Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

In How To Be His - A 33-Day Dedication to our Eucharistic Jesus , Father Jesse J. Maingot, O.P. shares the wisdom and insight of St. Peter Julian Eymard; here are two brief samples:   "Few persons think of the virtues, the life, the state of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. We treat Him like a statute; we think He is there merely to forgive our sins and to listen to our prayers. That is a wrong viewpoint. Our Lord lives and acts in the Eucharist. Look at Him, study and imitate Him!...Observe Him practicing virtue and you shall know what you have to do."                                                                    (St. Peter Julian Eymard) Father reminds us: that our Lord is patient and quiet; that He's waiting for us; that He's so available, so generous - anyone can come and talk to Him; that He looks at Hi...

 

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. Mother Angelica   "Please, make a visit every so often. Just go into your church for a moment and say, “Hi, Jesus, I’m here. I don’t have much to say.” He knows that...He wants our will, our love, our faith, and our trust. Remember now, you have that, you have everything. Every day, whatever church you belong to, he waits in that tabernacle, hoping when that door opens, it’s you."   St. Peter Julian Eymard "Oh! How well the devil knows that by keeping souls away from the Eucharist he is destroying the Christian family and fostering selfishness in us. For there are only two loves: the love of God and the love of self. We must give ourselves to the one or to the other. How unhappy are they who no longer have the Eucharist! What darkness! What lawlessness of mind! What coldness of heart! Satan alone...

"Ima gine now that you hear these sweet words from your Savior: 'It is because you are poor that I come into you; it is because you are sick that I come to heal you; it was to give you My life and let you share My sanctity that I made Myself Sacrament; come then with confidence and give Me Your heart; that is all I desire from you'."   St. Peter Julian Eymard from  Holy Communion )    

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 John Catoir   "The more you trust God, the happier you will be...The great spiritual masters tell us that the path to both happiness and holiness is found in fidelity to the duty of the present moment. If you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. Be faithful to the duty of the present moment. Do it for the Lord, and be at peace."  (An excerpt from Uplifting Thoughts for Every Day ) St. Peter Julian Eymard   “What displeases God most on earth and in us is sin. You must give this truth your attentive consideration. The just and the saints themselves are not exempt from sin. And we, have we not at least venial sins on our conscience? The just and the saints themselves are not exempt from sin. Have we never had to weep for mortal sins?...

 

 

  "Oh! How well the devil knows that by keeping souls away from the Eucharist he is destroying the Christian family and fostering selfishness in us. For there are only two loves: the love of God and the love of self. We must give ourselves to the one or to the other.   How unhappy are they who no longer have the Eucharist! What darkness! What lawlessness of mind! What coldness of heart! Satan alone reigns as master and with him every evil passion! As for us, the Eucharist delivers us from all evils!"  (Excerpted from   30 Day Eucharistic Retreat - A Retreat with St. Peter Julian Eymard by Father Donald H. Calloway, MIC)

“We can understand why the Son of God loved man enough to become man Himself. The Creator must have been set on repairing the work of His hands. We can also understand how, from an excessive love, the God-man died on the cross. But something we cannot understand, something that terrifies those of little faith and scandalizes unbelievers, is the fact that Jesus Christ after having been glorified and crowned, after having completed His mission here below, wanted still to dwell with us and in a state more lowly and self-abasing than at Bethlehem, than on Calvary itself. With reverence, let us lift the mysterious veil that covers the Holy of Holies and let us try to understand the excessive love which our Savior has for us.” (St. Peter Julian Eymard from The Hidden God )

"Do you feel unworthy to Receive Holy Communion? You should. You are unworthy. We are all unworthy. Knowing your unworthiness is a sign that you have a healthy spiritual life and proper disposition for receiving Holy Communion... Though we are all unworthy of such a great gift, our Retreat Master [St. Peter Julian Eymard] is very clear that the only thing that should keep us from Holy Communion is mortal sin." (Excerpt from 30 Day Eucharistic Revival - A Retreat with St. Peter Julian Eymard by Father Donald H. Calloway, MIC)

  “Ah, yes! The Eucharist began at Bethlehem in Mary's arms. It was she who brought to humanity the Bread for which it was famishing, and which alone can nourish it. She, it was who took care of that Bread for us. It was she who nourished the Lamb whose life-giving Flesh we feed upon.  She nourished Him with her virginal milk; she nourished Him for the sacrifice, for she foreknew His destiny. Yes, she knew from the beginning, and every day she realizes it more fully, that her Lamb is only for immolation. She accepts God's will, and bearing Him in her arms, herself prepares for us the victim at Calvary - that Victim of our Altars.” (From Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament by Saint Peter Julian Eymard)

(Photo©Lawrence Lew, O.P. Used With Permission) “Hence I say, if we wish to become saints, we must become interior souls. We are obliged thereto by our vocation as adorers. Without this interior spirit, how can we pray? If in the presence of our Lord we cannot spend a single instant without a book, if we have nothing to say to Him from our own heart, what are we going to do at Adoration? What can we never speak to Him from the abundance of our own heart? Must we always borrow the thoughts and words of strangers? No, no! Let us strive to become recollected interior souls. No one can be this in the way that Jesus and Mary were; but everyone can become recollected in the degree given him by grace. Without the interior life, we shall never receive any consolation, encouragement in prayer; we shall only be unhappy at the feet of our Lord. If you wish to become true adorers, we must have this interior spirit. We should talk to our Lord when kneeling in His presence, ask Him questions, awai...

" Virgin Immaculate, who, after the Ascension of thy Divine son, didst console thy exile on earth by the Real Presence of Jesus in the Sacrament and didst spend before the Tabernacle the greater part of thy days and even thy nights, make us comprehend the treasure we possess on the altar. Inspire us to visit often the God of Love in the Sacrament in which He abides to receive the homage that He deserves by so many titles, and to guide, protect and console us in this exile." (From Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament by Saint Peter Julian Eymard)

"Eucharistic adorers share Mary’s life and mission of prayer at the foot of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It is the most beautiful of all missions, and it holds no perils.  It is the most holy, for in it all the virtues are practiced.  It is, moreover, the most necessary to the Church, which has even more need of prayerful souls than of powerful preachers; of men of penance rather than of men of eloquence.  Today more than ever have we need of men who, by their self-immolation, disarm the anger of God inflamed by the ever-increasing crimes of nation.  We must have souls who by their importunity re-open the treasures of grace which the indifference of the multitude has closed.  We must have true adorers; that is to say, men of fervor and of sacrifice.  When there are many such souls around their Divine Chief, God will be glorified, Jesus will be loved, and society will once more be Christian, conquered for Jesus Christ by the apostolate of Euchari...

Eucharistic Adoration is the greatest of actions and there is nothing greater or holier we can do on earth than this adoration. To adore is to share the life of Mary on earth when she adored the Word Incarnate in her virginal womb, when she adored Him in the Crib, on Calvary, in the divine Eucharist. (Photo©Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. Used With Permission) To adore is to share the life of noble souls on earth, whose love and happiness found expression in the long hours they passed at the foot of the Tabernacle to adore therein the hidden God and to glorify and love Him as much as they could. The Tabernacle was their only reason for loving life; they lived only to consume themselves in the flames of His love. To adore is to share the life of the saints in heaven who never cease to praise, bless and adore the goodness, the love, the glory, the power and the divinity of the Lamb immolated for the love of men and the glory of God the Father. Eucharistic Adoration is the holiest of...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) "Why (as St. Peter Julian Eymard observed more than 100 years ago) do we have time for everything except for visits to our Lord and God, Who is waiting and longing for us in the Blessed Sacrament? Why do so few visit You? Why are those who try to do so often locked out? Why are Your Church and its members so timid and so silent about this great mystery and gift? Why have we lost reverence for and belief in Your Real Presence?" (Excerpt from I Thirst For Your Love )

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...