Do you want to be a really good Christian? The first of
your battles will be to enter
into and remain in the state of
grace, to avoid any mortal sin.
And, then, because you want
to love God above all things, you will also try not to commit
venial sins. The practice of some acts of
piety throughout the day will
help you to have a
divine contemplative life in
the midst of the daily routine.
The habitual performance of these acts will also be the
foundation for growing in
Christian virtues. Most
important is to be consistent in
your daily schedule, in your
spiritual game plan, so that you will live as a child of God. Daily •Get up at a fixed time, as early as possible. Eight hours of
sleep should be enough. More
than this or less than six hours
of sleep may is usually not
healthy. •Offer your day to God through the intercession of our Lady. •Work with order and intensity during the day as a
way of serving God. Set goals
and establish priorities in order
to develop a practical schedule.
Sanctifying ordinary work is
the goal of our life. •Try to attend Mass, receiving holy Communion, as often as
possible. This is the best
sacrifice we can offer to God.
Prepare yourself for the Mass
by spending some time in
prayer. •Spend some time in mental prayer before the Blessed
Sacrament (15 minutes, if
possible). •Pray the Angelus at noontime. (During Eastertime,
we say the Regina Cæli
instead.) •Pray the Rosary, if possible, with your family, offering each
decade for a specific intention. •Do some other spiritual reading. Start with the New
Testament or some well-
known spiritual book. Ten to
fifteen minutes is sufficient. •Make a short examination of conscience at the end of the
day before going to bed. Two
or three minutes is enough.
Follow these steps: Humble
yourself in the presence of God.
Tell him, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." Ask for
light to acknowledge your
defects and virtues and to see
the dangers and opportunities
of the day. Ask for repentance,
amendment, and encouragement. Weekly •Center all activities around the holy Mass on Sunday, the
Lord's day. It is also a family
day-for rest and spiritual
growth. •If you do not receive Holy Communion every day, receive
at least on Sundays and holy
days of obligation. •Saturday is traditionally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin
Mary. Honor her and say some
special prayer, such as the Hail
Holy Queen. Monthly •Go to Confession at least once a month. It is the sacrament of
joy. Pope John Paul II says:
"God is always the one who is
principally offended by sin-'I
have sinned against You'-and
God alone can forgive. He does so through the ministry of the
priest in the sacrament of
Penance, which is the ordinary
way of obtaining forgiveness
and remission of mortal sins.
Every mortal sin must always be stated with its determining
circumstances in an individual
confession."16 •Seek and follow the spiritual guidance of a wise, prudent,
and knowledgeable priest. •Spend a few hours in recollection, best done before
the Blessed Sacrament.
Consider how you are directing
your life toward God. Yearly •Spend two or three days each year in silence, speaking with
God only. A few days of retreat
are necessary for the soul in
the same way that the body
needs a vacation. It is a yearly
opportunity for conversion. Always •Stay in the presence of God: be aware that he is always
close to you. Try to please him
in everything as a child tries to
please his/her parents. •Thank God for the graces that he constantly gives you. •Do everything for the love of God: this is purity of intention.
Always purify your intention.
Make acts of contrition and
atonement for your sins and
sins of others. •Try to live as you would like to die. We shall die as we have
lived.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Spiritual Games Outdoor For Family
Playing games is a great way to find
spiritual guidance while maintaining a
certain level of fun and keeping the
lessons interesting. Especially for kids
and teenagers, finding a way to
connect to their spirituality without getting bored or overwhelmed can be
challenging. Being a kid is hard
enough without all that religion stuff.
But there are ways to introduce
religious and spiritual games and
themes to youngsters and adults alike, while getting everyone outside
to have fun. 1. Crime Scene Set up a crime scene outside
and assign five people the task
of being criminals. None of the
criminals can tell anyone they
were chosen---not even other
criminals. Then, pick five participants to stand "on trial"
as they would have in biblical
days. This means the five
accused stand in front of the
rest of the group and are
subject to questioning and accusations. Of the five
participants on stage, only
three are actually criminals. Let
two criminals stay among the
group. As the group decides
who is guilty and innocent, you can talk to the group
about false accusations. Once
they have chosen the fates of
the criminals, show them that
two guilty people went free. In
this way you can show them that sin is always hiding
among us, and that we should
never be too quick to judge. 2. Water Balloon Lesson This next game is to teach the
group the importance of
following God's word. Before
the group goes outside, give
one student a piece of paper
with instructions on it. The instructions should say
something along the lines of,
"Whatever I ask of the group
today, don't do it. Whatever I
tell you to do during the group
activity today, do not listen to me. Even if I tempt you, say
no." During the group meeting
outside, ask for a few
volunteers for an activity. Tell
the group that participants will
be given a prize. Try to coax the person you gave the
instructions to the front of the
group. When s/he refuses, pick
another volunteer. When you
have three or four volunteers,
take some water balloons that you'd been hiding in your
"activity bag" and throw them
at the volunteers. Explain to
the group the importance of
listing to God's word because
he puts in rules in place to protect us. Then throw water
balloons at the rest of the
group and let the water
balloon fight ensue. 3. Plagues Coming to Dinner Learning about the plagues
can be hard, especially
memorizing their order. Based
on the "Who's Coming to
Dinner" improv game, you can
have each plague come to dinner. The rules are simple.
Have one person who will be
the host walk away. Pass out
10 slips of paper with the
plagues on them to 10
participants. Don't let them show anyone the slips. When
the "host" comes back, have
each plague "arrive for dinner"
acting out their plague. Once all
the guests (plagues) arrive, the
host must guess what plague each person is. Then the group
must help the host "seat the
guests at the table," or put the
plagues in order. To make the
game more exciting, you can
give participants props, or use clues to help the host. For
example, if the host is having
trouble guessing which guest
is blood, you can squirt that
participant with a water gun of
red water. Just be sure you tell the group to wear old clothes.
spiritual guidance while maintaining a
certain level of fun and keeping the
lessons interesting. Especially for kids
and teenagers, finding a way to
connect to their spirituality without getting bored or overwhelmed can be
challenging. Being a kid is hard
enough without all that religion stuff.
But there are ways to introduce
religious and spiritual games and
themes to youngsters and adults alike, while getting everyone outside
to have fun. 1. Crime Scene Set up a crime scene outside
and assign five people the task
of being criminals. None of the
criminals can tell anyone they
were chosen---not even other
criminals. Then, pick five participants to stand "on trial"
as they would have in biblical
days. This means the five
accused stand in front of the
rest of the group and are
subject to questioning and accusations. Of the five
participants on stage, only
three are actually criminals. Let
two criminals stay among the
group. As the group decides
who is guilty and innocent, you can talk to the group
about false accusations. Once
they have chosen the fates of
the criminals, show them that
two guilty people went free. In
this way you can show them that sin is always hiding
among us, and that we should
never be too quick to judge. 2. Water Balloon Lesson This next game is to teach the
group the importance of
following God's word. Before
the group goes outside, give
one student a piece of paper
with instructions on it. The instructions should say
something along the lines of,
"Whatever I ask of the group
today, don't do it. Whatever I
tell you to do during the group
activity today, do not listen to me. Even if I tempt you, say
no." During the group meeting
outside, ask for a few
volunteers for an activity. Tell
the group that participants will
be given a prize. Try to coax the person you gave the
instructions to the front of the
group. When s/he refuses, pick
another volunteer. When you
have three or four volunteers,
take some water balloons that you'd been hiding in your
"activity bag" and throw them
at the volunteers. Explain to
the group the importance of
listing to God's word because
he puts in rules in place to protect us. Then throw water
balloons at the rest of the
group and let the water
balloon fight ensue. 3. Plagues Coming to Dinner Learning about the plagues
can be hard, especially
memorizing their order. Based
on the "Who's Coming to
Dinner" improv game, you can
have each plague come to dinner. The rules are simple.
Have one person who will be
the host walk away. Pass out
10 slips of paper with the
plagues on them to 10
participants. Don't let them show anyone the slips. When
the "host" comes back, have
each plague "arrive for dinner"
acting out their plague. Once all
the guests (plagues) arrive, the
host must guess what plague each person is. Then the group
must help the host "seat the
guests at the table," or put the
plagues in order. To make the
game more exciting, you can
give participants props, or use clues to help the host. For
example, if the host is having
trouble guessing which guest
is blood, you can squirt that
participant with a water gun of
red water. Just be sure you tell the group to wear old clothes.
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