Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

(St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, NYC) "Divine Savior of souls, completely covered with confusion, I prostrate my self in Your presence, and as I fix my glance on the lonely Tabernacle and see the neglect in which You are left by so many ransomed souls, I feel my heart oppressed. But since in Your goodness You permit me during this Holy Hour to unite my tears to those You shed, I pray you, Jesus, for those who do not pray; I bless You for those who curse You; and with all the ardor of my soul I praise and adore You in union with the universal prayer which rises from all the sanctuaries of the world. Accept, Lord, the cry of expiation which sincere sorrow draws from our grieved and repentant souls; we ask pardon of You: For our sins, for those of our relatives and friends...for infidelities and sacrileges...for blasphemies and the profanation of Sunday...for licentiousness and public scandals...for those who corrupt childhood and youth...for deliberate disobedience to Your holy Church......

Photo©Michael Seagriff If you are a 'my way or take the highway' type of soul (and so many of us are) who thinks you know better than God, you no doubt deal frequently with discouragement, especially when your plans go awry and when few choose to follow you.   You need an attitude adjustment - a total reorientation  - a turning away from your plans and surrendering to God's. Let Venerable Bruno Lanteri show you the way. The following quotation from  Overcoming Spiritual Discouragement - The Wisdom and Spiritual Power of Venerable Bruno Lanteri, written by Father Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V., will give you a sense of the wisdom and clarity Lanteri has to offer each of us:   "God has placed me in this state of life; in this and no other. I must serve Him and be saved. All the circumstances and events in my state of life, such as the different characters of the persons with whom I will interact, the events that take place, the times and places in which these o...

"How pleasing it is to be near Our Lord Who loves us so much; to be in the shadow of Him Who is the Light of the World and Who enlightens the darkness of our minds!   Photo©Michael Seagriff Shutting out the world with its illusions and deceptions, let us come close, very close to the divine Reality, Jesus, let us draw near to His Sacred Heart, that paradise of delights. The good Master is there, barely a step away. He is calling us.  With boundless confidence pray Him to turn His eyes from our faults and during this Holy Hour, to open wide to us the Divine Wound in His Side. Let us enter there without fear, for it is a divine spring whose power ransoms poor sinners, sanctifies the just, alleviates great sorrows of life and drives away the fear of death."  (From Twenty Holy Hours )

Honesty dictates that we who profess to be Catholic and followers of Jesus Christ must acknowledge our responsibility for the sorry state of the world today. Had we not remained silent in the face of evil and had we lived what we profess to believe, our world would be totally different. These are indeed difficult and troubling times.  Ponder these challenging words uttered by Korean martyr and priest, St. Andrew Kim Taegon, more than one hundred and seventy years ago: What a timely reminder! Since we were unwilling to live and defend the Truths of our faith when doing so was relatively easy and without adverse consequences, we must make amends now and beg God for the grace to be willing to suffer for standing firmly at His side.

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 .       Dr. Peter Kwasniewski "At this time in history, with news crashing on upon us from every side - mostly bad news, and some of it frankly scandalous in the extreme, as it reveals the callous complicity with, approbation of, and dedication to evil on the part of many in the hierarchy of the Church, who were supposed to be our guides to holiness and our models of it - nothing could be better than for us to go regularly before the Lord in Adoration. Fair weather or foul, super-busy or at loose ends, it doesn't matter; this is what we should be doing for our Church, for our clergy, for ourselves. This is what Our Lord is waiting for: a sign from us, an unmistakable sign, that we love Him for His own sake, and above all things on earth. When enough of us are taking real steps to love Him in exactly this way - with our whole mind, our w...

I ran across the following reflection of Father Willie Doyle, S.J. which Dr. Peter Kwasniewski included in his new and powerful book, The Holy Bread of Eternal Life - Restoring Eucharistic Reverence in an Age of Impiety . This is a book that belongs in the hands and hearts of everyone claiming to be Catholic:  Photo©Michael Seagriff "Try basking in the sun of God's love, that is, quietly kneeling before the tabernacle. as you would sit enjoying the warm sunshine, not trying to do anything, except love Him; but realizing that, during all the time you are at His feet, more especially when dry and cold, grace is dropping down upon your soul and you are growing fast in holiness. I think the best of all prayers is just to kneel quietly and let Jesus pour Himself into your soul." (From To Raise The Fallen: A Selection of The War Letters, Prayers and Spiritual Writings of Fr. Willie Doyle, S.J. )