Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

We thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting Worth Revisiting every Wednesday .  S top for a visit now .  It is a privilege to share the following post with you . Monday Musings - Being Consciously in the Presence of God (Originally published June 5, 2017) At times, we may tell ourselves it is too difficult to be conscious of and with God each day. There is not enough time, we moan, to complete the unending tasks in front of us - projects which frequently leave us feeling overburdened and exhausted with little time for our Lord .  We would be mistaken. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons) In his classic book,  The Practice of the Presence of God ,   Brother Lawrence tells us that everything we do during the course of the day can place us in God's Presence if all is done for the love of God. "I began to live," Brother Lawrence wrote, "as if t...

Ah, Lord, it is but too true, Thou are not loved! O Sacred Heart, if we have any spark of love and generosity in us at all, shall not our most fervent desire and longing be, Oh, would that Thou wert loved! (Image source: Wikimedia Commons) Shall we not strive by every means in our power to make Thee known and loved? Shall we not try to pay many an extra visit to our dearest Friend, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever living to make intercession for us? And may this prayer, dearest Lord, be on our lips when we bow down in lowly adoration in Thy Sacred Sacramental Presence: ‘O Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thou lovest! Thou are not loved! Oh, would that Thou were loved!’ O Lady and Mistress of the Sacred Heart, open that Heart to me, thy child. Teach me to know Him intimately, to love Him ardently, and to follow Him closely. Mother, give me to Jesus! (From Meditation on The Passion )

We often forget that Jesus told His disciples:  “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me " (Mt. 16:24). The next time we try to run away from this command, let us recall the following reflection: "...There is no health of soul nor hope of eternal life but in the Cross. The more the flesh is brought down by affliction, the more is the spirit strengthened by interior grace. We are not exhorted to pray  for  the Cross, but we  may  and  ought  to pray for a  love  of the Cross. The price of great graces is humiliation - The Royal Way of the Cross. Humiliations are precious drops from the chalice of our Lord's Blood. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons ) When our Lord  loves anyone, He presses him to His Heart as a tender friend would do; but round Jesus' Heart there is a crown of thorns, and the more He presses us to His Heart, the more these thorns enter into ours. How many - e...

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 Alvaro del Porillo [What do people want and expect from the priest:]  "They need, desire and hope – perhaps without thus consciously reasoning out such a need or hope – for a priest who is a priest one hundred percent; a man who shows an ardent concern for them by opening up new horizons for their souls, who exercises his ministry without ceasing, and who has a big heart capable of understanding and loving everyone, though at times his concern may not be reciprocated." (From On The Priesthood)

We thank Allison Gingras at  Reconciled To You    and Elizabeth Riordan at  Theology Is A Verb   for hosting  Revisiting Wednesday ,  each week. It is a privilege to share our work with them and their followers .  Stop for a visit now .  I wanted to share this post: Feast Day of St. Rose of Lima (Originally published August 23, 2013)   ( Source:St. Rose of Lima Parish, Safford, AZ) 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 lov...

(Photo©Michael Seagriff) O Sacred Heart Thou Lovest! Yes, dearest Lord, we have no doubt of this. How ardently Thou didst long to die for us – to remain with us in Thy Sacrament of love. How ardently didst Thou long for the love of Thy poor, suffering, sinful children! Ah, sweet Jesus, may we satisfy the thirst of Thy sacred Heart by loving Thee with a strong, enthusiastic, faithful love. Oh, let us ever abide by Thy love. O Sacred Heart of Jesus, Thou lovest! Alas! Then comes the unfortunate part, O dear Lord – Thou are not loved! Alas! This is but too true.

I recently ran across the following quote attributed to St. Peter Canisius, a Jesuit and a Doctor of our Church: (Photo©Michael Seagriff) "Better that only a few Catholics should be left, staunch and sincere in their religion, than that they should, remaining many, desire as it were to be in collusion with the Church's enemies and in conformity with the open foes of our faith.”  Nearly five centuries after sharing this opinion, I suspect this good priest would not appreciate the current chaos of doctrinal ambiguity and/or dissent that permeates our Church and, most especially, among some of the contemporary members of his own religious order. What do you think?