Checked Your Spiritual Temperature Lately?

If not, why not now?

Podcast - Little Angels and a Tree

The approaching anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision, Roe v Wade, reminded me of  two angelic silent preachers who touched my heart and left me filled with hope. Listen here if you want to find out what they did.

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - January 14, 2016

(Image 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.

 




Thomas a Kempis

He who finds Jesus finds a good treasure...And he who loses Jesus loses a great deal, more than if he lost the whole world.  He who lives without Jesus is poor indeed, and he who is with Jesus is rich indeed.

(From The Imitation of Christ)

"Worth Revisiting" - The Jesus We Ignore

Thank you Allison Gingras and Elizabeth Riordan, for inviting your fellow Catholic bloggers to re-post their favorite articles on it’s "Worth Revisiting” Wednesdays.
 

Go there now (and every Wednesday) and enjoy what these authors have to offer.

During the rest of each week. visit Allison at  Reconciled To You and Elizabeth at Theology Is A Verb. 

What follows is a clear, necessary and unambiguous challenge:

Eucharistic Reflection - The Jesus We Ignore

(Originally posted on August 12, 2013)

"Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of us in the same manner He dwelt at Nazareth amidst His relatives. He was there without being known by them, and without working in their favor, the miracles that He wrought elsewhere. Our blindness and evil dispositions prevent Him from letting us experience the wonderful operations with which He favors those whom He finds well disposed…

(St. Agatha's, Canastota, NY)

Eucharistic Reflection - We Are All Unclean

"Faith allows you to see that your hands and lips that receive Jesus are always unclean - even when you are in a state of sanctifying grace - because you are always a sinner, and the hands and lips of a sinner always remain unworthy and, therefore, unclean...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Just think, you receive Jesus with your lips that can kill with words. Your words sometimes wound and are the source of harm and unhappiness, instead of uttering blessings.  And yet, these sinful lips come into contact with the highest sanctity of God.  If you consider all of this, you will come to know the mystery that theology call kenosis (Greek: a complete humiliation).

The Eucharist is a kenosis - the Self-humiliation of true God and true Man, since Jesus in His utmost sanctity comes into contact with your sinfulness and your unworthiness.  This does not mean, however, that you should avoid the Eucharist, for when you receive the Eucharist, He makes you more worthy of receiving Him again. Jesus waits for you with His love.  He wants to come in order to transform you, to sanctify you, and to make you increasingly more worthy of His coming."

(From The Gift of Faith by Father Tadeusz Dajczer as quoted by The Daughters of St. Philip Neri)

Monday Musings - Silence and Solitude - A Guest Blog from Father Justin Sheehan, OCSO

I have been blessed over the years to visit the Trappist community at the Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, N.Y.  - to take time to enjoy the counsel, peace, quiet and solitude they offer. I have shared some of the spiritual insight I have been blessed to receive during my retreats there. Here is one example.

But I have not been able to get there as often as I would like. In between visits, I have treasured a homily given by Father Justin Sheehan, OCSO in 2008. I received his permission to share it with you. May God use it to stir your hearts and souls.

By the way, the next best thing to visiting this special place in person is to do so online. Missing their Monks' Bread and other delights? Fear not! You can have them sent directly to your home with a click of a button or two. Check them out. They would appreciate your support.Now for Father's Homily:

Silence and Solitude – Homily by Father Justin Sheehan, OCSO, Abbey at Genesee: August 10, 2008

Every human life has a religious dimension, something in us that responds to the overwhelming presence of God.  The context is different for everyone, but also there is something in common.  We heard Elijah spent the night alone on Horeb, the mountain of God, and that Jesus went up into the hills by himself to pray.  They seem to have felt a call to meet God, and knew that God can only be met in solitude.

It might seem that this solitude can’t be experienced by ordinary people living outside the monastery.  Somehow we think that we precede God in solitude, but actually it is God who waits for us as he waits for Elijah to reach the mountain of God, he waits for Jesus to go up into the hills, and Jesus waits for Peter to come to him across the water.  In finding God, each of these people found solitude, because true solitude is Spirit, like “the sound of a gentle breeze”. True solitude lies not in the absence of other people but in the presence of God.

Do Not Run From The Ordinary

Sometimes the answer is right in front of our eyes: