The Well-Ordered Life – Making the Tough Choices
Living a well-ordered life with prudence (virtue) is the first step of Catholic spiritual growth. Unless we have the time, energy and attention to give to our relationship with Jesus, we cannot expect that relationship to grow. We’ve seen how we can reclaim some of the time in our day through planned responses to the…
Read MoreNurturing Christian Friendship with the Gift of Time
A good Christian friendship is a gift from God. But like all areas of Catholic spiritual growth, keeping a Christian friendship strong requires some conscious, deliberate effort. In any relationship you want to nurture, the best thing you can do is to give the Gift of Time. Catholic author and speaker Matthew Kelly calls this…
Read MoreIntroducing the “My Inner Abbey” Webcast
My Inner Abbey is a webcast about practical strategies for Catholic spiritual growth. What is a webcast? Why is it called “My Inner Abbey”? What can you expect and how can you participate? These questions and more are answered in this segment from Episode 1: It’s All About Relationship.
Read MoreGrowing in Theological Virtues: Love and God’s Family (Charity)
“Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.” Charity is the greatest of the theological virtues. Hope and faith are at the service of charity. The very purpose of hope – to teach us to trust – and of faith – to give us intimacy – is to…
Read MoreLiving Catholic Spirituality in Sacrocanctum Concilium from Vatican II
Most people don’t turn to the documents of ecumenical councils for advice on how to live Catholic spirituality. So it may surprise you that we’re turning to a document like Sacrocanctum Concilium to talk about our prayer life. Sacrosanctum Concilium is the Constitution on Sacred Liturgy from the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. This document if…
Read MoreThe Path of Spiritual Growth
What exactly is Catholic spiritual growth? So let’s say you are working on creating a habit of prayer. You’ve found your prayer language. You are becoming more and more focused on your relationship with the Three Persons of the Trinity. First of all – go You! That’s just a slice of awesomeness! But does that…
Read MoreSpiritual Growth in Gaudium et Spes from Vatican II
Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes both seem to focus on Church policies and procedures. They don’t seem to be about spiritual growth at all. Yet, the Second Vatican Council reminds us that the mission of the Church belongs to everyone. Gaudium et Spes discusses how the Church needs to respond to the modern…
Read MoreExploring Active Styles of Prayer
Spiritual growth requires us to form a consistent habit of prayer. Because prayer is a relationship with Jesus, we need to find ways of praying that fit our personality and our relationship with our Lord. In our last article, we talked about various styles of prayer for people who are drawn to more quiet, meditative…
Read MoreA Quick Tour of the Documents of Vatican II
Most Catholics have never read the documents from the Second Vatican Council and don’t really know what the Council teaches. Instead they assume they know what the Second Vatican Council taught based on the changes that happened in the Church after the Council. Unfortunately, this means that the actual teachings of the Council have yet…
Read MoreCatholic Spirituality is Living the Adventure of Faith
If you follow From the Abbey’s spiritual growth tutorials for any length of time, you’ll notice a number of repeated themes: We need to put God at the center of our daily lives and conquer “external distractions” with the virtue of prudence. We need a daily habit of focused, meaningful prayer. Developing virtue is the…
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