Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

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 .       St. John of the Cross   "Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction."   (From The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross )   Joseph Pronechen “Across the centuries, it has been the tradition in Catholic architecture to set a boundary between the nave and the sanctuary, setting apart the altar and its immediate surroundings from the rest of the church. In the early Christian basilicas this took the form of a chancel wall, sometimes called the templon. Over the centuries that followed, there came the altar rail and the rood screen, In the Eastern liturgies, it has taken the form of the iconostasis . Far from being an impediment to our commun...

( Image Source- Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament ) "Beloved Jesus, notwithstanding twenty centuries of Your nearness and friendship, we have not yet penetrated, as we should have, the mystery of love in Your divine Eucharist. In reparation for this lack of understanding, we offer You Mary's affection, and the love of her maternal Heart. Adorable Jesus, we owe You yet another apology. We feel remorse for not loving You with the burning charity with which we should repay Your love. Notwithstanding Your generosity and Your unbelievable tenderness, our love is still far too measured... Jesus, Love of our love and Life of our life, turn way Your adorable eyes from our failings and our lukewarmness; turn them away from the forgetfulness of our good resolutions, from the weakness that prevents us from keeping our repeated promises to become better - to become saints.  F or love of Mary, Your Mother and ours, pardon us, Jesus! As reparation for our coldness, we offer You the lov...

Jeremiah was one of the major Old Testament prophets. He was not too successful in changing hearts. but he certainly was faithful in his attempt to do so. Often referred to as “the weeping prophet” his own family turned against him. His countrymen rejected God’s warning which Jeremiah had received of their impending punishment for having turned their backs to God. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) Last Thursday, we read the following excerpt from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, written centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ. (Jer. 7:23-28). Not much attention was given the prophet’s message last week. Over the centuries, this message seems to have fallen on deaf ears and dead souls. Ponder what God told his prophet and what He wants us to hear anew: But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ But they did not obey or incline their ear but walked...