Pondering Tidbits of Truth - August 29, 2019

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.

God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena

"For no other reason ought the soul leave off prayer [other than for obedience or for charity's sake]. During the time ordained for prayer, the devil likes to arrive in the soul, causing much more conflict and trouble than when the soul is not occupied in prayer. This he does in order that holy prayer may become tedious to the soul."

(From The Dialogue)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - August 8, 2019

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.

Saint Paul VI

"All things, all history converges in Christ. A man of sorrow and hope, He knows us and loves us. As our friend He stays by us throughout our lives; at the end of time He will come to be our judge; but we also know that He will be the complete fulfillment of our lives and our great happiness for all eternity. I can never cease to speak of Christ for He is our truth and our light; He is the way, the truth and the life. He is our bread, our source of living water who allays our hunger and satisfies our thirst. He is our shepherd, our leader, our ideal, our comforter and our brother."

(From  November 29, 1970 Homily) 

Blog Tour and Book Review – A Storyteller's Guide to Joyful Service – Turning Your Misery Into Ministry

What do Catholic author and blogger, Tony Agnesi, and St. Claude de la Colombiere, the 17^th century spiritual director and author of Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, share in common?  - a steadfast and unswerving trust in God.

St. Claude used the following words to describe that level of trust:

“It is one of the most firmly established and most consoling of truths that have been revealed to us that (apart from sin) nothing happens to us in life unless God wills it so.”

and

“Be convinced that in all He allows and in all that happens to you God has no other end in view but your real advantage and your eternal happiness…”

These truths are consoling but oh how so difficult to live!

In his latest book, A Storyteller’s Guide to Joyful Service – Turning Your Misery into Ministry, Tony Agnesi shares  stirring examples of individuals (including himself) who stepped out in faith, trusted God’s promptings and allowed themselves to be used as instruments of healing and hope. 

"It's Worth Revisiting" Wednesday - Who Is St. Claude de la Colombiere?

Thanks to the generosity and encouragement of Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan, an ever-expanding group of Catholic bloggers take the time each week to re-post their favorite articles on “It’s Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.

Do yourself a favor- go there now (and every Wednesday) and let these authors bless and challenge you in your Faith journey.

During the rest of each week. visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb.  You will be pleased with what they share.

I offer this post for your consideration:

Who Is St. Claude de la Colombiere?

St. Claude de la Colombiere was a 17th century Jesuit. He believed that one of "the most firmly established and consoling of the truths that have been revealed to us" is "that (apart from sin) nothing happens to us in life unless God wills it so."

St. Claude became the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. He encouraged, supported and promoted her call to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The saint was also a gifted spiritual writer, who has left a number of gems, including one of my favorite books, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence (TSTDP). Blessed John Paul II canonized him in 1992.

Read and ponder what he has to say about earthly happiness and prayer:

Let me show you a good way to ask for happiness, even in this world. It is a way that will oblige God to listen to you. Say to Him earnestly: either give me so much money that my heart will be satisfied, or inspire me with such contempt for it that I no longer want it. Either free me from poverty, or make it so pleasant for me that I would not exchange it for all the wealth in the world. Either take away my suffering, or – which would be to Your greater glory – change it into delight for me, and instead of causing me affliction, let it become a source of joy. You can take away the burden of my cross, or You can leave it with me without my feeling its weight. You can extinguish the fire that burns me, or You can let it burn in such a way that it refreshes me as it did the three youths in the fiery furnace. I ask for either one thing or the other. What does it matter in what way I am happy? If I am happy through the possession of worldly goods, it is You I have to thank. If I am happy when deprived of them, it gives You greater glory and my thanks are all the greater.

This is the kind of prayer worthy of being offered to God by a true Christian. When you pray in this way, do you know what the effect of your prayers will be? First, you will be satisfied, whatever happens; and what else do those who most desire this world's goods want except to be satisfied? Secondly, you will not only obtain without fail, one of the two things you have asked for, but, as a rule, you will obtain both of them. – TSTDP (122-124)

[You will find more of his wisdom and that of countless Popes, Bishops, priests, saints and regular folk in my book, Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! Words to Challenge, Inspire and Instruct, about which EWTN hostess and well-known, author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle, had this to say: "I am very impressed with this book and the author's commitment to writing about the Catholic Faith in a very informational and inspirational manner. I have no doubt that this book will help others on their Faith journeys."]

Eucharistic Reflection – Our Annex to Paradise

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

"It is in our churches, in this tabernacle, that the living body of the Sav­ior rests. He was but nine months in the womb of Mary, three hours on the Cross, three days in the tomb. Yet he is always in our churches. This is why they do not empty of angels, archangels, and seraphim unceasingly adoring him. They adore him with signs of respect, with prostrations that, if we could perceive them, would strangely confound us. Our churches, if we might speak in such a way, are like an annex of paradise; there the Creator is adored, there the resurrected Savior finds a body and a soul, thereto the heavenly spirits journey, and there they delight in the same happiness savored beyond the firmament"

(St. Claude de la Colombiere from Christian Reflections)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - December 18, 2014

((Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

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. Catherine of Siena

“I long to see you making your home in the cell of self-knowledge, so that you may attain perfect love, for I know that we cannot please our Creator unless we love him, because he is love and wants nothing but love. If we do know ourselves we find this love. Why? Because we see our own nothingness, that our very existence is ours by grace and not because we have a right to it, and every grace beyond our existence as well - it is all given to us with boundless love. Then we discover so much of God's goodness poured out on us that words cannot describe it. And once we see ourselves so loved by God, we cannot help loving him. And within ourselves we love God and our own ratio­nality, and hate the sensuality that would take inordi­nate pleasure in the world.”

(From The Dialogue)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - Week of August 30, 2012

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.




From St. Thomas Aquinas

“Man should not consider his material possessions his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.”

From St. Claude de la Colombiere, S.J.

“Imagine the anguish and tears of a mother who is present at a painful operation her child has to undergo. Can anyone doubt on seeing her that she consents to allow the child to suffer only because she expects it to get well and be spared further suffering by means of this violent remedy?

Reason in the same manner when adversity befalls you. You complain that you are ill-treated, insulted, slandered, robbed. Your redeemer (the name is a tenderer one than that of father or mother), your Redeemer is a witness to all you are suffering. He who loves you and has emphatically declared that whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye, nevertheless allows you to be stricken though He could easily prevent it. Do you hesitate to believe that this passing trial is necessary for the health of your soul?”

From Scripture (Luke 6:46)

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not put into practice what I teach you?

Who Is St. Claude de la Colombiere?

St. Claude de la Colombiere was a 17th century Jesuit whose life we recall today. He believed that one of "the most firmly established and consoling of the truths that have been revealed to us" is "that (apart from sin) nothing happens to us in life unless God wills it so." St. Claude became the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. He encouraged, supported and promoted her call to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The saint was also a gifted spiritual writer, who has left a number of gems, including one of my favorite books, Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence (TSTDP). Blessed John Paul II canonized him in 1992.

Read and ponder what he has to say about earthly happiness and prayer:

Let me show you a good way to ask for happiness, even in this world. It is a way that will oblige God to listen to you. Say to Him earnestly: either give me so much money that my heart will be satisfied, or inspire me with such contempt for it that I no longer want it. Either free me from poverty, or make it so pleasant for me that I would not exchange it for all the wealth in the world. Either take away my suffering, or – which would be to Your greater glory – change it into delight for me, and instead of causing me affliction, let it become a source of joy. You can take away the burden of my cross, or You can leave it with me without my feeling its weight. You can extinguish the fire that burns me, or You can let it burn in such a way that it refreshes me as it did the three youths in the fiery furnace. I ask for either one thing or the other. What does it matter in what way I am happy? If I am happy through the possession of worldly goods, it is You I have to thank. If I am happy when deprived of them, it gives You greater glory and my thanks are all the greater.

This is the kind of prayer worthy of being offered to God by a true Christian. When you pray in this way, do you know what the effect of your prayers will be? First, you will be satisfied, whatever happens; and what else do those who most desire this world's goods want except to be satisfied? Secondly, you will not only obtain without fail, one of the two things you have asked for, but, as a rule, you will obtain both of them. – TSTDP (122-124)

You will find more of his wisdom and that of countless Popes, Bishops, priests, saints and regular folk in my recently released book, Forgotten Truths To Set Faith Afire! Words to Challenge, Inspire and Instruct, about which EWTN hostess and well-known, author Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle, had this to say: "I am very impressed with this book and the author's commitment to writing about the Catholic Faith in a very informational and inspirational manner. I have no doubt that this book will help others on their Faith journeys."