A conversation about accepting God's blessings in our lives

Dear friends, a few years ago I wrote an article called Accepting God’s Blessing in Your Life. This concept has been on my mind recently, and earlier this week I spoke with John Morales on Morning Air about it.

You can listen to the audio here.

While we talked mostly about the concept of acedia and how social media in particular has broken up our ability to engage with life and have relationships, one thing I realize I did not say more about is the idea of the expansiveness of God’s love. The sheer size of it. So, all that we get from God is a gift, and then, very often, what he wants to give us is far beyond our comprehension. It may be years, if not much longer, until we even see that. Or never! So, that is one thing to keep in mind if you are resistant to where God is taking your life, or what he is trying to give you. Our minds and understanding are really quite small. But that’s okay! Remember God’s generosity is not like human generosity. It is much, much bigger.

I also emphasized in the talk that experiencing spiritual sloth or listlessness, doubt, a lack of engagement in life, and a despair at the power of prayer, and so on, is not a reason for shame. Not at all. It’s become a sort of recurring thing in my recent Morning Air appearances, that the world we live in now is truly bizarre. In many ways, it is downright anti-human. So to try to engage in a world where people do not make eye contact, or phone calls, or even often real friendships, is disorienting for us all. The sort of acedia we experience now is, I would wager, worse than at any time in human history. At least in the middle ages they didn’t have Twitter.

The answer to acedia is just to move - physical action of some sort. Here are a few physical things you can to do get out of the rut:

• Clean something. Go scrub your toilet. Admire your handiwork and maybe move on to clean another thing.

• Cook or bake something new. Or even just try out a new smoothie or cappuccino recipe.

• Similarly, make a piece of art of some sort. Get a coloring book, write your name in fancy cursive, stick your fingers in some paint, squish some play-dough.

• Go for a walk. The benefits are numerous, on both the physical and mental levels. Admire God’s natural handiwork, and take a picture to show someone else.

• Call someone you love and ask them how their day is.

• Adoration! It is a sign of hope to show up at the adoration chapel. It also takes effort. You may feel unsure or unworthy. Thankfully, Jesus is thrilled to have you there.

• Keep praying. Ask God to be with you in your disbelief. Ask for as long as it takes.

New article: How to Make Your Home a Domestic Church

I have a new article up at Catholic Stand, How to Make Your Home a Domestic Church, inspired by my home recently receiving the enthonement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Enjoy!

And tomorrow morning, you can catch me on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air program at 7:10 am eastern to discuss one of my classic articles, Accepting God’s Blessings in Your Life. It has been on my mind lately, because I know God’s blessings are something unexpected, or look differently than we might want or expect. But, we are called to accept what God gives us, those things that it is easy to be grateful for, and those that are challenges. Join us tomorrow and learn more!

You can listen live online here or find it on your local radio station.

5 Reasons to Pray

Happy Feast of St. Rose of Lima!

On the heels of yesterday’s conversation about prayer as the antidote to today’s shortened attention spans - shortened primarily by social media use - I came across an article, 5 Relationships That Changed When I Deleted Social Media. The author makes greats points about not only reclaiming her attention and focus and being more in the present, but how her relationships with herself, family, and friends improved. I find the point about her relationship with herself improving particularly interesting. It is worth a read. Do you think you would have a similar experience if you deleted your social media apps?

I was also thinking more about the benefits of prayer overall. It is very much the case that God has designed prayer not just to be something that is supplicative - that will “get” us stuff - but that prayer is also good for us. Here are five reasons to pray:

Prayer strengthens your relationship with God 

This is the primary reason to pray. We are called to have a relationship with Him, which means we must communicate with Him about what is on our heart. Also, it puts us in the disposition to receive what he has to show us.

Prayer centers you and teaches interior stillness; focus 

As discussed yesterday, a fruit of prayer is that interior stillness and focus which then moves into other parts of your life. When I did the 9-month prayer retreat in daily life called the 19th annotation, I was amazed at how my patience increased outside of prayer time. I even began to find value in things like waiting, for example, waiting in line. I was less hurried in the mornings, and less prone to irritation over small inconveniences, and so on.

Prayer is an opportunity to learn humility 

Prayer is often not answered the way we would like it to be answered. D’oh! So, it provides an opportunity to grow in humility and say, thine will be done, Lord, not mine.

Prayer is a way to perform an act for others; cultivate a greater sense of the needs of others 

How accustomed are we to thinking of ourselves above others - pretty much all the time? And that’s natural. Prayer gives us the chance to look outward, instead, by praying for others. I wrote an article about this last year, For Whom Should I Pray? There are many, many people and causes which need YOUR prayers. Your family, your coworkers, people experiencing pain in all forms.

Prayer is a way to cultivate gratitude. The most basic form of prayer is “Thank you, Lord.” Even when you don’t feel like it! 

I think often of what Blessed Solanus Casey said: Thank God ahead of time. I know that every one of us, every day, can think of something to thank God for, even if that is just the fact of being alive. Chances are, there’s so much more in your life, too. And by giving thanks we expand our heart. One of my very original articles at Catholic Stand is on the revelation, Gratitude is a Prayer.

As St. Paul said: pray without ceasing! Form the habit, and let it take the place of something else in your life, like meaningless scrolling. Now get out there and pray!