Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(Photo©Michael Seagriff) [The good Archbishop's words from decades ago remain relevant, timeless and true. Would that this Lent we have ears that will hear.] D uring His earthly life, He solicited us to avail ourselves of Redemption by seeing what sin cost. The evil of sin is the Crucifixion of the God-man. The worst thing that sin can do is not to bomb cities or kill children, but to crucify Goodness. No man. is ever conscious of sin, when he thinks of it as merely breaking a law. He never sees the full intensity of sin until he realizes what he does to a person. Many an alcoholic does not know the evil of his sin until, driving while drunk, he kills a child. So when we look, not to a broken law, but at the broken Person of Christ on the Cross, we begin to see the full gravity of sin. We see it in the nails and in the crown of thorns, but we also see the love of God Who goes on loving us despite our sins. On the Cross, Our Lord poured out His Life's Blood,...

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 Alvaro del Portillo “…contemporary paganism is characterized by the search for- material well-being at any cost; and by the corresponding disregard or, to put it more accurately, fear, genuine terror - of anything that could cause suffering. With this outlook, words such as God, sin, Cross, mortification, eternal life become incomprehensible to a great number of people, who are ignorant of their meaning and content. You have witnessed the incredible fact that many people began by putting God in parentheses, in some aspects of their professional lives. But then, as God demands, loves, and asks, they end up throwing Him out -like an intruder -from their civil laws and from the lives of their nations. With a ridiculous and presumptuous pride they want to lift up in his place the poor human creature, who has lost ...

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. Teresa of Avila “Oh, what a hard thing I am asking of you, my true God: that you should love one who does not love you;   that you should open the door to one who does not knock; that you should give health to one who prefers to be sick and chooses rather to walk in her infirmity! You say, my Lord, that you .have come to seek out sinners. These, my Lord are the true sinners. Do not look on our blindness, oh my God, but at the streams of blood that your Son shed for us. May your mercy shine on such grave wickedness; remember, Lord, that we were made by your hands.” (From Exclamations of the Soul to God )

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 Anthony J. Paone, S.J.   "My child, human respect is the fear of being criticized or corrected by people. Live your life in My presence, and do not think too much of what people may think or say. As long as your conscience is clear, the thoughts or words of men can neither add to nor subtract from your true worth. You are not a better man when people praise you, nor are you worse when they find fault with you. You are what you are, and I see you as you really are. Your value in My eyes does not depend upon the judgments of people. I look upon your heart. I see your intentions and your sincere efforts. Men judge you mainly by your external actions. They cannot be sure of your merit or guilt in the deed. Too often they judge you by their own likes and dislikes, or by their own vanity and fixed ideas."   (Fro...

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. Cyprian   “Our obligation is to do God’s will, and not our own. We must remember this if the prayer that our Lord commanded us to say daily is to have any meaning on our lips. How unreasonable it is to pray that God’s will be done, and then not promptly obey it when he calls us from this world! Instead we struggle and resist like self-willed slaves and are brought into the Lord’s presence with sorrow and lamentation, not freely consenting to our departure, but constrained by necessity. And yet we expect to be rewarded with heavenly honors by him to whom we come against our will! Why then do we pray for the kingdom of heaven to come if this earthly bondage pleases us? What is the point of praying so often for its early arrival if we would rather serve the devil here than reign with Christ?   The world hates Christians, ...

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. Peter Julian Eymard “It is impossible for anyone to bestow upon us a love for Jesus Christ or infuse it into our hearts. People may exhort us to love Him, but it is beyond human power to reach us teach us how to love; we learn love by feeling it. This education of the heart belongs to our Lord alone, for He desires Himself alone to be its goal. He begins by giving to the communicant the sentiment of love, then the motive of love, and finally the impelling desire for the heroism of love, But this is learned only in Communion.” (From How To Get More Out of Holy Communion) Venerable Fulton J. Sheen “The Sermon on the Mount is so much at variance with all that our world holds dear, that the world will crucify anyone who strives to live up to its values; because Christ preached them, he had to die. Calvary was the price ...