On how to be the best Catholic you can be.....

On how to be a good Catholic----

I recently received two emails asking me for advice and tips on the daily life of a Catholic—in other words, that asked the question: How can I be the best Catholic I can be? I realize that this question seems funny to my protestant readers, because the obvious answer is: love God, and love one another. But one of the awesome things about being a Catholic is that I get to use concrete examples and not be afraid of sounding “religious.” (which, for you Catholics reading, is a word with a positive connotation for you, and a negative one for the protestants! Whew. If only we all spoke the same language!)

Anyhoo, so I thought I’d blog a little “rule of life” for those people returning to the Church and not quite sure of where to start.

I’m going to use the Socias’ Handbook of Prayers as a basic guideline because it has a great section in the beginning on just this topic!

First, being the best Catholic involves recognizing the call to Holiness in your own, individual lives. You might not be called to do much more than love your husband and kids and go to Church on Sundays, but no matter what, you are called to be holy.
This means you are called to a life of PRAYER:

Prayer, for most of the Catholics I know is to curl up with a prayer book. (sounds pretty Jewish, huh? :P)
But for me, prayer is more than that—it’s connecting with God, reaching out, laying out your Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (remember ACTS, in that order, if you freestyle pray) and basically speaking to Him as your friend and Savior. I don’t think there’s anything WRONG with praying from a book, and in fact, I do it all the time, but I do think you need to learn to speak with God in a familiar manner—that doesn’t mean “take out the Thee and Thou stuff,” but rather really pour out your heart to Him. He is a God who calls you friend.
Catholics and even (especially!) non Catholics can pray the Liturgy of the Hours together with the whole church at set hours like all members of the clergy and religious orders. That has certainly been a MAJOR blessing in my own life and a source of great fruitfulness in my prayer life.
But many of you don’t have the time the LOH requires and to you I would say: Get yourself a Bible and a good prayer book and pray the scriptures, pray the prayers of the Saints that have gone before, and do so at LEAST in the morning and in the evening. In my opinion, first thing in the morning and last thing at night is best.
I also highly recommend praying the Rosary, which teaches you to meditate on Christ’s life through the eyes of the follower of His He has glorified above all other disciples: His mother, Mary. Quite honestly, if you pray nothing else BUT the Rosary each day, I’m jumping for joy over here!
Another thing you can do is pray scripture: Read a passage and stand on it, as we say in nondenominational land--- literally BELIEVE it by speaking it back to God. His word is perfect, so it is a perfect prayer!
Likewise, we pray perfectly when we prayerfully and reverently attend Holy Mass… which is the Church’s perfect prayer.

Secondly, you are called to a life of SELF DENIAL:

This is going to be a deal-breaker for many of my protestant readers, but I’m not going to hide it—Catholics GET the concept of fasting like nothing else. Why? Because as Catholics, we are called to join our suffering to Christ’s and especially to remember that the way of perfection passes by the way of the Cross. Mortification, as it is called, leads us to be Holier people. We learn to decide to give ourselves as an offering for those who cannot or will not, and instead of self-indulgence we work on self-denial. The very productiveness of a fast comes from a simple truth: denying ourselves our bodily desires draws us to new depths of holiness.

Thirdly, you are called to a life of WORK.

Yes, work. You cannot escape it. But more importantly, you are a Christian, and so you must sanctify it! We are saved by grace, through faith FOR good works. Let us never forget the works (although works alone will never lead us to heaven.) Be good to one another. Be kind. Take care of each other.

The Handbook summarizes the things we must BELIEVE to be Catholic:
- That there is One supreme, eternal, infinite God, creator of heaven and earth.
- That the good will be united with him forever in heaven and the wicked who die unrepentant will be punished for ever in hell.
- That God is a Holy Trinity: Consisting of three persons, coeternal and coequal: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
- That Jesus Christ, the Second person of the Trinity, became man and died on the cross to save us.
The tenets of the Apostles Creed, which reads: I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
- Commandments of God and the Church (In other words, know Scripture and when you have doubts about Scripture’s meaning, turn to the Catechism of the Church for correct doctrinal answers)
- That the Seven Sacraments were instituted by Christ to give us GRACE, especially that baptism is necessary and that the Eucharist is a pledge of our future glory.
- That sacred Tradition (the TEACHINGS of the Church Fathers) and Sacred Scripture together form one deposit if the Word of God and are entrusted to the Church.
- In whatever God teaches us through her Church, which in her teaching cannot be deceived or deceive. (This last part is a hefty requirement which I want to expound on: it isn’t that the Church can receive NEW revelation (Amanda and I always love to use the whole… “OK, now all Catholics are going to wear purple on Thursdays” thing. No.) Rather the Church as a whole – just as we do individually—receives a constant deepening of her theology and her doctrinal understanding. Through this revelation, God speaks to us corporately.

Now, onto what they call a spiritual game plan, and what I would call a rule of life:

1. Get up at a fixed time, as early as possible. Not only does the book recommend this, but so, might I add, does scripture! So try to maintain a regular amount of sleep and get up early to get the day started right. I bless myself with Holy Water as soon as I wake up, to remind me of my baptism.
2. The book recommends offering your day to God through the intercession of our Lady. In other words--- Tell God that He has your whole day, and make sure to ask Mary to pray for you that day to help you stay close to Him throughout it.
3. Work with order and intensity throughout the day as a service to God.
4. Try to attend Holy Mass, receiving daily communion, if at all possible.
5. Spend some time in mental prayer before the blessed Sacrament. (Jesus in the Tabernacle, for those who don’t know what that is)
6. Pray the Rosary (and if possible, with your family!)
7. Do some spiritual reading. Start with the Bible, but read also the writings of the Saints.
8. At the end of the day, make a short examination of conscience and resolve to amend, repent, and turn from your sin.
9. Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. Attend Holy Mass on Sunday, and receive communion on Holy Days of Obligation.
10. Saturday is the day dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ask her especially on that day to draw you closer to Jesus.
11. Go to confession, monthly or weekly. Confession is AWESOME and a sacrament of joy!
12. Seek and receive the Spiritual Direction of a mentor in the faith who is wise and experienced.
13. Spend at least two or three days a year in silent retreat to hear from God.
14. Receive the sacraments, all seven, in your lifetime, and as often as possible.
15. Use sacramentals, and get to know them.

It’s important not to make these things some binding, legalistic obligation that your heart isn’t in, but if you can succeed in taking these things on out of LOVE for God--- I think they will really deepen your spiritual life! Many blessings on all of your journeys, and feel free to comment with questions, etc. <3