Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) …the work of Perpetual Adoration is superior to all other religious practices. IT IS THE WORK OF WORKS – THE SOURCE OF ALL WORKS.  St. Pope Pius X

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. Pius X "...men are only instruments which God makes use of for the salvation of souls We have to make sure those instruments are in a good state of repair so that God can use them." (From Encyclical - Haerent animo )

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 Jacques Phillipe “Íf people know what they must do today and commit themselves to doing it and leave tomorrow to God’s providence, all is well. What more can anyone do? Take the step that needs taking today. Take another step tomorrow. Every day will have its own steps to take.” (From March 20, 2017 Reflections of the Frassati Fellowship-New York City) Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O. “To human eyes how did Jesus differ from the thieves who were condemned and crucified with Him? If some stranger had come to Jerusalem that Friday afternoon and passed Calvary before darkness enfolded it, how could he tell that the middle cross held Innocence and the Redemption of mankind? He would have seen three naked men dying by degrees. How could he know that One was not only the Light of the World but the Life of all living...

(Photo©Michael Seagriff) 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. Pius X "When vice runs wild, when persecution hangs heavy, when error is so cunning that it threatens her destruction by snatching many children from her bosom (and plunges them into the whirlpool of sin and impiety) - then, more than ever, the Church is strengthened from above. Whether the wicked will it or not, God makes even error aid in the triumph of Truth whose guardian and defender is the Church. He puts corruption in the service of sanctity, whose mother and nurse is the Church. Out of persecution He brings a more wondrous 'freedom from our enemies.' For these reasons, when worldly men think they see the Church buffeted and almost capsized in the raging storm, then she really comes forth fairer, stronger, purer, and brighter with the luster of distinguished virtues." ...

We deceive ourselves and others if we believe the words we post and publish (no matter how insightful and inspiring we may consider them to be) are more important than the manner in which we live our daily lives.  

(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. Bishop Guiseppe Sarto (St. Pope Pius X) "A priest's life is a continual warfare against evil, which cannot fail to raise up powerful enemies. In order that they may not prevail against us, let us be united in charity amongst ourselves; thus we shall be invincible and strong as a rock."    (Letter to Pastors) Jesus to St. Catherine of Siena "Having perfect love toward neighbor depends essentially on having perfect love for Me. The same measure of perfection or imperfection that the soul puts into its love for Me is found also in the love it bears to creatures." ( The Dialogue ) St. Pius X  "We must fight the capital crime of our day, which is the substitution of man for God; we must illumine with the Ten Commandments, with the evangelical cou...

(Photography©Michael Seagriff) 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.   Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati   "We who, by the grace of God, are Catholics, must not squander the best years of our lives as so many unhappy young people do, who worry about enjoying the good things in life, things that do not in fact bring any good, but rather the fruit of immorality in today's world. We must prepare ourselves to be ready and able to handle the struggles we will have to endure to fulfill our goals, and, in so doing, to give our country happier and morally healthier days in the near future. But in order for this to happen we need the following: constant prayer to obtain God's grace, without which all our efforts are in vain; organization and discipline to be ready for action at the right moment; and finally, we need to sacrifice our own passions, indeed our very sel...

 (Abbey at Genesee, Piffard, NY)  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. Thomas Aquinas   “If you are looking for an example of patience, behold there on the cross the most excellent example of patience. For great patience is shown in two ways. Either when anyone endures great pain with resignation or when anyone endures that which he was able to avoid and did not avoid.” (From The Aquinas Catechism: A Simple Explanation)   Pius X “Most of the evils which beset the Church and most of the problems with which the Catholic Church is plagued, are not due to bad will. No, they are mainly due to ignorance of Christ’s revealed truth.”   (From Acerbo Nimis , 1)   Venerable Fulton J. Sheen  “…Christ affirms that when a man marries a woman, he marries both her body and her soul; he marries the whole person. If he gets tire...

  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. Pope Francis Paul is a nuisance; he is a man, who with his preaching, his work, his attitude, irritates others, because testifying to Jesus Christ and the proclamation of Jesus Christ makes us uncomfortable, it threatens our comfort zones – even Christian comfort zones, right? It irritates us. The Lord always wants us to move forward, forward, forward – not to take refuge in a quiet life, or in cozy structures, no? And Paul, in preaching of the Lord, was a nuisance. But he had deep within him that most Christian of attitudes: Apostolic zeal.”  (Homily – May 16, 2013)   St. Thomas Aquinas “Man needs to know two things: the glory of God and the punishment of Hell. For through being drawn by His glory and terrified by His punishments, men are careful on their own account and refrain from sin.”   ( The Trea...

According to St. Pius X, our sanctity depends in large measure on the holiness of our priests. This Holy Thursday then is an appropriate time to reflect on our priests, the imperative that the Eucharist be the source, center and summit of their and our lives, and our duty as laity to treasure, encourage and support them. We begin by recalling how eloquently St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Doctor of our Church, wrote of what it is to be a priest:   “We must begin by purifying ourselves before purifying others; we must be instructed to be able to instruct, become light to illuminate, draw close to God to bring Him close to others, be sanctified to sanctify, lead by the hand and counsel prudently…I know God’s greatness and man’s weakness but also his potential.   The priest is the defender of Truth, who stands with angels, gives glory with archangels, causes sacrifices to rise to the altar on high, shares Christ’s priesthood, refashions creation, restores it in God’s image, re...