Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

We “know” that God made us to be with Him eternally. We “know” that He will give us all the graces we need to get to our heavenly home. We "know" that we are free to accept or ignore those graces.  We “know” that we must ever be prepared to meet Him when He calls. We also “know” that He will come like a thief in the night. Yet how often do we act like we have all the time in the world to reorient our lives and to make them one with His? How foolish can we be?

You can start here . Then you might consider giving him this , or this , and even this ! I have no financial interest in any of these books or companies. I just have a heart and love for our priests. Let's treasure and encourage them as we ought!

Let me repeat some obvious truths. God is more powerful than any of us. He draws each of us to Himself. He wants to excite our hearts. He longs to fill our minds and souls with the Truth. He desires that we yield ourselves totally to His will. We are often reluctant to do so because we know we may be mocked, laughed at and persecuted. In truth, our fidelity to God and His Word may bring us pain and suffering. It is so difficult to follow Him. At times we don’t want to do as He asks. What He wants from us sometimes seems too painful, too difficult, and too burdensome. We want to flee and hide from Him.   But we can’t. He is everywhere. He has given us Himself.   Our salvation and that of others hinges on our sharing and living this Truth. So we must go on - imperfectly and inconstantly no doubt - but we must go on, trusting that God will be at our side. One of the reasons we don’t always trust Him is our failure to understand the necessity and value of the suffering He ask...

Today we remember St. Rose of Lima , the first canonized Saint of the Western hemisphere. She was born in Peru in 1586 and died there at the age of thirty-one. Like many who have felt a call to the Dominican Order over the centuries, Rose initially faced opposition from her family. They refused to let her enter a convent. Rose’s response was to become a Lay Dominican and to live a life of solitude and penance within the confines of her family’s home. She had a great attraction to St. Catherine of Siena , a great love for the Blessed Sacrament, and limitless compassion for the elderly, homeless and the sick, whom she would eventually care for in one of the rooms in her parents’ residence. “When we serve the poor and the sick,” she tells us, “we serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve Jesus.” Rose enthusiastically embraced a life of penance and physical suffering since she also understood that “Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by ...

What Is Hell and How Do I Get There?

That all of us would have such faith and trust in the God who loves us!

"But I hear You complain, O my Sacramental Jesus:  I was a stranger, and you took Me not in (Matt. xxv. 43); that You came on earth to be our guest for our good, and that we have not welcomed You. You are right, Lord, You are right; and I am one of these ungrateful creatures who have left You alone, without even visiting You. Chastise me as You please; but not by depriving me of Your presence, which is the chastisement I deserve. No, I will repair my fault, and the indignities which I have heaped upon You. From this day forward I will not only visit You often, but will remain with You for as long a time as I can." (St. Alphonsus Liguori) Open our ears Lord that we might hear and our hearts that we might respond!