Do you struggle with prayer? Are you so overwhelmed with the distractions of your daily life that you barely even think about God during your day? Do you find yourself committing the same sins over and over, wondering when your heart will finally experience true conversion? Do you feel like you're not growing closer to God?

The purpose of From the Abbey is to help Catholic laity create a spiritual discipline that fits their vocation and state of life. It's the perfect place for beginners in the spiritual life.

We use the metaphor of "Rebuilding Your Inner Abbey" to describe the process of building your spirituality from the ground up. Your "Inner Abbey" is the place in your heart where you can shut out the distractions of the world for a time and focus on your relationship with God.

You can overcome the overwhelm by joining us each month for our spiritual project. This is a great place to start deepening your relationship with God.

This Month's Spiritual Project: Discern Your Mission!

It's September!  After three months of summer fun, relaxation and rejuvenation it's time to go back to school, to make ready for winter, to get back to work.

That makes September a great month to consider how God is calling you to serve the Kingdom of God!

The Courtyard - Mission

This month our Spiritual Project focuses on the Public Courtyard of your Inner Abbey. The Public Courtyard is where you prepare to take your relationship with Jesus out FROM THE ABBEY and into the world. It is also where you participate in the Divine Life by participating in the 3-fold mission of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit equips each of us with spiritual gifts and gently invites us to use those gifts, along with our natural talents, to participate in the 3-fold mission of Jesus. Every Christian is called to participate in all 3 dimensions of Jesus' mission: to pray for others, to share the Gospel (evangelize), and to serve others in love. But each of us is also empowered and called to a specific way of serving the Kingdom of God. This unique call usually falls under one of the three mission, making it an emphasis in our spiritual lives.

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Special Offers!

Anyone who registers to join this month's spiritual project will also get 2 very special offers!

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Bookstore Discount on the "Spiritual Gifts & Mission" Category

I will send a coupon to you by email for 20% any bookstore resources in the "Spiritual Gifts & Mission" category.

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Free Course: "Who Are the Early Church Fathers"

I am very happy to announce that the online class series "Fathers of Our Faith" is now complete! And I'll show anyone who registers for one of our monthly spiritual projects how to get the first class in that series, "Who Are the Early Church Fathers," for FREE!

Join this Month's Spiritual Project to Get All of These Benefits Now!

What is Gospel Rap?

Gospel music has been increasing in popularity for quite some time. Christian music has a wide range and reaches many people. There are many subgenres of Christian music, including Gospel music and Christian hip hop. There was a time when Christian hip hop was once referred to as Gospel rap or Christian rap. This type…

Don’t Take Vacation from God

We all know that things slow down over the summer. School is out. Parish activities stop, except possibly for a parish picnic. Every institution assumes everybody will be traveling or camping. So it’s understandable that we consider summer a time to take a break from everything – including our faith. Summer activity and travel are…

What Are We Really Celebrating Tomorrow?

Welcome to the last day of Advent! Tomorrow we shift our celebration from joyful anticipation to full-out celebration. To maximize our joy this Christmas season, let’s reflect on what we’re celebrating. If your parish is stuck in “Jesus birthday” mode, you’re going to love reflecting on the full meaning of Christmas. During Christmas, God enters…

Moral Principle of Subsidiarity

Definition: Decision making power and responsibility should reside at the lowest possible level of social organization. Higher levels of social organization should give as much help as necessary to help lower levels perform their tasks, but should not take the power & responsibility away from them. Explanation: Levels of social organization begin with the family,…

Nurturing Christian Friendship with the Gift of Intimacy

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. One of the most important strategies for building strong Christian friendships is to give the relationship the gift of time. But the time you spend with each other…

Moral Principal of Scandal

Definition Leading other people into sin, either by bad example, poor teaching, or the appearance of sin. Explanation Within the human family, and even moreso the Catholic family, we are responsible for one another’s spiritual welfare. Our sins affect every other person in some way. Leading someone to sin is a grave evil because it…

Could Practicing the Virtue of Prudence Give You More Time In Your Day?

First Key to Spiritual Growth: Taking Control of Your Life through the Virtue of Prudence In the last two articles we explored the need to take control of our lives. We saw how we can make simple choices that slowly build up our inner sanctuary. Then we looked at the importance of embracing change in…

My Inner Abbey Episode 1: It’s All About Relationship Transcript

Introduction Hey everyone, this is Jeff Arrowood, founder of the Catholic educational apostolate From the Abbey. And this is the first episode of a new webcast called “My Inner Abbey.” In this episode we’re going to pretty much discuss what this broadcast is all about. We also have an awesome question about Heaven and whether…

Catholic Prayer – 3 Mistakes Most Catholics Make When They Try To Create a Habit of Prayer

Watch the SlideShare Presentation 3 mistakes most catholics make when they try to create a habit of prayer from Jeffrey Arrowood Read the Full Article on EzineArticles.com Click here – to go there Outline 1. By Jeffrey S Arrowood! Catholic Prayer – 3 Mistakes Most Catholics Make When They Try To Create a Habit of…

Catholic Spiritual Growth – Overcoming Inertia to Establish a Habit of Prayer

Catholic spiritual growth is not easy. Even just establishing a habit of prayer means fighting against the inertia of our habits. There is a right way to overcome this inertia and there is a wrong way Let’s talk about some of your barriers to establishing a daily prayer habit. Then we’ll find out the right…