Creating your spiritual path

 

Sr. Barbara Gerace is the eldest sister in our community. Going toward her 80s, she is a bit worried about her condition but she is still eager to be part of a book club with Rev. John Johnson, a retired Archdiocesan priest in Missouri.

For September, Sr. Barbara has selected “Plan of Life: Habits to Help You Grow Closer to God” by Roger J. Landry, a priest from the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts. She chose this book for group reading because it offers guidance on how to deepen our prayer life.

Each of us aspires to be better. So, we do our best every day. How can we change ourselves? How can we become transformed into a new person? Can we change the society and the world as well?

At the end of each year's Spiritual Exercises, I take time to outline my life project, and this year was no different. I made an effort to plan more concretely, but I still find myself struggling with the daily steps needed to implement my project. Maintaining the discipline required for this journey demands a great deal of perseverance.

Whenever I ponder on the topic of planning, the urban planning of Singapore comes to my mind. The city state, through infrastructure development and an integrated planning process, realized a three-tiered planning framework that consists of a long-term plan (concept), a master plan (for the medium term) and short-term plans. Thus, Singaporeans study their planning thoroughly and try seriously before applying it for the ultimate realization.

“Plan of Life: Habits to help you grow closer to God” helps us to plan our spiritual life. If we want to achieve something, we surely need a concrete, practical and accessible plan. Furthermore, we have to discipline ourselves constantly with mindful will, enduring hope and dreams.

When discussing changes, particularly within the Catholic Church, we often hear about the concepts of New Evangelization and Eucharistic Revival. These themes are frequently highlighted in conversations and initiatives aimed at revitalizing the faith community.

As Fr. Landry notes in the book, one of the surest paths to transformation is living a Christ-centered life in communion with the Trinity. To be like Jesus, to follow Jesus, to imitate Jesus and to love God and others, are the ultimate goals of our Christian lives, whether Catholics or not.

From this perspective, he suggests the basic habits for becoming holier: following the Holy Spirit, living a heroic moment like choosing to get out of bed immediately, offering the morning prayer to start a new day, having the general exam or evaluation to end a day well, praying regularly, living the Bible messages, attending Sunday Mass, making confession to be forgiven, living charity and almsgiving with compassion, etc.

He also suggests several points beyond the basic habits such as Eucharistic practices through attending daily Mass and receiving spiritual communion, Marian devotions and Penitential practices like fasting to live in constant conversion.

Several other suggestions include bringing everything into harmony to grow in virtue and to root out bad habits, having unity of life by giving time to God, spiritual reading, retreats or days of recollection and having Christian attitudes to be holier.

Last but not least, he concludes his book with the glad tidings of joy: “The fruit of living a plan of life is joy or cheerfulness."

Are you eager to advance in your spiritual life? Consider following a step-by-step plan to guide you on your journey.

The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul (Figlie di San Paolo), living the Good News and proclaiming it with various means of social communication.