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.     Johann Tauler, O.P. "Priests, on account of their dignity, have a right to more honor and respect. They represent the sovereign Priest, Jesus Christ; you owe them therefore a very profound respect. They may be good to you and treat you with condescension, but never let a layman dare to make himself the equal of a priest and treat him with familiarity. Never consider them as your comrades, but as your superiors. Remain in your place; and if one of them wants to condescend to your level, do not take advantage of it in any other way than to put yourselves still lower." (From Spiritual Conferences )      St. Peter Julian Eymard "Since Jesus Christ has loved me, I will love Him in spite of everything and nothing will ever prevent me from loving Him! The events of the time, the spiritual forces, hunger, nakedness, the sword o...

  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.      Johann Tauler, O.P. "Be sure of this: there is no creature ever made by God who can set you free or help you; only God can do it. Run about as you will, search high and low the whole world over, you will never find the help you need anywhere except in God. If the Lord chooses to use an instrument, man or angel, to achieve this, He can; but He must do it and no one else." (From Spiritual Conferences ) Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. "Today is a day of ultimates and of clear-cut choices. For the lines are sharply drawn. Either we stand with Mary beneath the cross, or we stand with the shouting rabble about the cross. We find ourselves either as members of the Mystical Body of Christ, or are found to be members of the mystical body of antichrist. We become totalitarian Christians and give our all to God, or we become totalitarian a...

“Do any of us suffer as much as our dear Lord, who suffers shame and injury every day? If He were now able to suffer as He once was, He would suffer more now than He did when He was put to death. Countless times every day He is crucified again, by the horrible oaths that are sworn upon His death and His wounds, by the mortal sins which daily renew His Passion, reopen His wounds, and make His Precious Blood flow again. What shameful things are inflicted on Him every day when His pure, precious, divine body is received into so many foul, stinking, devilish vessels? We are those vessels, made for Him, and we knowingly fill them with created things. If He were still capable of feeling the torments He knew on earth, it would hurt Him more to be received by such men than it once hurt to be received by Judas; for they have the faith. They know that He is their God and their Creator, which Judas did not. If those who love God could feel in their bodies the pain which they feel in their heart...

(Photo©Michael Seagriff) "For 'My flesh is truly food and My Blood is truly drink.' People who only consider the Blessed Sacrament externally, with their senses, looking on it merely as food and drink, bread and wine, taste and know nothing of the precious fruits and unutterable sweetness hidden with it. All the other food we eat is a base and lifeless thing, deriving its worth only from the dignity of human life which it supports. But this noble food is living itself, and is the life of men. All those who are refreshed and nourished by it live eternally, as our Lord Himself says: 'Who eats My flesh and drinks My blood shall live forever.' When He said this, many of His friends left Him, because they did not understand what He said. 'Who can accept these words?' they asked. They tried to understand it with their intellects and so they left Him. This gift far transcends all natural understanding; when this food is eaten, the eater becomes one with what h...