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Steps to Spiritual Growth

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In twelve-step programs, one of the tools used for spiritual growth is the “three A’s”: Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. Each of our readings today highlights one or more of these steps in a spiritual growth process.

Awareness

St. Paul beautifully describes the awareness we need as Christians: that we cannot separate our bodies and souls when it comes to morality and our relationship with Christ. We must have interior and exterior moral integrity, for the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Once we know this, we can move toward accepting and acting on this truth.

Acceptance

In our First Reading, we see young Samuel with some awareness that someone is calling him. Like many of us, though, he goes to the wrong place, with pure intentions, when God calls. With the help of Eli, however, he accepts the call of God and becomes ready to put His will into action.

Action

In our Gospel, we see the first apostles going through these three phases rather quickly They become aware that Jesus is Messiah through John’s word, accept that truth, and spring into action, following Jesus and telling others about Him. 

Our psalm also speaks of this process: the psalmist becomes aware of God stooping toward him, he accepts God’s call, saying, “behold I come,” and he acts on God’s call to announce His justice to the vast assembly.

Sometimes I wish that God’s call for me were as explicit as the calls that Samuel and the apostles received. For most of us, though, the path to awareness of God’s will for us means prayer, to grow closer to God, and quiet meditation, so that we can hear God speaking in our hearts. Once we are aware, then more prayer and mediation come in to help conform our wills to His so that we can accept it. Then, when we act on our acceptance of God’s plan, our prayers and meditation can give us the strength to carry out God’s will.

So then by prayer, meditation, and following His will, we grow closer to God. That is what spiritual growth is all about!

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J.M. Pallas has had a lifelong love of Scriptures. When she is not busy with her vocation as a wife and mother to her “1 Samuel 1” son, or her vocation as a public health educator, you may find her at her parish women’s bible study, affectionately known as “The Bible Chicks.”

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He Knows Me So Well

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There’s an obscure moment in an equally obscure musical during which two women, both in love with the same man, sing a duet titled I Know Him So Well. Oddly enough, this is the song that’s been running through my head as I read today’s lessons—though with slightly changed lyrics. Not “I know him so well,” but, rather, “He knows me so well.”

I seem to spend a lot of time trying to do the right thing, and a lot more time, frankly, falling flat on my face. Every morning I start out with lofty resolutions about how I am going to move through my day in God’s presence, and every evening I do a brief Examen and find how many of those resolutions came to nothing. Do some spiritual reading? Um, nope, didn’t find time for that today. Follow through on my offer to help someone and actually, well, help them? Oops, that will have to be for tomorrow. Not think unkind thoughts about people with whom I disagree, but who are also children of God? Not even close. 

I despair, sometimes, of ever getting it right. And I wonder how it all seems to God, who started the day with me in my resolutions and promises and plans, and to whom I have to admit how much I failed. Failed, yet again, to be the “only Gospel my neighbor ever reads,” as St. Francis urges me. Failed, yet again, to put God first and myself second. Failed, failed, failed.

One of my favorite theologians, Frederich Buechner, writes, “To confess your sins to God is not to tell him anything he doesn’t already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.” I think about that as I do my nightly Examen: he already knows everything I’m going to say to him. He already knows my failures.

And, as today’s readings assure me, knowing all that, he loves me anyway. St. Paul tells the Hebrews that “No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed (…) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses.” And St. Mark reminds us of Jesus sitting with people who are despised, with tax collectors, with sinners, and replies to objections: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

And there it is. He knows me so well. He knows my weaknesses. He knows how often I fail—but he also knows how often I try. He has come to eat with me, to walk with me, to offer me love and friendship, even though he knows me so well. That is precisely why he is here. And why I need to keep trying. Keep resolving to walk more closely with him every morning; keep examining where I fell short and working out how to progress every evening. Keep doing the best I can. Understand in all the trying and failing and trying again that I am a beloved child of God.

And that he knows me so well.

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Jeannette de Beauvoir is a writer and editor with the digital department of Pauline Books & Media, working on projects as disparate as newsletters, book clubs, ebooks, and retreats that support the apostolate of the Daughters of St. Paul at http://www.pauline.org.

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The One Who Heals

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If you have spent any time listening to or reading the Gospels, you are aware of the discord between Jesus and the Pharisees. His preaching called into question the status quo and that made them uncomfortable. And yet, Jesus kept preaching and teaching and healing. This healing of the paralytic in today’s Gospel is amazing on many levels. First, the man’s friends are unbelievably persistent. They have faith. The paralytic, too, must have had great trust in his friends to let them lower him down. And then, his faith in Jesus. Faith heals him. But notice that he participates in this healing. He not only has faith, but he moves, he picks up his mat, because of that faith. When Jesus says “rise, pick up your mat, and go home,” he does. There is no question, no pause. He believes, he trusts, he has faith.

Now what about us? Since it is January and many people focus on starting fresh in a new year, let us consider what we have brought into this year that might have been better left behind. What has Jesus forgiven in us, that we are still carrying around? Do we want to get up and walk? Each time we go to confession, each time we go to Mass and pray the Confiteor, each time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we are given the grace of forgiveness. We are given the command to rise, pick up and go. Not in those words, but certainly in practice. Do we have faith in the healing power of Jesus? The paralytic, his friends, the crowds, all had faith. The crowd was “astounded” at what happened. 

Are you ever astounded after confession? I am. It usually happens at Mass, after receiving Communion, and I think about how free of sin I am and now Jesus is with me. The Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ is with me. In that moment, I have great faith that I am free of sin, that I can pick up my mat. I realize I cannot be lukewarm in my faith. I am compelled to do something with the gift of faith I have been given. 

Just as the paralytic man was given a gift of healing, we too have been healed. How have you been healed? Pray to see what you have been healed from and what you are healed for and then glorify the One who heals. 

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Deanna G. Bartalini, MEd, MPS, is a Catholic educator, writer, speaker, and retreat leader. She has served in ministry for over 40 years as a catechist, religious education director, youth minister, liturgical coordinator, stewardship director and Unbound prayer minister. For all of Deanna’s current work go to DeannaBartalini.com. 

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Forgiveness

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“Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not be an endless preoccupation. You must dwell also on the glad remembrance of God’s loving-kindness; otherwise, sadness will harden the heart and lead it more deeply into despair”  ~St. Bernard~

In today’s Gospel we hear of Christ’s miracle of the healing of a leper. Lepers were outcasts; they were seen as unclean and were often not treated with the dignity due a human being. Jesus, despite how lepers were normally treated, touches the man in order to heal him. In the same way that Christ heals the leper out of compassion, so too does He heal us from our sins. God’s love is freely given to us. As part of his ultimate plan for us to share in His eternal life, God the Father offered His only begotten Son as ransom for our sins. The same eyes that looked at the leper’s disease with compassion and saw human dignity looks at our lowliness and sees our worth as sons and daughters of God. However, like the leper, we must ask God to cleanse us. By participating in the Sacraments, most especially by receiving our Lord in the Eucharist and by seeking absolution through Reconciliation, we unite ourselves to Him in love. 

Paul’s exhortation to the Hebrews to persevere in faith in the First Reading urges us to do the same. He writes, “Encourage yourselves daily while it is still ‘today’ so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin”. He reminds us of a warning against hardening our hearts against the love of God and follows with a plea to encourage one another in faith. When we harden our hearts, when we do not seek Him in the Sacraments, we turn away from His love and we distance ourselves from His salvation.  By living the Christian life devoutly, we inspire and motivate others to do the same. Our love for and encouragement of one another is a witness to the love that God has for each of us. By bringing one another to Christ, we open, rather than harden, our hearts and “become partners of Christ”. 

May we live our lives with hearts that are open to God’s love. May we rejoice in the knowledge that Christ’s love covers a multitude of sins.

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO and teaches English Language Development and Spanish to high schoolers. She is married to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

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Childlike Awe

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As a working mom, I make it a point to spend individual time with each of my kids as often as I can. They take turns having mommy “dates” and treasure their time with me just as much as I do with them. And although our one-on-ones often include a trip to the grocery store or the thrift shop, they get to chatter away telling me about whatever suits their fancy. These days, it’s usually either Legos or soccer. 

It’s so refreshing amid life’s calamities to spend time with children. No matter what stresses are thrown your way, you can’t help but smile at their antics, their silliness and even their mischief. Just the other day, I was fretting about some ongoing issues we are dealing with and my son just started singing his own version of “Fa-La-La-La-La” in the back seat. His words were more like “Fa-La-La-La-La-Dah-Doo-Dee-DOWN!” After we sang that together for a while we changed it to “Fa-La-La-La-Dah-Doo-Dee-UP!” and had ourselves a good laugh.

I wonder if we saw things through the eyes of children we would be more astonished at Christ’s teachings as the people were in today’s Gospel… “for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” As parents we have authority over our children, but do we truly comprehend the authority of God? I think many times we don’t or perhaps we simply don’t think about it. 

Where is that sense of awe and wonder at reading His word? Does His fame spread everywhere this day in age because we, those who believe in Him, are speaking with others about Him in sheer amazement? Do we believe that he can drive out any “unclean spirits” that might plague us, whether they be unfortunate events, impure thoughts or unkind words?  

I find it interesting that the unclean spirit was able to proclaim with such certainty that Jesus was the Holy One of God. What about us, those of us who try our best to live good lives and grow in our faith. Can we proclaim with certainty “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!”? Do we know who God is? Can we even fathom His holiness? 

With prayer and quiet time we can definitely experience glimpses of these concepts this side of heaven. When we allow child-like simplicity instead of adult complicatedness to enter our souls we can begin to grasp His grandeur. When we turn our hearts to praise and gratitude we can begin to know who He is. 

Today let us exclaim with the Psalmist: “O Lord, our Lord, how glorious is your name over all the earth!”

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Tami Urcia grew up in Western Michigan, a middle child in a large Catholic family. She spent early young adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Western Kentucky. She loves tackling home improvement projects, finding fun ways to keep her four boys occupied, quiet conversation with the hubby and finding unique ways to love. She works at her parish, is a guest blogger on CatholicMom.com and BlessedIsShe.net, runs her own blog at https://togetherandalways.wordpress.com and has been doing Spanish translations on the side for almost 20 years.

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