“Liturgy” is where prayer begins. “Meditation” is where it continues. “Contemplation” is where it leads.
Prayer begins on our lips with holy words. That is why, when the apostles asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave them a prayer to recite.
Prayer continues in the mind with our imagination. That is why we go to a quiet place where we can reflect on the word that has been proclaimed.
Prayer leads to the depths of our hearts in stillness. That is why we enter into the inner room at the core of our being in order to be alone with God.
Liturgy is where our prayer begins. When the apostles asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, her gave them a liturgical prayer, the Our Father. Liturgical prayer is where we first enter into a spiritual relationship with Christ. Prayer starts on our lips. It changes our hearts. It transforms our lives. It leads us to the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ through the sacraments of the Church.
The Holy Mass. One of the last things that Jesus did before he died was to give us the Eucharist at the Last Supper. And one of the first things that Jesus did when he rose from the dead was to celebrate the Eucharist again on the way to Emmaus. That is how central the Mass is to our sacramental spirituality as Catholic Christians. Please click here for some personal reflections on the Mass as we celebrate it today, and then go to Mass.
The Divine Office. The Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Office or the Breviary, sanctifies the hours of the day with prayer. iBreviary.org helps us get in touch with our Inner Monk. The Divine Office is not just for priests but for all Catholic Christians. For more information about how you can join in the complete liturgical prayer of the church each day, please click here. The Liturgy of the Hours is now available to all Catholic Christians every day.
The Sacraments. The Catholic Christian life is sacramental because we, as human beings are sacramental beings. We are a unity of body and soul, matter and spirit, and so is our prayer. When God became incarnate in Jesus Christ, he showed us how we could become partakers of his divine nature through the power and the grace of the sacraments, for “the Eucharist is the shortest and safest way to heaven” (Pope Saint Pius X).
Lex Orandi . . . Lex Credendi . . . Lex Vivendi! The rule of prayer . . . becomes the rule of belief . . . which establishes the rule of life. So, what we pray, we believe; and what we believe, we live. Therefore, start by praying well each day, and the rest will surely follow with God’s grace and blessing! Confession and Communion are the two anchors of our spiritual life. For the Mass prayers, click here. For the Confession prayers, click here. To make the most out of seasons of the liturgical year, please click here. To learn more about the foundational character of liturgical prayer and sacred music for our ongoing spiritual life, click here. To go deeper into the profound treasures of the spiritual life, please click here for information about the ChristLife Course. For an overview of the Catholic Christian lifestyle, please click here. For spiritual support in this lifestyle, become an active participant in your local parish community of faith.
Meditation is where our prayer continues. Especially in our reflective imagination, we enter more deeply into the mystery of our faith, and prepare ourselves gradually for the ultimate experience of contemplative prayer.
Lectio Divina is one of the highest forms of spiritual reading. The Sacred Scriptures come alive for us in this ancient form of meditation that opens our hearts and minds first to meditation, and then on to contemplation itself.
The Rosary is one of the finest forms of Christian meditative prayer. The Rosary focuses our minds and hearts on the mysteries of our salvation in Christ, so that we ponder these things in the depths of our hearts like Mary.
Handbook of Prayers is an excellent resource for helping you not just to “get a life,” but to “get a prayer life!” Our interior life and our good deeds follow us into the hereafter. Store them up now as part of your treasures in heaven!
Personal Devotions provide many ways to individualize our prayer life, so that we may draw closer to our Lord in personal ways. Find a place, find a time, find a prayer, and make it part of your spiritual Plan of Life to confirm and deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ as the God of your life. There are many other resources for personal devotions that are beyond the scope of this website, but those which are included here are a good starting place. For information about the blessings in your life that come from meditation on the mysteries of our faith, please click here. May the Lord bless you and guide you in your prayer life!
Contemplation is where our prayer leads. Contemplation is the ultimate goal of prayer. Union with God is what we were really made for, so that we may humbly become sharers in his divine nature through sacramental grace. In contemplation, we progress in the holiness of life to which the Lord calls us.
The Jesus Prayer. The prayer of the heart changes hearts. This ancient prayer form exhibits its spiritual power in its profound simplicity. The Jesus Prayer not only changes our hearts and our minds; it change our spiritual lives for the better by helping us to pursue that unceasing prayer in our daily lives.
Adoration. The Veil Removed video can help us behold, ponder, and embrace the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist ever more fully, in pursuit of the prayerful A.C.T.S. of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Through it, the presence of Christ within our hearts overflows into our lives.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on me, a sinner.
Fill me with your Spirit,
so that I may live a new life.
Help me to know you,
to love you, and to
serve you in this world,
so that I may be happy with you
both now and for all eternity.
Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Prayer leads us progressively deeper into our relationship with God. His merciful love for us leads us to express our unconditional love for him. He loved us to death on the cross, so that we could love him by a faith that is active in love. For more reflections on the beauty of God’s merciful love, please click here. Our liturgy, meditation, and contemplation lead us to know more about Jesus and to serve him more faithfully each day through faith-filled Christian service.
Prayer gradually transforms us as we respond to the universal call of holiness in our lives. Striving to become perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, the path of sanctification leads us to the completion of our spiritual journey in Christ. Saint Thomas Aquinas refers to this process as divinization. Eastern Christians refer to it as theosis. Saint Josemaria Escriva calls it divine filiation. Through it, the image and likeness of God grows more evident in our lives.
Christ founded his Church as a faith community of prayer, learning, and service. Come and join us as intentional disciples of Christ!
The Problem Presented
The world as we know it is not how God intended it to be, but Christ came to heal our brokenness and bring us back to God through his Church.
The Promise Provided
When we follow Christ together in the community of his Church, we experience inner peace, lasting happiness, and motivating purpose in our lives.
The Pathway Prepared
Please click here to learn about the blessings of a Catholic Christian lifestyle. Then come and join us in following Christ as our Lord, God, and Savior.
As Catholic Christian believers, we look upward in faith, move forward in hope, and lead onward in love, to new life in Christ.
Prayerful Connections and Resources
Prayerful Communities. To locate parishes and Masses in your local area, please go to MassTimes.org. Our participation at Sunday Mass should be considered as a rehearsal, a practice, or a training session for daily Christian living. When we gather together for Mass each week, and personally pray every day, we prepare ourselves to live out the Catholic Christian life more effectively each day. Come to pray, learn, and serve together with your local parish community of faith. The rule of prayer is the rule of faith, which in turn is your rule or plan of your spiritual life. What is your “plan of life?” Let it rule your faith life! For practical information about developing a genuine Catholic Christian Lifestyle as a key part of your spiritual rule or plan of life, please click here.
Prayerful Publications. Magnificat, a monthly prayer guide, offers everything from the daily Mass readings to insightful meditations and reflective articles. Our Sunday Visitor publishes practical prayer books, monthly magazines, and other helpful resources for daily prayer. Other monthly prayer magazines include Give us This Day and The Word Among Us. Especially when it is not possible to attend daily Mass, these publications can bring the readings of daily Mass to you. Various daily missals are also available. Finally, please search your local television listings for daily Mass as well. Above all, there is always the Catholic Bible. With its helpful footnotes and sectional headings, Catholic Bibles provide inspiration and information that supports you as a Catholic Christian believer.
Prayerful Apps. Have you tried out the Hallow and the Amen apps? Would you like to reflect on the Mass Readings each day? Have you been watching The Chosen? How about CatholicTV.org? If nothing else, set an alarm on your cell phone to remind yourself to spend some time in prayer each day . . . and, if you use a phone ring as your alarm sound, you can always excuse yourself from whatever is happening to answer a very important call to prayer each day. What a most blessed excuse! So, find a time, find a place, and find a prayer! Start with liturgy, continue with meditation, and let the Spirit lead you to contemplation. Prayer is where religion and spirituality come together, like body and soul, to manifest, energize, and direct your faith as your new life in Christ.
Prayerful Lifestyles. For practical about developing a genuine Catholic Christian Lifestyle as the heart and soul of your spiritual journey, please click here. What we believe with our minds, and value with our hearts, is manifested in the way that we live our daily lives as Catholic Christians as pilgrims on the way to glory. Everyone has some sort of lifestyle, either intentionally or by default. What kind of lifestyle are you currently leading, and where is God calling you go? In other words, Believe, Belong, and Become. Don’t just believe in God, believe God! Don’t just say that you are a Christian, belong to a faith community as an active member. Finally, don’t just believe and belong; actually become everything that God calls and empowers you to be, through faith, hope, and love!
Prayerful Synthesis. Prayer brings together four realities: mind, heart, soul, and body, and transforms them by the grace of the Holy Spirit: 1) Mind: our thoughts, ideas, and perspectives – the teachings and doctrines of our faith that enlighten our minds. 2) Heart: our feelings, desires, wants, and needs – the grace of the sacraments that transform our moral values. 3) Spirit: our aspirations, hopes, and quest for greatness – the infusion of the Spirit who leads us to eternal glory. 4) Body: our daily lived experience in the world around us – where interior spirituality and outward reality intersect. Our religion makes our spirituality concrete, and our spirituality makes our religion authentic. For more information about being both spiritual and religious, please click here.
Prayerful Progress. There are three intersecting phases of spiritual progress: the purgative, illuminative, and unitive stages. Thus, when we 1) purge evil from our minds and hearts, and 2) surge with the grace of God illuminating our souls, we begin to 3) merge our wills with the will of God. This is the narrow path of salvation that leads us from our initial conversion to Christ, through our ongoing sanctification by Christ, and on to our ultimate glorification with Christ. So, where are you at on your personal faith journey today? And, where is God calling you to go on that spiritual quest today? Please click here for more information about making progress in an intentional Catholic Christian Lifestyle of heartfelt prayer, insightful learning, and loving service in the community of the church.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith! – Hebrews 12:2
Sacramental Prayer Inspires, Heals, Motivates, Empowers, and Perfects Us in Christ!
There are three movements of God’s grace that work together to bring to completion the good work that God has begun in us. Focusing on the continuing initiative of God’s grace in our lives, we realize that we are forgiven sinners who are on the way to becoming saints. Let the journey continue to completion!
Imputation of Righteousness. Through Sanctifying Grace, we are declared forgiven and thus become personally righteous as a new creation in Christ. Baptism is where our journey of salvation begins.
Impartation of Sanctity. Through Actual Grace, we are empowered to cooperate fully with Christ in the noble pursuit of spiritual holiness and moral perfection through Confession and Communion.
Infusion of Virtue. Through Sacramental Grace, we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ as sharers in his divine nature. Confirmation thus strengthens us along the path to heavenly glory.
Through the grace of the sacraments, our souls are filled with the sanctifying grace of Christ. As a new creation in Christ, our lives are also imbued with actualizing graces that enable us cooperate with God’s plan for our salvation and to bring it to fulfillment in Christ. God not only stirs up good works within us, but leads our graced efforts through to their completion in Christ. When we “work out our salvation in fear and trembling,” we recognize our personal accountability before God, and we make our lives a sacrificial thanksgiving to God for all that he has done for us in Christ. Thus, we “fulfill what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ,” that is, the dedication and uniting of all our sacrifices with the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In this way, we are called “to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect,” that is, we are on the way to completing our journey of sanctification in preparation for heavenly glory.
All of this is possible because of the merciful love that God has for us, and our unconditional love for God in return for his all of his goodness to us. For more about the dynamics of mercy and love in Christ, please click here. Motivated by the grace of the sacraments, we journey through the purgative, illuminative, and unitive mystical experiences of becoming not only a new creation in Christ, but also becoming “sharers in the divine nature” of Christ. In this spiritual journey, God forgives our sins when we repent. God thereby makes us worthy of cooperating with him in pursuit of the moral perfection to which he calls us. And, throughout this process, God transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ by helping us become partakers of his divine nature. Thus, we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved by the grace of God which comes to us through the sacraments of his church.
Saint Augustine reminds us that the “God who created you without you, will not save you without you.” Thus, grace makes a real difference in who and what we are as forgiven sinners on the way to becoming saints. Sacramental grace heals, enables, and perfects us as a new creation in Christ. Saint Augustine also tells us that “God’s wants his gifts to become our merits in Christ.” The uncreated grace of God within us, and the created graces that God provides us are both important. They allow us to cooperate with the initiatives of God in the working out of our salvation through a faith that is gracefully active in holy love.
For Catholic Christian believers, there are three focal points that distinguish the practice and the development of our new life of faith in Jesus Christ.
Christ-Centered
Our prayer is truly Christo-centric, especially in the Eucharist that he bestowed upon his church as an everlasting memorial of his sacrifice on the cross. Let us always keep our focus truly fixed on Jesus!
Affirmative Orthodoxy
Our prayer emphasizes the saving truths of our faith as explained in the Bible and the Catechism. Lex orandi, lex credendi means that what we pray is what we wholeheartedly believe and live out.
Sacramental Spirituality
Our prayer is liturgical, through which Christ is presently active among us here and now. After his Ascension, the presence of Christ is with us in the sacraments that he instituted for his holy church.
For Catholic Christians, there are five traditional marks that distinguish our vision and our mission as the Church. Please click here for more information.
About Getting and Staying in Touch with your Inner Monk for your ongoing Prayer Life
One of the ways of embracing a Catholic Christian Lifestyle is by getting in touch with and staying in touch with your Inner Monk. The Interior Life is at the heart of a Catholic Christian Lifestyle, and the spirituality of the Inner Monk is one way of responding to the universal call of holiness and the quest for the total sanctification of our lives in Christ. Please click here for information about the mysterious Inner Monk who is actually in the process of seeking you out right now! Through prayer, learning, and service, we discover peace, power, and purpose in our lives as dedicated followers of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
But please don’t make any mistake about Christ’s intentions in this regard. He does not want to be just part of your life. Not at all. He wants all of your life, not just part of it. He gave himself totally for us, and he expects us to give ourselves totally to him as our God. Our lives are not complete until we are fully united with Christ in faith. That is what Christian perfection is all about, being perfected in Christ, and discovering our ultimate destiny in Christ our God. Only then will we be truly fulfilled, successful, and happy as human beings, who were created by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and are transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Some organizations that can support you in your spiritual journey as an Inner Monk are: Exodus 90 for men, the Cursillo movement, and Charismatic Renewal, to name a few. Although the word monk refers to someone in their individuality, the followers of Jesus are never really alone. God is within them through the indwelling Trinity. God is with them through fellow committed believers. And God is ahead of them through the saints who are already in heaven, praying for the church as a whole, and individual disciples in particular. The path of discipleship is never a solitary journey. Even God’s angels watch over us!
In times past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets.
In these last days, he speaks to us through his Son. – Cf. Hebrews 1:2
