Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons) I believe everything the Church teaches about the Holy Eucharist. I believe, even if I do not understand, even if I do not see. I know that those are blessed who do not see and yet believe. The Savior said so. It reminds me of the story that is told about St. Louis IX of France. One day a miracle took place in a nearby church. Someone came rush­ing to the King and said: "Hurry, Your Majesty! Jesus has appeared in the Host in human figure during Mass." But the King did not hurry. He did not even go. He said: "Let those go to see the miracle who have any doubt about the Real Presence. I need no miracle. I believe."

“The holy Gospels tell us again and again that while the Savior was visibly with us on earth He healed the sick by His mere passing by; and with an only word He raised the dead to life. If such were His active goodness then – and who would venture even to think of doubting it? – what works of charity must He do now, in His Eucharistic life! Oh, He does not merely pass before me now, He does not only speak to me – nay, He actually enters under my roof and transforms me into Himself.  

“Jesus loves poverty with a very special love – so much so, indeed, that, because He could not find it in heaven, He came down and sought it here on earth. He took nothing along with Him from heaven. The tiny bit of glory that He gets on earth is the free gift of the few generous hearts that are trying to show how much they love Him. He is at His lovers’ mercy! Were merely a little wafer of bread denied Him, He could not remain in our midst on earth – He, the Lord of the Universe!... Jesus begs. I wonder for what?   He [Jesus] begs for one little word of kindly considerate greeting when I pass by a church… for a short ejaculatory prayer from time to time…for at least one loving aspiration when the bells ring out from the church towers…for a thought, one only thought, when I am alone. A word surely…at least a word I would not even refuse the most despicable criminal. But for Jesus?...Have I a word for Jesus?...How many? He begs for a little company. For hou...

“When Jesus remains in the quiet of the altar, in the tabernacle’s shadow, people in their blind carelessness let Him alone, they forget all about Him. And when He exposes Himself upon the altar, he is hurt to the Heart by the irreverence of so many who either have no faith at all or a faith that is very weak. When He goes through the streets in order to bring unspeakable blessings to His beloved children, He hears curses and blasphemies that make out of His errand of mercy another way of the cross. But in the midst of all these bitternesses one hope sustains Him – the hope of a place of refuge that will offer the love and peace He craves. The bitter chalice which others continually place to His lips He drinks with resignation; for He is sustained by the hope of a loving reception in my heart by way of reparation. One only hour spent in the enjoyment of my love, and He forgets years and years of suffering… Altar and tabernacle, monstrance and church, are merely the avenues...

“It is nightfall...One by one the lights go out in the dwellings of men...Millions of stars twinkle in the vast vault of heaven...But on earth one only star still glimmers - the tiny star of light in the sanctuary lamp.” “Its feeble rays struggle through the windows of a little church...it moves unsteadily to and fro...until it reaches you...Do you not see it? Jesus sends it to tell you that He never rests, that day and night, year in and year out, His heart is busy loving you, and the poor, and the unhappy - yes, even those who crucify Him.” (Eucharistic Whisperings by Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

"We pass the church and have no greeting for our amiable Savior; we meet Him on the street and are almost ashamed to recognize Him as God. Great sinners, notorious criminals, are treated better than He...Poor Jesus!" ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

Listen. Jesus is speaking …Being in heaven I came down to earth; and then I instituted the Blessed Sacrament in order to be with you always. In Holy Communion I really and truly come to you…And you?...When do you come to Me? In Holy Communion I visit you; but, tell Me, My child, when do you visit Me? Perhaps our sacred meeting in the morning satisfies you; it does not satisfy Me. I long to see you here in My presence again before evening. My child. That is why I now invite you. Won’t you accept the invitation? ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS) Image credit to Pat Gohn

In the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament I invariably find something that the world always hides from me, namely, knowledge of self. In the light of the Holy Eucharist all my faults and failings and all my sins, past and present, become clear to me; and then from the very depths of my heart there wells up a cleansing, purifying font of sorrow. Oh, how poor and miserable I appear to myself when in the presence of Jesus! And yet how sweet and salutary are the tears that I shed at the sight of transgressions! If I cannot find it here, then where in the world can I find it – a little patch of earth, I mean, one to be watered by my tears so that thereon the tender blossoms of hope may germ and grow? Who, if not Jesus, can say to me, “Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee”? (Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

“Ah, how it hurts to see in what manner our Savior is treated! There He is in the tabernacle, the Prisoner of Love, waiting for souls to come and visit Him. But who ever gives Him even a thought, one only thought?...It would cause so very little trouble to go to Him...for just a sweet moment. It would be so very easy to cast a tender glance upon that tiny door...to send a loving thought a-speeding towards that tabernacle...to breathe a few whispered words of affection...but, alas! When it comes to doing something for Jesus that something, no matter how small, becomes at once irksome and grievous-so weak are we!” ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

"..Jesus has been the Bread of life for so many centuries, and yet during all those centuries countless souls have died of hunger. many never knew Him, many never saw him again once the day of their First Holy Communion was over. Even now there are many who are at once sick and tired of it, not to say disgusted, when you begin to speak to Him; many only then make up their minds to receive Him when a threatening voice speaks within them and fills them with fear...So there He is, the God who has loved them from all eternity and Who ceases not to love them now; and He must look upon them while they waste away and die of hunger. He can do nothing for them; their sad indifference repels Him when He would approach, bind those divine hands that would bless and do good. The Savior without souls! Poor Jesus!" ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

“I told Him this morning in Holy Communion that I want to belong wholly to Him and that always…What a loving glance He gave me then!...O how far away from Him my thoughts already are…how far away my heart…how far! O why do I treat Him so? Poor Jesus! He always thinks of me, and I think so seldom of Him.” ( Eucharistic Whisperings , Father Winfrid Herbst, SDS)

           Far too many Catholics complain they find the Mass to be “boring” or that they “get nothing out of it”.   It is unlikely they would feel that way if they knew the answers to the following questions:   What is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? What happens at Mass? Who is present there? What benefits do we receive by participating at Mass?             In his powerful book, The Way to God, Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. tells us that the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass “is not a mere commemoration of the sacrifice of the cross.   No it is the same, the actuality, the renewal, the continuation, the representation of the sacrifice of the cross… so that when I assist at Mass I am present at the Sacrifice of the cross as much as Mary, John and Magdalen were.   It is the unbloody renewal of the bloody Sacrifice of the cross.” Does this essential truth of our ...

Upon further reflection and prayer, I prefer this version to that post which I previously posted.   After recently reading the familiar Gospel story about Lazarus and the rich man, I saw the following internet headline: “Pastor who does not believe in hell fired!”   God’s timing is impeccable, isn’t it? My immediate thought after reading this headline was: “and this pastor was caught off guard by his dismissal?”   The sad reality is that it is not just this specific minister, but so many other Christians, including many Catholics (even some of their priests), who have abandoned the fundamental truth that there are eternal consequences to a life lived in unrepentant and unconfessed sin (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, Sections 1033-1041).   “Our God is far too merciful,” these dissidents argue, “than to banish anyone to an eternity in hell.” What Scripture and what Catechism do they read? How have we arrived at this state of confusion on such...