Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Since we have lost the sense of sin, it is unlikely that many of us have spent sufficient time looking at the true nature of our relationship with God and the actual condition of our souls – an essential self-examination if we desire to be eternally united with our Lord.   When God looks at your soul what does He see?  Photo by The Business Model Scholar on Unsplash Listen to Jesus explain this truth to St. Catherine of Siena:  “Do you know, daughter, who you are and who I am? If you know these two things you have beatitude in your grasp. You are she who is not, and I AM HE WHO IS. Let your soul but become penetrated with this truth, and the Enemy can never lead you astray; you will never be caught in any snare of his, nor ever transgress any commandment of mine; you will have set your feet on the royal road which leads to the fullness of grace, and truth, and light." Without God we are nothing! Now listen and ponder the words of St. Peter Julian Eymard as he urges...

Thank you Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You   and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting .    It is a privilege for us to share our work with you and your readers .  Stop by for a visit now .   Monday Musings - Which Kind of Soul Am I? - Part 2  (Originally posted October 16, 2017) (Image source:  Wikimedia Commons ) [In T he Golden Key to Heaven  –  An Explanation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, St.   Anthony Mary Claret discusses three distinct types of souls. Last week we looked at the first type (you can review that post here ).  If you did not recognize yourself then, maybe what follows will be a more accurate description. This one might really smart - the Truth does that you know.] "The second class of men consists of those who have a true will to aspire to perfection, but it is not ...

Thank you Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You   and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting .    It is a privilege for us to share our work with you and your readers .  Stop by for a visit now .    Monday Musings - Which Kind of Soul Am I? – Part I (Originally posted on October 9, 2017)   [Saint Anthony Mary Claret lived in the nineteenth century, was Archbishop of Santiago Cuba, a great writer and preacher. He founded three religious orders and had the gift of prophecy and the discernment of hearts.  He wrote The Golden Key to Heaven – An Explanation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius . Now is the time to rediscover this dust-covered spiritual classic. It is from this book that we will seek an answer to the question posed above. Be prepared for a challenging and soul searching ride.] (Image source: Wikimedia Comm...

Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. wrote The Way to God in 1947 at a time when the Catholic Church had not yet lost sight of its primary purpose - the salvation of souls. As will be clear from the following excerpt, however,  not all Catholics back then made the salvation of their souls a personal priority.   (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) “Some people, who do not pray much and who do not make their work prayer by living in the state of grace and doing everything with a good intention, spend hours and hours every day on other things but only a few minutes on their souls. It reminds me of a priest who asked a man who was caring for his horse how much time he spent every day caring for the animal. He said, ‘About two hours.’ The priest asked him how much time he spent every day caring for his soul.  (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) He said, ‘A few minutes.’ Whereupon the good priest answered, ‘Since that is the case, if I belonged to you I ...

The key is not worldly power, possessions and prestige. It is interior:

St. Catherine of Siena reminds us that it is not enough to be "a good person" or a "spiritual person". We must be "trees of love" free from deadly sin: (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) “All of you are trees of love: You cannot live without love because I made you for love. The soul who lives virtuously sets her tree's root in the valley of true humility. But those who live wickedly have set their root in the mountain of pride, and because it is badly planted it produces fruit not of life but of death. Their fruits are their actions, and they are all poisoned by a multitude of different sins. If they do produce one or another fruit of good action, it is spoiled because the root from which it comes is rotten. In other words, if a soul is living in deadly sin, no good that she does has any value for eternal life because it is not done in grace.”