Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

"The seven dispositions with relation to our Lord in which you should exercise yourself are as follows:                              Love Him with most ardent love;                              Fear Him above all things;                            Render Him the honor and respect which are His due;                            Have a most constant zeal in His service;                              T hank and praise Him;                              Obey promptly and perfectly all His commands;...

(Originally posted on April 5, 2014) (Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, NYC) Today, we will celebrate the feast day of one of the greatest preachers, confessors and healers in the history of the Dominican Order, St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419). He preached throughout Europe, unafraid to share the Truth knowing It had the power to convert and transform reluctant and sinful hearts. Thousands of lukewarm Catholics and clergy had their faith reignited. Similarly thousand of Jews and Muslims became Catholics. One thing is crystal clear: St. Vincent Ferrer’s zeal for the salvation of souls knew no bounds. He valued and tried to reach every soul that crossed his path.

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, O.P. "As mariners are guided into port by the shining of a star, so Christians are guided to heaven by Mary."  (From Mary: Mother of God by Chukwueloka Okolo) St. Rose of Lima " If only mortals would learn how great it is to possess divine grace, how beautiful, how noble, how precious. How many riches it hides within itself, how many joys and delights! Without doubt they would devote all their care and concern to winning for themselves pains and afflictions.  All men throughout the world would seek trouble, infirmities and torments, instead of good fortune, in order to attain the unfathomable treasure of grace. This is the reward and the final gain of patience.  No one would complain about his cross or about troubles that might happen to him if he...

Another week and an additional opportunity to t hank Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb  and Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting . We appreciate sharing our work with them and their readers each week.  Stop by for a visit now .   Here is my contribution, soon to be included in Volume 5 of my book series entitled Pondering Tidbits of Truth. Pondering Tidbits of Truth (Originally published January 4, 2018) 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 . Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O. "A preacher endowed with learning but of only mediocre piety may be able to paint a picture of Christian Truth that will stir souls, bring them a little closer to God, even increase their faith. But if one is to fill souls with the life-giving savor of virtue, he must first...

We thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You   and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb once again for  hosting Catholic bloggers at  Worth   Revisiting . It is a privilege for us to share our work with them and their readers each week.  Stop by for a visit now .    I decided to share this post:   [ Brief update and correction : Father Brian Mulcahy, O.P. was kind enough to inform me of the following: "Because the Memorial of St Vincent Ferrer so often falls either during Holy Week or the Easter Octave, on our Dominican liturgical calendar, his Memorial has been transferred to a month later, on May 5th every year." I am a month early]. Come Meet St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P. (Originally posted on April 5, 2014) (Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, NYC) On April 5th, we will celebrate the feast day of one of the greatest preachers, confessors and healers in the history of the Dominican Order, St. Vi...

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 . Jean-Baptiste Chautard, O.C.S.O. A preacher endowed with learning but of only mediocre piety may be able to paint a picture of Christian Truth that will stir souls, bring them a little closer to God, even increase their faith. But if one is to fill souls with the life-giving savor of virtue, he must first have tasted the true spirit of the Gospel and made it enter into the substance of his own life by means of mental prayer.  (From The Soul of the Apostolate)  

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 Augustine “If you love God; draw to you all those who gather around or live in your house, so that all will come to love Him If you love the Body of Christ, which is the unity of the Church, impel everyone, to rejoice in God and tell them with David: ‘Magnify with me the Lord, and let us together praise His Holy Name' (Prov 21:28); and in this do not be calculating or stingy, but rather win for the Lord all those you can by whatever means possible, according to your abilities: exhorting them; bearing them up, pleading with then; arguing with them and giving them the reasons for the things of faith, with all gentleness and tact.” (From Commentary on the Psalms )

In order to avoid spiritual complacency, we need periodic reminders from the spiritual masters of years gone by to keep us on the right track:

As we strive toward a more intimate relationship with the God we love, we will not only have to ask ourselves some tough questions (like the one above) but we must answer those queries truthfully  and change our lives accordingly:

The great Dominican preacher, St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), never hesitated speaking the Truth, no matter how uncomfortable it might make his listeners.  Why? He had one and only one concern - the salvation of souls.  How do these words of his make you feel?

((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. Blessed John Paul II "...the numbing of conscience, their indifference to good and evil, their deviations, are a great threat for man. Indirectly, they are also a great threat for society, because in the the last analysis the level of morality of society depends on the human conscience." ( Angelus , March 15, 1981)

(Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, NYC) Today we celebrate the feast day of one of the greatest preachers, confessors and healers in the history of the Dominican Order, St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419). He preached throughout Europe, unafraid to share the Truth knowing It had the power to convert and transform reluctant and sinful hearts. Thousands of lukewarm Catholics and clergy had their faith reignited. Similarly thousand of Jews and Muslims became Catholics. One thing is crystal clear: St. Vincent Ferrer’s zeal for the salvation of souls knew no bounds. He valued and tried to reach every soul that crossed his path.

(Image from Biblebios.com) [If God used Balaam’s donkey to get that prophet’s attention, I guess he can use me to get yours. May these periodic postings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month (God willing) generate fruitful discussion and faithful change.] This beloved Dominican has something to say to those of us who have no difficulty "seeing" the faults of others but nary any of our own:

(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...

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. Vincent Ferrer   "...for when the soul is completely occupied by charity there is no longer any room in her for vanity. All that she thinks, says and does is inspired by charity...vanity finds no place in a heart filled with charity. What concern can he still have for temporal advantages, since he looks upon them as refuse? How can the desire for praise enter his heart, when he see himself before God as a vile dunghill, as a miserable sinner inclined toward every kind of sin and who would commit them all, did not the hand of the Creator constantly support him? How can he take pride in any good work when he sees clearer than daylight that he could do no  good if divine power did not impel him and constrain him, so to speak, at every moment?. How can he attribute anything whatever to himself when he has experienced not a hundred ...