Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan ( Theology Is A Verb ) for hosting  Worth Revisiting . Be sure to stop by every Wednesday . You will enjoy your visits. I offer this reflection: As We End This Year, We Would Do Well To Ponder "What Our Sentiments Will Be At The Hour of Death"  (Originally published December 31, 2013) Source: Wikimedia Commons ) We know our God is a God of unlimited mercy. So long as we have breath in our earthly lungs and turn to Him in true repentance, seeking His forgiveness and mercy, we will receive it. But not a single human being can presume upon God’s mercy, since He is also a God of Justice. Presumption is, as the Baltimore Catechism tells us, “a rash expectation of salvation without making proper use of the necessary means to obtain it.” We ignore God, His graces, promptings and teachings at our eternal peril. In order not to b...

"The greatest priest who ever lived would give the same homily every time, over and over, and it was just two lines.  (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons )  St. John Vianney would tell the people every Sunday: 'If you only knew how much Jesus loves you in the Blessed Sacrament, you would die of happiness.' Then pointing to the tabernacle, he would say, 'Jesus is really there'." (From Letters to a Brother Priest by Msgr Josefino S. Ramirez )   Let us pray that all our priests would do the same!

Our world, country and Church are in turmoil - all because we have turned our backs to God. We think we know better than He. So prideful and self-centered have we become that we treat Him far too often as an unnecessary outdated crutch whom only weak and fearful people need. We prefer instant earthly pleasure rather than deferred eternal joy. We want to impose our will on Him rather than conforming ours to His. But it is not too late to allow Him to change our hearts and to lead us into His eternal embrace. But we must make that choice. He will not force Himself on us, not even on His priests. The way back is very simple - we need only to humble ourselves and place ourselves in His Presence. He remains imprisoned and ignored in the tabernacles of His Churches waiting for our visits and our love.  The fact that so many of His creatures have abandoned Him is the second greatest tragedy of our time - the first being the number of priests who no longer treas...

Thank you Allison Gingras  (Reconciled To You) and Elizabeth Riordan ( Theology Is A Verb ) for hosting Worth Revisiting . Be sure to stop there every Wednesday . You will enjoy your visits. Here is my contribution: Help Me Understand! Should Not the Salvation of Souls Be Our Primary Concern?  [Originally published July 3, 2012 - We may have dodged a bullet temporarily. But sadly, nothing much has changed since I first posted this.] I understand that in a democratic society, the Catholic Church and its members must try to shape social and political policies and to have their voices heard on the pressing moral issues of the day. There is no doubt that an increasing number of recent actions (beyond the HHS contraception and sterilzation mandates) taken by the Obama administration pose real and imminent threats to our God given and constitutionally recognized fundamental right - freedom of religion. Freedom loving people of all religious persuasions and those of ...

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) "As mountain hares become white in winter because they neither see nor eat anything but snow, so by adoring and feeding on beauty, purity and goodness itself in the Eucharist, you will become altogether beautiful, pure and good." (St. Francis de Sales from Introduction to the Devout Life )

There is a crisis in the Church - I Thirst for Your Love is trying to do something it!