Category: GeneralCalling All Spiritual DirectorsDear Spiritual Directors, As a part of an informal research effort for a book on spiritual direction, I would be grateful to expand the group of directors that I can tap into for questions from time to time. I am particularly interested in perspectives that might better prepare directees to effectively engage in the process of spiritual direction. If you are interested in assisting in this way, please send me an email to RCSpiritualDirection@gmail.com with your name and contact information. Thank you in advance for your assistance. Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan Spiritual Resolutions for the New Year?
Looking back at last year, did you grow in your faith and holiness? If someone close to you were asked this question about you, would their answer be a resolute “yes!” If not, do you have a purposeful plan to grow closer to Christ this year? Are you fully prepared to meet God face to face? Do you plan to be? Not too long ago I attended my brother Shannon’s funeral – he was 35 years old when he died. Before that, I attended my sister Linda’s funeral – she was 32. In between these, my niece Callie was 2 years old when she was ripped from this world. No one saw any of these devastating and sudden losses coming. All three were healthy only hours before. Each of their bodies failed, almost instantly, in different and unexpected ways. Each of them lived as if they had long lives ahead of them. Each of them were wrong. One moment they were healthy, spending time with family, playing, eating, sleeping… and then they were suddenly standing before God. What did they see? What will you see? When will you find yourself standing before God? In the next ten minutes? The next hour? Tomorrow? Next week? Are you ready? If not, what will it take for you to get ready? Is there really anything more important than being ready? Is there really anything more important than where you will spend eternity once this very brief life has passed? Have you considered that even if you live to be a hundred, in contrast with eternity, one hundred years is like a grain of sand on the sea shore. Each minute you chose the trajectory of your soul. Each minute you decide what God will ratify if you end up standing before him in the next. What is your chosen trajectory? What if you think it is heaven when it really is not? If you are committed to your Catholic faith, can you clearly articulate the criteria upon which you will be judged according to the teachings of Christ and his Church? Could you show someone where your views are justified in the Catechism or scripture? Are you really as ready as you can be, or do you just hope that you are? My hope and prayer is that this moment, in this new year, you are as ready as you can be. If you are not, my prayer is that you will move spiritual growth to the top of your New Year’s resolution list, get a clear plan in place, and quickly begin aggressively pursuing your relationship with Christ and his Church. That said, I wish you a very happy New Year! If your last moment comes this year – my prayer is that you will find yourself embraced by Christ and hearing the words, “well done – enter into the joy of your master…” Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan PS 1: If you think purgatory is a good backup plan, you might want to read this post. PS 2: If you do have spiritual resolutions, share them with the rest of us! We might benefit from your insights. The source of our joy…and a prayer request
Only one more request – pray for the 13 and the thousands more that are struggling in darkness and need our prayers to find the light switch. If you are praying for them, let them know that too. Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan Prayer book help – Part II
Your feedback for the prayer book has been fantastic. What has also been interesting is the diversity of ideas and sources. This morning we had a friend from Nairobi, Kenya offer suggestions. We have also received great input from the eastern rites of the Church! Please keep your suggestions coming. Please include the city, country, and tradition or rite that you are blessed to be a part of when you post your suggestion. We would like to have at least one prayer idea from each of the eastern rites of the Catholic Church. Other than that, I spoke with the publisher yesterday about the prayer book and in order to keep the costs and effort to a minimum I will do much of the design work myself. To do this, we will need a copy of software called Adobe InDesign. The challenge is, we don’t have the funds to purchase the software. As well, in order to manage graphics and other elements of this site and effort, we have been in need of software to make this easier too. If there are any of you out there who can donate a copy (legally of course) of Adobe Creative Suite 4 (retail cost about $2,000) or Adobe InDesign (retail about $750.00) we would be grateful. If you have the means and are interested in participating more fully in this apostolate, donations for this need would be greatly appreciated! Just click here to donate. Either way, keep the ideas coming! Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him Dan Prayer book help…
A publisher has agreed to the idea of publishing a special prayer book for the readers of Catholic Spiritual Direction. This is an exciting idea for me because though I have a prayer book that I really like, it is missing a few things. For instance, it has prayers specifically for after mass, but no specific prayers for preparation for mass. As well, I would really like to have a guide to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in it. The thought occurred to me to ask you about the idea and get your feedback on what should be in the prayer book. If you choose to accepted this assignment (mission impossible music is playing in the background) you are now part of a prayer book design team! So here are a few questions for your consideration:
Any and all feedback is welcome! In Christ, Dan |
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