"1. Place yourself in the presence of God.
2. Humble yourself before Him, sincerely imploring His forgiveness.
3. Pray that you may be enlightened, that you may love Him. Recommend yourself to the Blessed Virgin and to the saints.
Then, step by step, read the [readings] carefully. After each point reflect upon the truth you have just read, asking yourself: 1) What must I believe? Then make an act of faith, saying: "O Lord! I will believe this truth, help my faith, increase my faith!" 2) What must I now do? I must correct the faults opposed to this truth. 3) What have I done heretofore? Unhappily, O God, I have acted in contradiction to this truth; how differently, O Jesus, from Thee and from Thy saints! 4) What shall I now do? Here make a firm resolution to put these truths into immediate practice, to contend against and overcome the faults opposed to them, and to acquire new virtue.
Then finish the reading with acts of faith, hope, and charity, and contrition; repeat the same each time you read [these readings] or any book of devotion, and you will soon perceive that great benefit for your soul is derived from such exercises."
These practices can easily be done directly before Holy Mass while sitting in the Church or, as many people do, set aside some time either Saturday evening or Sunday morning to quietly reflect upon the Scripture for the day. The more one dedicates to reading the Holy Writ, the more one finds himself drawn to it. So do it and Live Devout!
photo © 2008 takomabibelot | more info (via: Wylio)"And he [Br. Paul] received this brief rule from Master Romuald, which he was very careful to practice throughout his life:
- Sit in your cell as in paradise;
- cast all memory of the world behind you;
- cautiously watch your thoughts, as a good fisherman the fish.
- The way is via the psalms – do not leave it. If, in your beginner’s fervor, you fail to do the whole psalter, do a little here and a little there, studying each with your whole mind and spirit, and when your mind wanders during the reading - don’t quit, hurry to refocus;
- Place yourself in the presence of God with fear and trembling, as if standing before the emperor;
- destroy yourself completely;
- sit like a baby chick, content with the grace of God, who, unless its mother gives it something , knows nothing and has nothing to eat."
This short rule of St. Romuald can easily be translated for those living in the world. Here is my version for us "secular" folks:
- Make your prayer time each day your time of paradise.
- Do not dwell on your memories of your daily struggles in the world, but cast them all before the Cross.
- Cautiously watch your thoughts...darn good advice!
- Pray each day, and try to pray throughout your day. If you find yourself slipping, hurry back to prayer....don't procrastinate (for you may not have tomorrow!)
- Place yourself in the presence of God (throughout the day) with fear and tremblying, as if God were passing by you during your work day.
- Destroy yourself completely...mortify your senses and desires, offer some sacrifice and penance each day for your sins.
- Reread #7 a few times until your get it...it is priceless.
Do you examine your conscience? How often do you go to Sacramental Confession? What is included in your examination of conscience?
This exercise is the foundation of a spiritual life built on the Truth. We must face the truth about our own lives before we can more on in growth. For example, if a person seeking to grow in the life of prayer is hateful to his brother, or is stuck in some secret sin, how can he move forward?
We begin our examen by "placing ourselves in God's presence." This is only facing the reality that God is already and truly with us and we only need to reflect on this reality for a moment for it to change our perspective. Once we have done this we ask Him for the necessary means to know ourselves and the state of our soul. We can then begin to either just review the previous day, minute by minute, or review the time period since our last confession.
This is where the hard work begins - facing ourselves with the eyes of Jesus and Mary. We must hold ourselves up to these models of the Christian life to get an extremely realistic picture of our state of affairs. We should compare our attitudes, ideas, and actions to that of Jesus and Mary and not be afraid to face the grim reality of our sin. The fact is, we are sinners and should never hide from our sins, but rather bring it out into the open for Jesus to conquer. How do you compare to these two models of the Christian life?
A couple of good books I recommend for learning the way of Jesus and Mary are "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis and "The Imitation of Mary" by Alexander de Rouville. Read these slow and reflectively and do not be afraid to act upon the teachings therein.
"Here is what I feel I must say to you in the Lord today. To live a devout life without failing, all you need do is to fix some excellent and generous maxims in your mind". St. Pio of Pietrelcina
What spiritual maxims do you live by? A while back I read "Cheaper By The Dozen" about a father of a family with twelve children. Aside from the normal difficulties of life, this father had developed little ways to help educate and form his children in his home. One of the many ways he did this was to have phrases, math charts, foreign languages, etc painted on the walls of their beach house. When I heard this something perked up in my mind and heart.
The next day I took out a permanent marker and started writing spiritual maxims on our bathroom wall. I figured this was a great place because everyone would have to visit it everyday and be a captive audience. Our list grew through things we had read and also through friends and family. See, we had left a couple of markers near the wall for anyone to add something worthwhile.
Although we had to leave that wall behind when we moved, we have created a new "wall" in our present bathroom. It is framed and the markers are nearby. Just the other day my wife's brother commented that he always thinks about a quote he saw on our bathroom wall, "I'll sleep later" (for the life of me, I can't remember what saint said that!). He stated that this statement had resonated with him again and again!
So again, what spiritual maxims do you live by? Start to gather your guiding principles as they will form the person that God is asking you to be. St. Pio pray for us!
This is a quote taken from "The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius":
The enemy also behaves like a false lover who wishes to remain hidden and does not want to be revealed. For when this deceitful man pays court, with evil intent, to the daughter of some good father or the wife of a good husband, he wants his words and suggestions to be kept secret. He is greatly displeased if the girl reveals to her father, or the wife to her husband, his deceitful words and depraved intentions, for he then clearly sees that his plans cannot succeed. In like manner, when the enemy of our human nature tempts a just soul with his wiles and deceits, he wishes and desires that they be received and kept in secret. When they are revealed to a confessor or some other spiritual person who understands his deceits and evil designs, the enemy is greatly displeased for he knows that he cannot succeed in his evil design once his obvious deceits have been discovered." (Rules for Discernment of Spirits, First Week, # 13)
I was recently going through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and came across this paragraph right in the beginning. The explanation St. Ignatius gives us of "spiritual exercises" can help us understand what "spiritual coaching" is - in light of the comparison to sports training. Here it is:
"This expression 'spiritual exercises' embraces every method of examination of conscience, of meditation, of contemplation, of vocal and mental prayer, and of other spiritual activity that will be mentioned later. For just as strolling, walking, and running are bodily exercises, so spiritual exercises are methods of preparing and disposing the soul to free itself of all inordinate attachments, and after accomplishing this, of seeking and discovering the Divine Will regarding the disposition of one's life, thus insuring salvation of his soul."
So a couple of questions that a spiritual coach might ask are:
What spiritual exercises do you practice?
Are you "exercising" spiritually enough?
What are you hoping to achieve through these exercises?
What "inordinate attachments" are you clinging to that need to be dropped?
Do you need a "spiritual diet"?
What is God's will for your life, for your family's life?
