Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Lord, be merciful to us sinners! As another day draws to a close, accept this song  as our gift to You. (Credit to Michael W. Smith)

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. See 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 source, center and summit of our Catholic Faith is and must be the Eucharist! No one and nothing else can satiate our need to be loved and to love! Everything we need flows from Him! Nothing else matters! Is  the Eucharist the air you breathe? Take a few moments to read and reflect on what the Happy Priest - Father James Farfaglia  has to say about the Eucharist and our attitude towards this greatest of Gifts. (With gratitude to Michael W. Smith, Catholic Online and Father Farfaglia)

Imagine kneeling before a tabernacle and hearing Jesus say to you: I reside in tabernacles all over the world. I do this because I desire My children to have a living Christ in their midst. Such holiness is available to souls who visit and venerate Me in the Eucharist. I am the cure for every ill. I am the calm for every storm. I am the comfort for every sorrow. Because I intend to lead My children in a more enhanced way, I am going to show you the Life that is enclosed in each tabernacle. My dear ones, if you but knew the value of each and every visit that is made to Me here, there would be crowds all through every day and every night... …I wish to teach you. Most of all, I wish to love you. Have you ever loved someone passionately, but been rejected? Was your love ever tossed casually back at you? If this has ever happened to you, then you understand how I feel. I am rejected by the majority of humanity. I gave My very life for this humanity, so that their sins would be o...

For the first time in at least 32 years (and probably much longer than that) the Bishop of the Diocese of Syracuse, New York, assisted by a few of his brother priests,  carried our Eucharistic Lord in procession through the streets of that city on Corpus Christi Sunday. What an awesome and blessed experience for all those privileged to be present! Several hundred faithful Catholics prayerfully and reverently accompanied their Lord and Bishop Robert J. Cunningham during the nearly mile and a half procession from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to the Franciscan Church of the Assumption. Thank you Bishop Cunningham and all those who worked so hard to bring this gift to fruition! No doubt, our Lord was immensely pleased by this public display of belief in His Real Presence. Only He knows how many hearts of onlookers were touched as their eyes glanced at the King of Kings, majestically encased and held aloft in His Monstrance. May this public p...

A flawed and imperfect man once reminded his audience that we were all responsible for the scourge of abortion through our silence! Yikes! The stark reality of being exposed as a coward smarts! It should!  "For evil to prevail," Edmund Burke is reported to have said, "good men need do nothing."  Remaining silent about this massacre of innocent life can longer be an option for any of us. But what can we do? For starters,  we can use existing resources to simply point out the absurdity of the language pro-choice groups use. We have the technology that allows us to peer into the womb of any pregnant woman and clearly see the human life within her. How many women would still abort if they were shown  this  ? I suspect that for some individuals, however, an even more direct and unambiguous approach might be required. End your silence by passing this on. (With thanks to SignalHill.com, mistervenable and...

The Jewish people knew when Moses entered the Tent and a column of cloud stood at the entrance of that Tent that God was there with him. The burning tabernacle candle, not a column of cloud, signifies our Lord’s Presence among us in our Churches today. The Jews knew the Tent was a sacred, holy place and acted accordingly. Unable to enter it themselves, they stood at the entrances of their own tents and worshipped their Lord. How we must rediscover the sense of the sacred and holy within our Church buildings where our Lord is as much present as He was in the Tent with Moses and where He beckons us to enter. God spoke to Moses face to face as one man would speak to another. How we must come to appreciate the fact that we too can sit face to face with our Lord in the tabernacle and converse with Him and, when He is exposed in the Monstrance, gaze upon His Humble Presence. Just as He gave Moses the Ten Commandments to share with his people, so too He will instruct us in the ways He wish...