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.   St. John of the Cross "What more do you want, o soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfactions, fullness and kingdom - your Beloved Whom you desire and seek? Be joyful and gladdened in your interior recollection with Him, for you have Him so close to you. Desire Him there, adore Him there. Do not go in pursuit of Him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and wearied thereby, and you shall not find Him, nor enjoy Him more securely, nor sooner, nor more intimately than by seeking Him within you." (From Spiritual Canticle ) Thomas a Kempis "You must first have peace in your own soul before you can make peace between other people. Peaceable people accomplish more good than learned people do. Those who are passionate often can turn good i...

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. Caryll Houselander "You see, God's will for you is to serve Him, in His way, as He chooses, now . It is only a want of humility to think of extreme vocations, like being a nun or a nurse, while you try to bypass your present obvious vocation, which is to restore your will to God's, so that you may become what He wants you to be, and may be able to use the faculties He has given  to you for His service." (From The Letters of Caryll Houselander ) St. Paul of the Cross "Build an oratory within yourself, and there have Jesus on the altar of your heart. Speak to Him often while you are doing your work. Speak to Him of His holy love, of His holy sufferings and of the sorrow of most holy Mary." (From Flower of the Passion -Thoughts of St. Paul of the Cross) St. Francis de Sales "It is horrible irreverence to Him who with s...

Pondering Tidbits of Tr uth   is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time. St. John of the Cross "What more do you want, O soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfactions, fullness, and kingdom - your Beloved Whom you desire and seek? Be joyful and gladdened in your interior recollection with Him, for you have Him so close to you. Desire Him there, adore Him there. Do not go in pursuit of Him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and wearied thereby, and you shall not find Him, nor enjoy Him more securely, nor sooner, nor more intimately by seeking Him within you." (From The Spiritual Canticle ) Mother Julienne Morrell, O.P. “Human praises are indeed to be shunned on account of the great harm they produce. They are nothing else, in the words of St. Bernard, but a hollow whistle, a little wind in the ears, blinding and inflating the...

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.       Brother Finbar Kantor, O.P. "Saint Barnabas urges us in the midst of ‘evil days’ to look first to that problem which is most intimate to us—the salvation of our eternal soul. Before worrying about political policy or ecclesial bickering, the state of our soul should be our first concern. What is my relationship like with God? With my family? With my neighbors? ( Mt 22:37-40 ) These are the things that should really matter to us because they affect our salvation. If we get this hierarchy wrong and seek to gain the world rather than our salvation, we risk a terrible loss ( Mt 8:36-38 )." (From Dominicana - The Things That Matter )    Venerable Louis of Granada, O.P. "When you feel the promptings of this shameful disorder [gluttony] subdue them by the following considerations: Call to mind  that it was a sin 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.       Frank Sheed “A really frightening test of how much value we attach to [Christ] lies in how we feel about friends who never seem to give Him a thought. Do we feel it as unbearable that they should not have the gifts of light and nourishment that He has given us? If not, we should ask ourselves how much those same gifts do actually mean to ourselves. If there were a famine and people lacked bread, we should work hard to relieve it. But if they lack the Bread of Life and it causes not the faintest stirring in us even of care much less of desire to aid their destitution–we have to ask ourselves what that tells us about ourselves. How much does their starvation matter to us? Do we even think of it as starvation?” ( From The Hidden Manna by James T. O’Connor )     St. John of...