Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) " … I will treasure more than anything else the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is often said that it is the Mass that matters. This means that Mass is the most important thing in the world. It is very true. But I really think that sanctifying grace matters most of all. Still, where do I get that from if not through the Sacrifice of the Cross which is continued in the Sacrifice of the Mass. I am afraid.   I do not think as highly of Holy Mass as I should. And this reminds me of a story I have often read about the Sacred linen in Greenland. It was in the sixteenth century. There had been a religious persecution in the island and all priests had been killed or driven out, so that for fifty years there was no Mass at all in Greenland. After fifty years, there were still some scattered Catholics left. They used to meet every year for a Christmas celebration in a lonely house almost covered by snow. On one such night they all gathered together in the...

( Image Source ) [Father Windrid Herbt, S.D.S.(1891- 1988), was a renown spiritual writer and  included the following story about St. Alexis in his most excellent book,  The Way To God,  copies of which are difficult to find. I received permission to include this poignant tale in my book,  Stirring Slumbering Souls - 250 Eucharistic Reflections . This story was intended when Father first shared it and is still intended now, to challenge each us to take an honest look at our relationship with our Lord and Savior present among us.] "I recall the strange and touching story of Saint Alexis. When he was young he left home and then, because God inspired him to do so, came back to the house of his parents in Rome dressed up like a poor and unknown beggar. There he lived in some miserable old corner of the house for seventeen years; and his parents never knew that it was he. But when he died they found out. It seems he left a note or something telling them what he ha...

T hank you Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb and Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers .     Monday Musings - But I Do Know! (Originally posted on November 12, 2018) [Oh, how so many of us take our Lord for granted by ignoring His Presence here among us. In doing so we offend Him Who is the Source of Love and, at the same time, deprive ourselves needlessly of His love, grace and support.    May the following quotation from S tirring Slumbering Souls - 250 Eucharistic Reflections open our eyes, minds and souls to our neglect]:   "I recall the strange and touching story of Saint Alexis. When he was young he left home and then, because God inspired him to do so, came back to the house of his parents in Rome dressed up like a poor and unknown beggar. There he lived in some miserable old corn...

Why Did You Not Tell Us? (Originally posted on February 11, 2019) (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) No caring person would allow an inattentive soul about to run off a cliff to do so without shouting and attempting to warn them of that danger and of their imminent demise.  Should we not do the same for those Catholic politicians and public officials who legislatively support intrinsic evils, who remain silent in the face of the dismemberment and sale of infant body parts, or who consent to the killing of children born alive? We would if we cared about them since there is nothing more important than the salvation of souls. Yet most of us are rarely reminded of this truth. Satan relishes his success in having convinced so many that hell does not exist and that no one inhabits it – even using the mouths and/or silence of some Catholic priests and Bishops to get his message out. "There is no such thing as si...

We thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You    and Elizabeth Riordan at Theology Is A Verb   for hosting  Revisiting Wednesday ,  each week. It is a privilege to share our work with them and their followers .  Stop for a visit now . Here is my contribution: Monday Musings - Praying Before the Tabernacle (Originally published on January 14, 2017) (Image source:  Wikimedia Commons ) "I think there was a certain Bishop Curtis who said that when he prayed before the tabernacle he liked to picture himself as a faithful and devoted dog lying at his master’s feet. Both are glad to have each other; both are silent. It is a rather unusual way of looking at the matter but it strikes home. Prayer is not in words only. It is also in tears and sighs and heartaches." (From  The Way to God  by Father Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S.)

(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. Mechtildis " Oh , if men did but knew how much they might increase their glory and their merit every day, they would never awaken in the morning without gratitude in their hearts to God for His goodness in giving them another day in which they might increase their glory in heaven, their eternal home." St. Jerome "With a Christian, not the beginning but the end is what is i m portant. St. Paul had a bad beginning but a good end. Judas had a good beginning but a bad end." St. Francis de Sales "Holy Mass is the sum of all spiritual exercises, the mainspring of devotion, the soul of piety, the fire of divine charity, the abyss of divine mercy, and a precious means whereby God confers on us His graces." [Source of all three quotes: The Way to God...