Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

 

I thought this would be a perfect time to revisit this 4 minute podcast from five years ago. Sadly, not much has changed... Podcast "Holy Spirit" vs "Spirit of Vatican II" (Image source: Wikimedia Commons) Ever wonder why so very few Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is really, truly and substantially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament?  Many have. I am among that number and wish to share these simple thoughts with you today. Click here if you are interested. What do you think?

“What graces, virtues, and gifts holy Mass calls down! In the first place, it calls down all spiritual graces, all the goods appertaining to the soul, such as repentance for sins, and victory over temptations, whether such result from external trials, as bad companions and infernal spirits, or internal, as for instance, those arising from rebellious appetites. It calls down the aid of grace, so necessary for enabling us to rise up, to stand up on our feet, to walk forward in the ways of God. It calls down many good and holy inspirations, and many internal impulses, which dispose us to shake off tepidity, and spurs on us to work our best with greater fervor, with will more prompt, with intention more upright and pure; and these, again, bring with them an inestimable treasure, being the most effectual means for obtaining from God the grace of final perseverance, on which depends our eternal salvation, and the grace, of as much moral certainty of eternal bliss as is ever permitted here be...

[ Last week I shared a silly whimsical glance into the particular judgment of one attorney - the judgment that occurs immediately after death. Today, we cast aside that foolishness, and get real. The salvation of souls is at stake. Ponder what Ven. Louis of Granada, O.P. had to say on the subject.]   (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) “Consider, also, how uncertain is the hour of death. It generally comes when man is most forgetful of eternal things, overturning his plans for an earthly future, and opening before him the appalling vision of eternity. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures tell us that it comes as a thief in the night; that is, when men are plunged in sleep and least apprehensive of danger. The forerunner of death is usually a grave illness with its attendant weariness, sufferings, and pains, which weaken the powers of the body and give entrance to the king of terrors. Just as an enemy who wishes to take a citadel destroys the outer fortifications, so death with its va...

  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 Paul II “Yes, dear friends, Christ loves us, and He loves us forever! He loves us even when we disappoint Him, when we fail to meet His expectations for us. He never fails to embrace us in His mercy. How can we not be grateful to this God who has redeemed us, going so far as to accept the foolishness of the Cross?   To God who has come to be at our side and has stayed with us to the end?” (World Youth Day August 20, 200 - Rome, Italy)       Father Jacques Philippe “We can’t transform ourselves or effect our own conversion: only God’s grace can reach the extremity of our weakness. In faithfulness to the gospel – and also that we don’t weigh down others with a burden we can’t carry ourselves – we must understand that Christianity is not a religion of human effort but of grace. That ...