"Since the Second Vatican Council, the obligations are fewer and there is an expectation that we each will make our own personal choices for sacrifices and service that express our love for God. Superficially it seems that things have become more lax, but in reality it has become more challenging because we have to take more personal responsibility. We each have to discern what it is that God is calling us to do to serve him and those around us. It is not an easy task sometimes because he does not lay it out in black and white, and sometimes it is frightening that he may call us to do something beyond our comfort zone." From Daily Reflection, Creighton University, November 13, 2007, Susan Ternus Tinley.
Take more personal responsibility.
1. Living the spiritual life of priesthood (or any vocation)
a. what does this mean for a priest, for me, today?
-fidelity to prayer, recitation of the Office, rosary
-working more closely with Spiritual Director
-fidelity to priestly lifestyle
-frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation
-spiritual reading
-associations
-using the Daily Examen regularly to keep myself on the pathway God is pointing out to me
-taking time to discern, to see or hear what God is calling me to do, to say, to believe.
Where is God calling me at this time of my life?
Does the passage of time create a a comfort zone that gradually erodes my attention to the spiritual life? It can happen. It does happen ... to almost everyone regardless of vocation. Creating our own comfort zone and living in it too long easily opens the doorway for weakness, letting concerns or obligations slide, to enter my life. And, as any adult would tell a child: once any weakness gets into your life, life a weed, it grows quite rapidly and spreads wildly. In no time weakness leads to omissions. Omissions lead to waving off obligations. And all of this offers a resounding welcome to sin in our lives.
God, my Father, grant me the freedom of spirit and health of mind and body to do your work and your will each day. Amen
Take more personal responsibility.
1. Living the spiritual life of priesthood (or any vocation)
a. what does this mean for a priest, for me, today?
-fidelity to prayer, recitation of the Office, rosary
-working more closely with Spiritual Director
-fidelity to priestly lifestyle
-frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation
-spiritual reading
-associations
-using the Daily Examen regularly to keep myself on the pathway God is pointing out to me
-taking time to discern, to see or hear what God is calling me to do, to say, to believe.
Where is God calling me at this time of my life?
Does the passage of time create a a comfort zone that gradually erodes my attention to the spiritual life? It can happen. It does happen ... to almost everyone regardless of vocation. Creating our own comfort zone and living in it too long easily opens the doorway for weakness, letting concerns or obligations slide, to enter my life. And, as any adult would tell a child: once any weakness gets into your life, life a weed, it grows quite rapidly and spreads wildly. In no time weakness leads to omissions. Omissions lead to waving off obligations. And all of this offers a resounding welcome to sin in our lives.
God, my Father, grant me the freedom of spirit and health of mind and body to do your work and your will each day. Amen
