Posts Tagged ‘spiritual growth’
Spiritual growth in Dei Verbum from Vatican II
What is the Word of God? Dei Verbum, which means “Word of God” in English, is the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation from the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council. It’s funny that most American Catholics are so used to hearing our Protestant brothers and sisters calling the Bible “the Word” that they immediately assume Dei Verbum…
Read MoreCharity: the Core of Catholic Spirituality
Catholic spirituality, including our prayer life, is founded on charity. The goal of our spirituality is to help us grow in a personal relationship with God. At its heart, that means to live in charity. Let’s discuss what charity is, how it is formed in us, and how we can engage the power of charity…
Read MoreLack of Spiritual Growth: Whose Fault is It?
So, you haven’t experienced much spiritual growth this past year? Are you like me, often blaming outside influences on your lack of growth? Maybe it’s time to look inside.
Read MoreWhy Faith in God Gives You More (not less) of the Good Stuff!
Many of us assume that we are too busy to strengthen our faith in God. The skills and strategies surrounding the all-but-forgotten virtue of prudence can help us to focus on what matters most – especially our relationship with God. Today, let’s take the first concrete step toward living the virtue of prudence. Virtue requires…
Read MoreHow to Pray – True Humility Is the Foundation of Prayer (Do You Have It)?
If you really want to learn how to pray, you always need to start with uniting your heart to God’s. The virtue of humility gives our hearts the right disposition for a relationship of love with God. But too many Catholics misunderstand this important virtue. Most people think of humility as a refusal to acknowledge…
Read MoreLasting Friendships – Not Even Death Can Destroy True Friendship
Cultivating and nurturing good Christian friendship is an important part of Catholic spiritual growth. Unfortunately, there are some influences in our lives that make it difficult for us to even want to put the effort and energy into cultivating lasting friendships. Nurturing friendship is hard work! Depending on your age, it might surprise you to…
Read MoreWhat Virtues Make a Well-Ordered Life Second Nature?
A habit is a tendency to perform an action readily and easily. Virtues are good habits – habits that resonate with who we are meant to be. Habits are formed by doing something over and over again. This repeated action literally forms a path in our brain that connects a need or desire to the…
Read MoreWhy Are You Too Busy to Pray? (it’s not because you don’t care)
Are you a “stuck” Catholic? Spiritual growth is a pipe dream, right? Or at least a future goal rather than a current focus. You do your Catholic “duty” but you’re not deepening your relationship with God. Why not? Not due to lack of desire! You really want to grow in your faith. If you didn’t…
Read MoreFaith to Friendship – Made for Relationship
Christian Friendship is incredibly important to growing in our Catholic faith. We are made for relationship. But we are also made with free will. Let’s use our free will to CHOOSE to make our friendships the best that they can be, and let’s ask the Holy Spirit what our souls need to learn in the…
Read MoreCatholic Spiritual Growth Requires Faith Community!
In this spiritual growth tutorial on practical prayer, we have seen how important it is to focus our spiritual growth and prayer on our personal relationship with God. We then discussed why we need to continue to learn about our faith so we can grow in intimacy with God. In this article we’re going to…
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