Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Eucharistic Reflection - Are You Not As Happy As Zacheus, St. John, St Joseph and Our Blessed Virgin Mary?

"You consider Zacheus happy because Our Lord vouchsafed to enter his house and eat with him; you deem St. John happy because he rested on the breast of our Savior at the Last Supper; and, above all, you regard St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary so very happy because they nourished and supported Our Dear Lord. But are you not as happy as they? Are you not even happier? You do not hold Our Lord in your arms as Simeon did, but you receive Him into your heart in Holy Communion; you do not rest on the bosom of St. John, but the Savior rests in your heart after Holy Communion; you do not nurse and support Our Lord like St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin, but you have a still greater happiness, for the Savior Himself nourishes you and gives Himself to you as your food. O Love! O Love! O who can understand the love of God for men!"

(The Blessed Eucharist, Father Michael Muller, C.S.S.R.)

Book Review - The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle – St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia By Victoria Scheider

The Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle – St. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia is a must read for every Catholic, especially in these times of Eucharistic Revival, where so few of us still believe Jesus is really, substantially and physically present in the Eucharist.

Thank you to the author, Victoria Schneider, who took the time to translate and make the good Bishop’s words known to the English-speaking world. She has done a great service to all souls.

Bishop Manuel Gonzalez “was outraged by the indifferent attitude towards the Eucharist that he observed in the Church during his lifetime” (1877-1940). “What would he say today?” is the poignant question Father Sean Davidson, MSE poses in the Forward to this book. In the Preface, Father describes both the anguish in the good Bishop’s heart and the purpose of this book:

“Though the Sacred Eucharistic Heart of Jesus trembles with love for us in the tabernacle, our hearts are often indifferent to His love, sadly enough. The heart of Christ is as pierced and rejected today as it was on Calvary two thousand years ago. Love is not loved! The tabernacles are abandoned. St. Manuel would spend himself to correct this injustice. May we all follow his example.”

Restoration of belief in our Lord’s Real Presence in the Eucharist must be the Catholic Church’s priority.

Contemplating his death and the importance of this effort, Bishop Gonzalez wrote this:

“I ask to be buried next to a tabernacle, so that my bones, after death, as my tongue and my pen during life, can say to those who pass by: Jesus is there! There He is! Do not leave Him abandoned.”

Share this book with friends and family. Let everyone know that Jesus is in every Tabernacle of every Catholic Church! Let us no longer abandon Him! Visit Him!

Eucharistic Reflection - The Bread For Which Humanity Was Famishing

“Ah, yes! The Eucharist began at Bethlehem in Mary's arms. It was she who brought to humanity the Bread for which it was famishing, and which alone can nourish it. She, it was who took care of that Bread for us. It was she who nourished the Lamb whose life-giving Flesh we feed upon.

She nourished Him with her virginal milk; she nourished Him for the sacrifice, for she foreknew His destiny. Yes, she knew from the beginning, and every day she realizes it more fully, that her Lamb is only for immolation. She accepts God's will, and bearing Him in her arms, herself prepares for us the victim at Calvary - that Victim of our Altars.”

(From Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament by Saint Peter Julian Eymard)

Monday Musings - Let Us Be Real About Eucharistic Revival

(Originally posted January 9, 2023)

"In last week's post, which explored the dishonor accorded the sacredness of the Mass, I asked: "How can we expect the current efforts toward Eucharistic Revival to bear fruit when we have not addressed the real and obvious reasons why so few Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament?

This week I invite you to read the following post on lack of reverent silence and sacredness within our Churches. Are there any specific Revival efforts planned to catechize and instruct souls as to how they should conduct themselves while in the Presence of God?

Without Reverent Silence Nothing Else We Do Will Be of Any Value

A Forgotten Truth: "The Blessed Sacrament is that Presence which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world; which makes it, as no other place can be, holy." - St. John Henry Cardinal Newman:

A Catholic Church must be unlike any other building in the world because God resides there. A Catholic Church is holy ground. All who enter must conduct themselves in a manner consistent with being in the Presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We must enter, remain and exit it in reverent and total silence. God deserves nothing less.

In far too many of our Catholic parishes we have lost the sense of the sacred and an appreciation for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that are both essential for fostering and maintaining a belief in the Real Presence. We have forgotten how to pray. We have forgotten how to act while we are in Church and no one teaches or corrects us. Many ignore He Who is Love to engage in inane chatter on topics more appropriately discussed at social and sporting events. The actions and demeanor of so many souls are inconsistent with one who professes to believe that Jesus Christ is really and truly present on the altar and in their hands.

You can read this post in its entirety here .

As Only A Mother Can

(Originally posted on October 17, 2017)

While I was on retreat a few years ago at the Abbey of the Genesee, I paused (as I often do on my visits there) before the statue of our Blessed Mother which welcomes visitors to the monastery.

It is a simple but beautiful image. I think you will agree.

On that day, as I prayerfully gazed into her eyes, these words came to me:

"Come closer my child. Draw near to me. I want to embrace and kiss you as only a Mother can."

What a gift to us "poor banished children of Eve"!

Book Review – A Little Book of Reparation – First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Anne Costa

Anne Costa’s books are always challenging, clear, informative, necessary, and timely. A Little Book of Reparation – First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is no exception.

In this brief volume, Anne explains the origin of the Frist Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, its spirit and purpose, the dispositions one must have in making this devotion, and the benefits awaiting those who do so -one offers this devotion by going to Mass on the first Friday of nine consecutive months, receiving Holy Communion with the intention of honoring Christ’s Sacred Heart and making reparation to It.

In a world which has lost any sense of sin, reparation is a word foreign to many contemporary ears. This devotion, as Anne makes clear, is a gift God has given us “not just to atone for our own faults and sins, but also to obtain grace for others who may be confused or steeped in sin or rebellion”.

This devotion shows how much we love God and draws us nearer to Him. Jesus, in turn, promised St. Margaret Mary Alacoque He would “grant the grace of final repentance to all those who will receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of the month for nine consecutive months. They will not die in My disgrace, nor without having received the holy Sacraments, and in those last moments, My Heart will be a safe refuge for them.”

In addition to describing nine specific acts of reparation that could be offered in conjunction this First Friday devotion and providing concrete examples of other daily acts of reparations, the author sets forth a number of beautiful prayers: Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart, Novena of Reparation, and Litany of Reparation in Honor of the Blessed Sacrament.

In this little gem of a book, Anne Costa provides the reader with all one will need to offer this devotion well, benefit from it, and make reparation to a God who has been abandoned by so many of those He created.

A Little Book of Reparation – First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is another one of those special books that we should read and place in the hands of our spouses, children and loved ones.

Eucharistic Reflection - Become An Interior Soul

“Hence I say, if we wish to become saints, we must become interior souls. We are obliged thereto by our vocation as adorers. Without this interior spirit, how can we pray? If in the presence of our Lord we cannot spend a single instant without a book, if we have nothing to say to Him from our own heart, what are we going to do at Adoration? What can we never speak to Him from the abundance of our own heart? Must we always borrow the thoughts and words of strangers? No, no! Let us strive to become recollected interior souls.

No one can be this in the way that Jesus and Mary were; but everyone can become recollected in the degree given him by grace. Without the interior life, we shall never receive any consolation, encouragement in prayer; we shall only be unhappy at the feet of our Lord. If you wish to become true adorers, we must have this interior spirit. We should talk to our Lord when kneeling in His presence, ask Him questions, await His reply; we should enjoy God's presence. We should be happy in His company, happy in His service; we should take pleasure in His familiarity, so sweet, so encouraging. But to discover the Heart of Jesus we must be interior.

After all, what does it mean to be interior? It means to love, to converse, to live with Jesus. But Jesus does not make Himself heard by bodily ears, nor seen with bodily eyes; He speaks only to the recollected soul. He is wholly interior in the Blessed Sacrament: He no longer enters into the heart through the sight, as during His mortal life; He now enters the soul direct and speaks to it alone. When the soul does not expand in His presence it is because He does not act upon it - there is some obstacle in His path.

Ah! Do not make our Lord out to have said what is not true! He has said that His yoke is sweet and His burden light. But it is only so for him who carries it in a prayerful, recollected spirit; otherwise, he will find it heavy and fatiguing. When we do not lead interior lives, everything we do goes haltingly. Oh, how I should wish to see accomplished in us what was so fully realized in the Blessed Virgin: ‘The Kingdom of God is within you’ - the Kingdom of love, of virtue and of interior graces. Then indeed shall we begin to be adorers and saints. The grass of the field dies yearly because its roots do not lie deep in the soil; but the oak, the olive and the cedar stand year after year because their roots run deep into the earth. In order to grow strong, to endure, we must descend to the very depths, even to self-annihilation…There we shall find Jesus. He is there annihilated... it was such that Mary found Him. Oh, may that Blessed Mother, our perfect exemplar of the interior life, make us live, as she did, in Jesus! May we, like her, remain always in Him and never leave Him!”