the same time, we do what we can to make ourselves less unworthy. A single good Communion is enough to make a Saint. Not much more is necessary than a good will, and a few reflections, in order to make a good Communion.   Those who communicate...