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.       Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap. “When God finds a person determined to obey Him, He takes the life of that person in His hands like the helm of a boat or the reins of a horse. Not just in theory, but in reality. He becomes ‘Lord,’ that is, He who ‘rules’ and ‘governs’.”   (From Obedience. The Authority of the Word ) St. Peter Julian Eymard “Our Lord must be honored in the manner and through the virtue which He manifests in the Blessed Sacrament. Now then, what virtue does He practice and teach there constantly and visibly, to all, even to the most ignorant? Humility: He is more humiliated there than in His birth, in His life, even in His death. Here His annihilation veils and entombs everything, His divinity, His humanity, His words and His actions. If then you want to honor Him, as is the essential ...

(Photo by Sylvain Brison on Unsplash ) “The sovereign purpose of Communion is to produce a unity of life and of person between our Lord and ourselves; it is not perfect if we do not arrive at this, for it is not only our works which He wants in coming to us but ourselves. It seems to me that on leaving the Tabernacle to come into us, our Lord says: ‘I will Incarnate Myself in this person. I will unite myself with her sacramentally in order that My personality may take the place of her own; I want to be her principle and raise her being and her actions to a divine unity; I will think and will in her soul; I will live in her body; I will love in her heart; I will glorify My Father in her as I glorified Him on earth in My sacred humanity; I will continue for the glory of My Father, for love of Him and of this creature, my meritorious and suffering life; I will give a supernatural and divine value to her acts; I will be the center of her affections and the principle of a new life whic...

Photo by Maria Oswalt on Unsplash “Let your love be your science of adoration. When you go to adore, do not begin with books. Think for yourself; ask your divine Master to instruct you. You may be sure that an adoration made in your own weakness with all your wretchedness is worth more than all you will borrow from books, because it is yours. Books are excellent for aiding us when the mind is so distracted or so weak that one can draw nothing out of it. But ordinarily do not have recourse to this means so easily. Most of the time we take up a book because we have not the courage to put up with dryness or distaste in prayer. Adore quite simply with your heart and know that love is the true science of adoration. You will notice that God often renders the mind incapable of reasoning and reflecting. Why? Because we are by nature great prattlers; We would like to speak with him continually; the good God closes our mind it seems to say: put yourself in your heart. If then, instead o...

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) “The best agent in the [examination of conscience] is love. A soul that loves God with all its heart easily sees its faults, even the smallest inclination of its evil nature, and it immediately feels the presence of the tempter. That soul sees itself as in a faithful mirror: it reads itself in God, like the child who, by a simple look, reads its faults in the pain, or the silence, or the lesser friendliness of its father and its mother. This is the most perfect [examination], since it is in its center of action and of perfection, in the life of love, which suffices for everything and is the end of all the means of sanctification whatever they may be. This should be your first consideration in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. The light of the divine fire which burns in the Heart of our Lord, should, at the beginning of all your adorations, penetrate to the innermost recesses of your soul and show you in an instant all its poverty and all its ac...

 

  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.       Mother Mectilde of the Blessed Sacrament “Silence, love, and respect are needed, and without these three points you will learn nothing…Silence disposes you to listen. Love makes you embrace the instructions which God’s spirit gives you. And respect keeps you in a profound reverence for the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Consequently, be attentive to God who is present, with love and respect. Never forget these three points, which must never be separated from each other. For if you are attentive without love and respect, Jesus Christ’s words will not have the results they must have in you. If you are without attentiveness, you do not hear His voice. If you are without love, your action is without life or soul. Thus, love and respect are bounded inseparably to attention. This is the reason I have so often recommended lovin...