Each Lent we are challenged to reevaluate our practice of the Faith. Unfortunately, often when we take a look at our spiritual lives we end up mourning the loss of the zeal and enthusiasm we once had. We used to pray every day, go to daily Mass, and evangelize everyone we saw. Now the fire has died and we have just enough guilt in us to attend Sunday Mass and go to confession on occasion.
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For many of us we had a striking conversion experience and lived our faith to its fullest extent. Then over time life got busy and our faith suffered.
What you need now more than ever is a “jump start” that not only reignites your Faith, but helps it endure through the many trials of life.
I know the feeling. I have been there.
Thankfully, through the grace of God, I found a way out and it has kept my faith alive, giving me the ability to keep growing in my relationship with God.
For most of my life I was content with going to Mass on Sunday and going to confession once (or twice) a year. I believed in God and the Catholic Church, but it was more “cultural” than “personal.” I was Catholic, my family was Catholic and everyone else in my small town was Catholic. It was simply a fact of life.
Even after Confirmation I lived my life like a typical high school boy, getting trapped into the same pitfalls as everyone else.
Then I had an epiphany that I have never been able to describe. By God’s divine inspiration, I picked-up a Bible and willfully chose to change my life. I quickly began researching my Catholic faith and spent hours learning the reasons behind my beliefs. I was quite surprised as my CCD instruction up to that point was lacking.
What fascinated me the most was the Church’s teaching on the Holy Eucharist. I discovered the many Eucharistic miracles that have happened over the years and that became a central motivating factor behind my “re-version.”
At the same time I was blessed to have found a local youth group, which provided me with the moral support to persevere in the Faith. This really catapulted me into a deep love of God and His Church and made me want to serve in some capacity.
Through a series of events, I applied to college seminary and spent 3 years studying and growing deeper in my faith. During my Junior year I began searching my heart to see where God wanted me to go. At first, I thought I was called to the religious life and so dropped out of seminary and started to pursue it.
Providence would have it that I never joined the monastery. It appeared that God wanted me to leave so as to show me the path that I should walk. I discerned God was calling me to marriage and after meeting the woman of my dreams, we got married and soon had children to worry about.
That is when the fire of faith started to die.
When I was in seminary, I spent more than a full hour a day in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I was zealous (sometimes too zealous) and nothing seemed to shake my faith. After getting married and starting a family, that daily time in prayer was gone and while we still attended daily Mass, my heart was not in it.
I felt stagnant and the times between going to confession were beginning to widen. I did not have the same zeal I once had and began to slip in my relationship with God. I didn’t know what to do.
Then, through the grace of God, I discovered amazing resources that reignited my faith and set it back on the course towards God.
To help you fan the flames of your faith, I will walk you through what helped me and what continues to fuel my zeal.
In this new article series, you will discover:
- Why you must have a daily schedule of prayer and how you can make it stick.
- The most powerful books that kept my spiritual life afloat.
- 5 daily practices that keep your heart focused on God.
- Why and how to set spiritual-goals that are attainable.
- Which saints had struggles similar to ours and how they overcame them.
Obviously, God is the One who changes our hearts, but He can only work wonders if we allow Him room. What I hope to do in this series is share with you my own journey so that others can discern how they can open up their hearts to the Divine Physician and rekindle the flame of Love.
In the end, God does not want us to be lukewarm, but burning with zealous faith.