Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

When we are tempted to think ourselves "better" than our sinful neighbor, we would be well advised to recall these words of St. Augustine:

(Vancouver, BC) Photo©Joseph Seagriff It's Sunday and time to join an interesting group of Catholic bloggers at RAnn's place  where you are sure to find something that will touch your heart and stir your soul. Take a few minutes and visit! Among my posts from this week are the following: What A Wonderful Easter Gift Monday Musings - Forgotten Truths - An Unexpected Blessing Why Is The Catholic Church Hated?  Eucharistic Reflection - We Too Are A Stiff Neck People Pondering Tidbits of Truth - April 24, 2014  I was also privileged to host a guest blog by Connie Rossini, entitled "What Is A Mystic?"

It is my privilege to welcome Connie Rossini as my guest blogger today. Connie is a homeschooling Mom of four boys, a Lay Carmelite and a gifted writer and author who hails from Minnesota.. You will want to visit her blog regularly: What is a Mystic? by Connie Rossini The word mystic presents a similar problem as the word contemplation . It's not particular to Catholics, or even Christians. And among Catholics, mystic is understood in different senses. What does it mean to be a mystic, according to the Catholic Church? How did the Carmelite saints view mysticism? Is mysticism for a chosen few, or for everyone? First, let's look at the history of the word mystic . Mystic comes from a Greek root meaning "hidden" or "concealed." In the rime of Christ and the early Church, many people in Eastern Europe, which was then under the influence of Hellenistic (Greek) culture, practiced mystery religions. Practitioners were initiated into spiritua...

((Source: Wikimedia Commons ) 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 John Paul II "...the numbing of conscience, their indifference to good and evil, their deviations, are a great threat for man. Indirectly, they are also a great threat for society, because in the the last analysis the level of morality of society depends on the human conscience." ( Angelus , March 15, 1981)

[Blessed soon to be Saint John Paul II had this to say about the Eucharist: “This Sacrament of Love shall be the center of the life of the people of God.”]    (Source: Wikimedia Commons) “The Blessed Sacrament is Jesus living in our midst to fulfill a promise made long ago: ‘I Myself will pas­ture my sheep. I Myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal’ (Ezek 34:15-16).

As I have said many times, the power of the words in Forgotten Truths to Set Faith Afire! - Words to Inspire, Challenge and Instruct "opened my eyes, spoke to my heart and stirred my soul". I was and remain convinced that these Truths could and would "awaken a hunger in others to know, study and live more fully the Truths of the Catholic Faith". In one interview I stated that if that hope became a reality for at least one other person, then my labor of love in compiling these quotations would have been worth the effort.