Lack of Spiritual Growth: Whose Fault is It?

First Key to Spiritual Growth: Taking Control of Your Life through the Virtue of Prudence

Catholic spiritual growth is not easy. And let’s face it, we all have weaknesses that make Catholic spiritual growth even harder. But in my interactions with Catholics in my educational work, I have discovered a very troubling trend that I believe is more damaging than any of our personal weaknesses. Even more alarming is that I have come to realize that I fall into this same damaging pattern!

This damaging trend is to point the finger away from ourselves when we consider the reasons we are not growing in our faith. “It’s not my fault that I’m not growing spiritually. I’d be fine if the Church would do its job.”

I recently gave a survey that asked, “What do you think are your greatest personal obstacles in growing in your faith or finding happiness and contentment in life?” Even though I specifically asked for personal obstacles, here are some of the responses I received:

• Wishing that society could be better in backing me up in what my husband and I teach our children.
• The Vatican backtracking on Vatican II
• My constance frustration with the country, government and the direction we are heading. I wish to retire
• Lack of pastoral leadership
• I love the tridentine latin Mass and there is only one offered in Pittsburgh. I wish that it was celebrated in a parish closer to home. That Mass is very personal in its silence which is contemplative.
• Those who only give an hour on Sunday and then complain about it, too! They have no idea that it should be a way of life that takes them back to their Father and not an obligation!!!!!!
• Society- it’s lack of morality. Lack of support from others and from priests. Political correctness.
• Secular everything is so big, bold, loud! It is hard to find people that tune out a majority or secular information and live as Christians.
• Other Catholics who give in to society to be politically correct and compromise their Catholic beliefs.

Lord Grant Me the Serenity . . .

Do you see the pattern? We so easily fall into it, don’t we? When we run up against our own failure to thrive, we naturally seek out explanations outside of ourselves. Hey – like I said, I do it too! It’s just so much easier than looking inside.

I’m not saying that many of these responses don’t reflect legitimate concerns. But all of the excuses we make for ourselves have something in common. They are outside of our control.

You are probably familiar with the Serenity Prayer. I believe this prayer has its origin in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Lord, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Blaming external problems on our lack of spiritual growth is really to bang our heads against a brick wall. If the things keeping us from growing are beyond our control, then there is nothing we can do to gain the closeness to Jesus that we really long for. Therefore we become frustrated, angry and bitter. Psychologists call our tendency to blame outside forces on our troubles having an “external locus of control.” It is an indicator of a lowered ability to deal with stress and trials in our lives.

Following the Footsteps of the Saints

Saints are very often the instruments of change in the Church. God raises up saints when the Church is in most need of conversion. Pope John Paul II predicted that the 21st century would need more saints than any other time in history. So we should probably know how they did it, huh?

Two of my heroes are Saint Benedict and Saint Dominic. Both of these saints lived in a time when the Church needed major reform. How did they respond? Well, Saint Benedict went to the mountains to become a hermit and grow in intimacy with Christ. He ended up founding a religious order and a number monasteries filled with people seeking to do the same thing. And he changed the world.

Saint Dominic saw that religious orders were becoming lazy and sometimes downright materialistic. So he took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and founded an order of beggars. These were monks that did not keep any property for themselves, but instead begged for every meal and for places to sleep. Saint Dominic and the men he attracted to his order knew that the only way to change the Church was to change their own hearts. And they changed the world.

Begin Simply — But Begin!

So how can we follow in the footsteps of the saints? We start by recognizing our need to change ourselves. I’m going to add two new steps to the plan I have you in Four Ways to Build Your Inner Sanctuary:

1. Recognize that the only change you can make is to change yourself. Make holiness your goal. Identify in yourself the main obstacles to spiritual growth – face your own weaknesses, sins, laziness and ignorance. Rather than getting discouraged, make the choice to change! Choose two obstacles to work on.
2. Bring your desire for conversion to prayer. You can’t make yourself holy, but God empowers you through grace and then invites you to cooperate in your own conversion! God will make the real change in your heart, but he will do it with our participation. So in a very real sense you have the power to make the changes in yourself that you need to make.
3. Make a plan to overcome these two obstacles
4. Take control of your time
5. Take control of your environment
6. Start small and build good habits

So do you find this is true about yourself? When confronted with your lack of spiritual growth, are your first thoughts on what’s wrong with the world and with the Church? Or is it just me? Let me know in the comments at the bottom of this article!

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