Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

You created us Lord in your image, to know love and serve You on this earth and to be with You eternally. You remain here with us in the Consecrated and Sacred Hosts hidden behind locked tabernacle doors. This is all gift! None of us deserve this Divine generosity. You desire that each of us become more like You - to always be Christ-like. My response over my lifetime, Lord You know, has been inconsistent, and at times, pathetic and traitorous! You want me “to disappear so that You may appear in me.” “I must vacate my territory,” You tell me, “ so that You may fully occupy it.” But this can only happen by Your grace and by my being obedient to Your every command and prompting. On the few occasions when I have obeyed Your promptings Lord, I received a glimpse of what You were calling me to be. Oh, how glorious Lord were the times I obeyed: returning to Your Church; participating in RENEW, Cursillo, Prison Ministry, Lay Dominicans, Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, and praying for t...

(Image source:  Wikimedia Commons )   The little that we have – be it in material goods, time  or talents – is sufficient for God’s work if, when He asks, we would just give whatever that is to Him. Take notice in today’s Gospel what He did with five loaves of bread and two fish! On the surface, it looked like Jesus was asking His Apostles to do the impossible – feed thousands of  people. He wasn’t. He was asking them to give Him what they had and He would make the impossible possible. God will never give us a task, no matter how daunting it may first appear, without giving us all that we need to complete it. The first step is our total surrender to, and trust in, His will for us. So let’s ask ourselves: Is there anything I am still holding on to and unwilling to give Him?

[ The following is an excerpt from Father Jose Gonzalez’s Catholic  Daily R eflection for October 24, 2024. It is worth pondering.]     “When God says He came to set the world afire, He is referring to His desire to purify our souls. Within our souls there are many impurities that must be removed if we want to become one with God. This purification involves a process of allowing God to bring our sins to the surface so that they are seen and can be removed. But this is only possible if we allow the blazing fire of God's purifying love to consume us! Oftentimes…we are content with simply being mediocre in our faith journey. [But] God wants us to become so purified from our sin, that He is able to become one with us… God wants so much more from you. He wants to transform you and use you in ways beyond your imagination.” So let me ask you: Will you let Him?   ...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) So what is the next step, Lord? What do I do? Where do I go? How do I love You and others as I ought? What must I sever myself and my time from? How Lord do I bridge the great gap that exists between what I profess to believe and how I actually live my life?  Please reveal to me, dear Lord, what I have been unable or unwilling to see.  When Lord will my heart and will be one with Yours – where every second of my life honors and glorifies You?

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. Archbishop Luis M. Martinez, Servant of God "As an audience maintains silence to hear better the voice of an orator, as music lovers keep silence during a symphony to admire its artistic beauty, so the silence of contemplation is nothing other than the indispensable condition for hearing the voice of God and addressing to Him our heartfelt words." (From When God is Silent: Finding Spiritual Peace Amidst The Storms of Life )   Father Donald Haggerty "To give ourselves to God in prayer is to find a door in our heart unlocking and opening to the hearts of other people." (From his Contemplative Enigmas )   St. Jean-Pierre de Caussade "Sometimes we live in God and sometimes God lives in us. These are very different states. When God lives in us, we should abandon ourselves com...

 

  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 Bruno Lanteri "Do you find yourself turning inward, preoccupied by your anxieties and burdened by your failings? 'Instead of turning in on yourself, lift your gaze often with peace and love to God.' Often. With peace. With love. The less you focus on your failures and the more you gaze on the Lord with peace and love, the more your heart will lift, the stronger you will become, the more joy you will find. Tell Him that 'you want to be totally His' and, with boldness, tell Him that 'it is His to make you become better'!" (From Overcoming Spiritual Discouragement - The Wisdom and Spiritual Power of Venerable Bruno Lanteri )   Mother Mectilde of the Blessed Sacrament "Would to God that you could fathom the extreme and terrible evil that it is to sin. Oh! Sin, sin what harm you have ...

    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.     Madeliene Delbrel, Servant of God "Saving the world does not mean making it happy; it means showing the world the meaning of its suffering and giving it a joy that nothing can take away. If we must fight against the misery and misfortune which Christ took so seriously as to speak of judging us in the end solely by what we did for others in this regard, we must keep in mind that what is at stake is ultimately not solving these problems and constructing a second earthly paradise. Rather, what is at stake is eternal life." (From We, the Ordinary People of the Streets )   Venerable Bruno Lanteri “If you want peace in this life, you must, first of all, decide to accommodate yourself to circumstances and not demand that circumstances accommodate themselves to you. You must, secondly, strive to practice uniformit...