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Practical Christianity
(originally appeared in Seton weekly bulletin)
By Msgr. Thomas Sandi
(Click on a underlined category)
Listen
to someone with a different point of view on the practice of
Catholicism.
Pick up and read
something on faith.
If you don’t like to sing in church, open the
hymnal and recite the words quietly.
Pray
for your enemy . . . really.
Visit a Catholic bookstore and purchase a
book or a magazine to stretch your beliefs.
Choose to really pray
the Lord’s Prayer and not just recite it.
Model
mealtime prayers for your family.
Volunteer
for Midnight Run.
Help
a couple (con)validate their civil marriage in the Catholic Church.
Spend an hour
in the Presence of Christ in Eucharistic Adoration.
Bring
someone “home” to church.
Meditate
on the importance of praying as a individual and praying with the
Community.
Attend
a lecture on a Catholic topic.
Get more involved
in the parish.
Change
your morning and evening prayers.
Examine
your conscience each evening.
Say
“Thank you” to God for nothing in particular.
Go
to Confession (reconciliation) more often.
Talk
about your parish with your friends.
Pray
for victims of clergy sexual abuse.
Show
respect for the elderly.
Make
a difference in the life of a poor person.
Pray
for those who choose abortion, as well as an end to taking innocent
life.
Try
to find out what is unique in your Catholicism.
Give
hope to a hopeless person.
Tie
your faith to your everyday work
Give God credit for your wonderful mind.
Recognize
the devil in the evil things of this world.
Tell
the preacher how he is reaching/not reaching you.
Pray
the rosary again.
Rejoice
in someone else’s accomplishments.
Comfort
a despairing person.
Think
of the church as a community of believers and an institution.
Pray
more briefly, but intently
Catch someone doing something good and tell
him/her so.
Widen
your horizon about Catholicism.
Ask
a clergyman that question you’ve always wanted to.
Pursue some tangible good as well as
avoiding some tangible evil.
Simply praise God in prayer without asking
for anything.
Take
time to help a stranger.
Pray
for God’s peace and justice for all peoples daily.
Really consider who you are holding in
your mouth or in your hand at Communion time.
Attend
an ecumenical service.
Participate
at the Eucharist at another parish sometime.
Subscribe to a Catholic periodical.
Watch
a baby watching you, and remember God loves you in just that way.
Say the prayers you usually say, but next
time, do so very slowly and feel the power of words.
Take you time saying prayers you have been
saying for years, so none of us rattles on and on without a deeper
meaning to our communication with God.
Go on a Midnight Run to feed and
clothe those less fortunate than ourselves. It will change your
faith life
Try participating at the liturgy without a
Missalette, so you experience worship totally with no distractions.
Read the lyrics to the hymns you don’t care
to sing. It is prayer, and God uses sacred song to further
unite the Assembly.
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