Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

When God created us, He inserted a heart within our chest, the mechanism that He made to pump blood and oxygen throughout our bodies. We all have one. Most of us rarely take notice of its rhythmic beats. It’s there but we pay little or no conscious attention to it – much like many of us have done to God – we know He’s “there” but ignore Him. We take Him for granted. Of course in the case of our physical heart that situation changes if something happens to it. In that instance, you bet we become much more attentive to and aware of it. We can’t live without it. So where am I going with this? Let me explain. The daily readings one summer day in 2008 included a passage from Ezekiel (3:23-28), in which God promised to transform the prophet and to give him a new heart and a new spirit so that Ezekiel would be able to lead others to Him.   Through this Scripture passage, the Lord let me recognize how frequently my words and actions may have caused others to walk away fr...

Prayer of After Communion Lord, Father all-powerful, and ever-living God, I thank you, for even though I am a sinner, your unprofitable servant, not because of my worth, but in the kindness of your mercy, you have fed me with the precious body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that this Holy Communion may bring me not condemnation and punishment, but forgiveness and salvation. May it be a helmet of faith and a shield of good will. May it purify me from evil ways and put an end to my evil passions. May it bring me charity and patience, humility and obedience, and growth in the power to do good. May it be a strong defense against all my enemies, visible and invisible, and the perfect calming of all my evil impulses, bodily and spiritual. May it unite me more closely to you, the one true God, and lead me safely through death to everlasting happiness with you. And I pray that you will lead me, a sinner, to the banquet where you, with your Son and Hol...

Prayer Before Communion Almighty and ever living God, I approach the sacrament of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. I come sick to the doctor of life, unclean to the fountain of mercy, blind to the radiance of eternal light, and poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth. Lord, in your great generosity, heal my sickness, wash away my defilement, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty, and clothe my nakedness. May I receive the bread of angels, the King of kings and Lord of lords, with humble reverence, with the purity and faith, the repentance and love, and the determined purpose that will help to bring me to salvation. May I receive the sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood and its reality and power. King God, may I receive the body of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, born from the womb of the Virgin Mary, and so be received into his mystical body, and numbered among his members. Loving Father, as on my earthly pilgrimage I...

Some nourishment for our minds and souls:   "...the Gospel of today's Mass reminds us that if we are to follow Christ we have to carry our own Cross...There is no such thing as a Christianity without the Cross, designed for soft and pusillanimous Christians with no sense of sacrifice...One of the clearest symptoms of lukewarmness having entered into a soul is...an abandonment of the Cross, a contempt for little mortifications, a scorning of anything that in some way involves sacrifice and self-denial...The Christian who goes through life systematically avoiding sacrifice will not find God, will not find happiness. What he will have been taking care to avoid is his own sanctity." Quotes from From In Conversation With God (Vol. 2: 2.1 and 2.3 by Francis Fernandez)

In a previous post , we reviewed the definition of a “worthily and holily celebrated Mass” that Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. offered in his book ThePriest In Union with Christ - a book I again highly recommend . As painful an exercise as the following may be, it would be worthwhile to take a look at two other types of Masses the good Friar describes – “the hurriedly said Mass” and the one that is “outwardly correct but lacks the spirit of faith” - neither of which has resurrected or can resurrect the sense of awe and amazement in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Eucharist to which Catholics are entitled and that Blessed John Paul II advocated and so longed for each of us to experience.   This is, in part, what Father Reginald has to say about a “hurriedly said Mass”:

Some of us employ words to fuel our contemplation. Others like early Renaissance painter, Fra Angelico (Blessed John of Fiesole 1395-1455), whose feast day we Dominicans celebrate today, used paint brushes to nourish hungry souls. 1- (The Nativity) 2-(The Crucifixion) 3 - (The Christ Crucified)                                                                                                                   ...

"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)