Pondering Tidbits of Truth - February 22, 2024

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.

Father Francis Wendell, O.P.

"We live in a secularist society. Stated that bluntly it means very little. Actually, the implications are tremendous. St. Dominic, were he introduced to our society, would be amazed and aghast at the things that are commonplace today. God was a reality in the lives of the people of his age; for us God had become either a myth or has been relegated to the position of a peculiar old relative who is kept more or less hidden away upstairs."

(From Spiritual Powerhouse)

St. Paul of the Cross

"When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to preach to you a little sermon, and then listen to the word of eternal life that it speaks to your heart; listen to the pleading of the the thorns, the nails, the precious Blood. Oh, what an eloquent sermon!"

(From Flowers of the Passion - Thoughts of St. Paul of the Cross)

St. Basil

"Men are accustomed to say that God is not just. Why is God not unjust in dispensing things to us unequally? The unjust one is not he. Why therefore are you enjoying abundance while that one begs, if not so that by dispensing life-sustaining food you may obtain the reward of life and he be crowned with the wreath of patience? Are you not the predator in appropriating what was entrusted to you to dispense? It is the bread of the needy that you hold back, the tunic of the naked  that you store in your closet, the shoes of the barefoot that you on rare occasion stroll in, the money of the indigent that you hide in the ground; that is why there are so many injuries as what you are able to give."

(From Sermon on Luke 16)

Monday Musings - Take Your Crucifix

 

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - November 18, 2021

 

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.

 

 

 

Father Thomas Dubay, S.M.

“There is a great gap for most people between prayer and performance. At our devotions we can say sublime things about loving God with our whole heart, and then ten minutes later divide that heart with selfish overeating—or any one of a dozen other petty clingings.”

(From Deep Conversion Deep Prayer)

 

 

Johann Tauler, O.P.

“Our wretched nature is so possessive and so utterly self-centered that it creeps in everywhere to arrogate to itself what does not belong to it. It spoils and sullies the gifts of God and hinders Him in His noble work. Our nature is completely permeated with the poison of original sin, with the result that it seeks its own satisfaction in everything. St. Thomas says that on account of this same poison, man loves himself more than God, or His angels, or anything else that God ever created. Not that God made our nature like this; it has become corrupt and disfigured by turning away from God.”

 

(From Spiritual Conferences)

 

 

St. Paul of the Cross

"Let all creation help you to praise God. Give yourself the rest you need. When you are walking alone, listen to the sermon preached to you by the flowers, the trees, the shrubs, the sky, the sun and the whole world. Notice how they preach to you a sermon full of love, of praise of God, and how they invite you to proclaim the greatness of the one who has given them being."

(From Flowers of the Passion)

 

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - February 18, 2021

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.

 

 

 

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen 

“At the very moment when a tree turns against Him and becomes a cross, when iron turns against Him and becomes nails, when roses turn against Him and become thorns, when men turn against Him and become executioners, He lets fall from His lips for the first time in the history of the world a prayer for enemies: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23:34)” 

(From The Rainbow of Sorrow)

 

St. Thomas More

"If I am distracted, Holy Communion helps me to become recollected. If opportunities are offered by each day to offend my God, I arm myself anew each day for the combat by the reception of the Eucharist. If I am in special need of light and prudence in order to discharge my burdensome duties, I draw nigh to my Savior and seek counsel and light from him."  

 

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 sorrows of most holy Mary."

(From  Flowers of the Passion -Thoughts of St Paul of the Cross)