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. Augustine “…how the sea comes in through any leaky places in the hull, and little by little fills the hold of the boat. Unless it is expelled, the ship goes down ... Imitate the sailors: their hands never rest until they have baled her out thoroughly; let yours never rest from doing good. In spite of everything however, the bottom of the ship will fill with water again, because the weak points of our human nature are always there; and you will have to man the pumps again.” (From Sermon 16 )

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) “I warmly encourage the faithful to adore Christ, present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, letting Him heal our consciences and purify us, enlighten us and unite us. In their encounter with Him, Christians will find strength for their spiritual life and their mission in the world. In fact, in communing heart to heart with the divine Teacher, they will discover the Father's infinite love and will be true worshipers in spirit and in truth. Their faith in him will be revitalized; they will enter into God's mystery and be profoundly transformed by Christ. In their trials and in joys, they will conform their life to the mystery of our Saviour's Cross and Resurrection. . . . Every day they will become more and more sons and daughters in the Son. Then, love will be spread through them in human hearts, in order to build up the Body of Christ which is the Church to establish a society of justice, peace and brotherhood. They will be i...

Our Blessed Mother's example should encourage us to fully immerse ourselves into the ordinariness of our daily lives and to do everything [as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta also told us] with extraordinary love.

MAY GOD GRANT EACH OF YOU A BLESSED NEW YEAR!  (Abbey at Genesee) Another week of interesting and informative posts at RAnn's place where several Catholic bloggers share their wares. Stop in for a visit. Here is what I posted this week: Monday Musings - A Christmas Day Handout As An Alternative to Silence Eucharistic Reflection - Finding Peace On The Inside Merry Christmas! Book Review - "Working Mother" by Erin McCole Cupp

We just spent time at the manger adoring and worshiping our Infant Savior. Shortly, we will recoil in horror to recall that the Holy Family had to flee their homeland to thwart Herod’s murderous plot. But how many of us have ever given any further thought to what life was like in Egypt or what we might learn from their exile in a foreign land? Probably, not too many of us. Thankfully, Erin McCole Cupp paused, pondered and now presents, as the fruits of her contemplation, Working Mother, a challenging, fascinating, inspiring, and intriguing short fictional tale of what life as exiles in Egypt could have been like for Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Drawing from her life-long study and her experiences as a Catholic, mother, spouse and Lay Dominican, and fueled by the gift of a creative imagination, Erin opens a window of carefully crafted words and images, through which we can better appreciate the humanity of the Holy Family - who, like us...

(Image Source: Embedded Faith.org )

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons ) “How to find Christmas peace in a world of unrest? You cannot find peace on the outside but you can find peace on the inside, by letting God do to your soul what Mary let Him do to her body, namely, let Christ be formed in you. As she cooked meals in her Nazarene home, as she nursed her aged cousin, as she drew water at the well, as she prepared the meals of the village carpenter, as she knitted the seamless garment, as she kneaded the dough and swept the floor, she was conscious that Christ was in her; that she was a living Ciborium, a monstrance of the Divine Eucharist, a Gate of Heaven through which a Creator would peer upon creation, a Tower of Ivory up whose chaste body He was to climb "to kiss upon her lips a mystical rose."