Video: Developing a Spiritual Game Plan

Planning the Plan
This morning at our Joe Catholic Workshop, I gave my annual, first-of-the-year-talk on developing a spiritual game plan (aka plan of life). I intend to share the notes and video from this year's talk as soon as I finish the edits. Beginning tomorrow, I plan a more in depth discussion of the details of the suggested plan of life. I will be sharing lots of resources including a suggested reading list. For now, I'd like to share the videos from last year's talk to get you thinking about developing your own daily plan of prayer.
Plan of Life - Part 1

Plan of Life - Part 2

Turn the Other Cheek

Turn the Other Cheek by CatholicMemes

Turn the Other Cheek
Today's Gospel reading from Matthew is the famous "turn the other cheek" message from Christ. I offer two commentaries on this passage. The first is from the Navarre Bible. The second is embedded video from the USCCB Daily Reflections.

Navarre Bible
According to the commentators of the Navarre Bible:

38-42. Among the Semites, from whom the Israelites stemmed, the law of vengeance ruled. It led to interminable strife, and countless crimes. In the early centuries of the chosen people, the law of retaliation was recognized as an ethical advance, socially and legally: no punishment could exceed the crime, and any punitive retaliation was outlawed. In this way, the honor of the clans and families was satisfied, and endless feuds avoided.

As far as New Testament morality is concerned, Jesus establishes a definitive advance: a sense of forgiveness and absence of pride play an essential role. Every legal framework for combating evil in the world, every reasonable defense of personal rights, should be based on this morality. The three last verses refer to mutual charity among the children of the Kingdom, a charity which presupposes and deeply imbues justice.

USCCB Daily Reflection
I included this video so that you could also see the quality of reflections offered daily. I highly recommend watching or listening to these after reading the daily readings as part of your daily spiritual plan of life. They are available at the USCCB site.

Starting the Year Right with Spiritual Reading

One of the common recommendations in spiritual direction is to incorporate spiritual reading in your daily plan of life. I think it would be a reasonable and attainable goal to read one good, authentic Catholic book per month. This year, I will recommend a different title to read each month. I hope to also squeeze in a few book reviews throughout the year.

I chose Be a Man! by Father Larry Richards as my first recommendation because Father Richards wrote the book specifically for men. Furthermore, the book lays a great foundation for beginning or revitalizing your spiritual game plan. The book is divided into ten manageable chapters that conclude with reflection and action questions.

What are you waiting for? Be a man!

Gut Check: Are You Living a Joe Catholic Life?

You a drifter? You... one of the crowd? You, who were born to be a leader! There is no room among us for the lukewarm. Humble yourself and Christ will set you aflame again with the fire of Love. (St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 16)

It’s gut check time. A few months have passed since the end of Lent. Still more time has elapsed since we made our January resolutions. As the summer heat wears us down, we have a tendency to slow down and slide back into our old habits.

The past week, I began reading Father Larry Richards' book, Be a Man!, which I hope to review on this blog once I have completed it. The experience of reading the book has been like a mini-retreat. It got me thinking about the state of my own walk and my adherence to my spiritual plan of life. As I was praying about this, my eyes turned to our logo (it’s my screensaver) and I realized that we can use the Joe Catholic logo to reflect on where we are in our daily walk.

Catechism of the Catholic Church
The CCC or the “big green book” reminds us to study our faith. We can’t share what we don’t know. We have to know our faith, so we can live it, share it and defend it. Spiritual reading must be a component of our daily spiritual plan. This site has a number of good links to books to read. Additionally, almost every post has at least one book recommendation. St. Josemaria said that “one hour of study is an hour of prayer” when offered to our Lord.

Bible
We must be men of the Word of God who became incarnate in Jesus Christ our Lord. We do this by going over the daily readings or some other organized reflection on scripture. I’m not saying we have to have scriptures memorized (although that may be useful at times), but generally know where important points are located. For example, we should all know that John 6 contains significant references to our Catholic beliefs about the Eucharist. St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

Rosary
We must be men of prayer. Prayer is the conversation we have with God. Without this communication we cannot have the intimate relationship he desires to have with each and every one of us. St. Teresa de Avila said, “Mental prayer is nothing else than an intimate friendship, a frequent heart-to-heart conversation with Him by whom we know ourselves to be loved.”

Toolbox
Think of the toolbox as representing our daily work lives. Reflecting on our work, we can ask ourselves whether we are "blossoming where we have been planted." In other words, do we approach our work as a means for sanctification or do we treat it like a grueling necessity or even as punishment? Our work lives and our spiritual lives are not intended to be separate. I’m not talking about being bible thumpers, but living our faith in the little things: being kind, doing good work, offering it up and even praying at meals. St. Josemaría said, “Work is man's original vocation. It is a blessing from God, and those who consider it a punishment are sadly mistaken. The Lord, who is the best of fathers, placed the first man in Paradise ut operaretur, so that he would work.” (Furrow, 482)

Hammer and Rule
Reminds of our role model, St. Joseph the original Joe Catholic. Call on him as a powerful intercessor. He is not only the patron of our little group, but of fathers, workers and the universal church. St. Bernard teaches us “there are some saints who have the power of protecting in certain specific circumstances; but Saint Joseph has been granted the power to help us in every kind of need, and to defend all who have recourse to him with pious dispositions."

Spiritual Plan of Life

As we bring in the new year, many of us set out to fulfill new resolutions. Some of us are determined that this will be the year we quit smoking. Or perhaps some of us plan on losing the extra weight we have been carrying for too long. Still others make plans of self-improvement, like taking a continuing education course to increase their work and marketability in the workplace. All of these are admirable goals, but how many of us actually make spiritual goals - conscious decisions to improve our relationship with Jesus Christ?

Here is a list of things you can do throughout the year to fortify your relationship with our Lord:

• Begin with a morning offering; courageous moment; arise immediately and offer the day to our Lord (Here are some links to a few traditional Morning Offering Prayers) 
• Daily Prayer - ACTS (Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving & Supplication) pick a time and place for at least 15 minutes devoted to silent prayer 
• Spiritual Reading - 3 minutes a day from scripture ( I recommend you begin with the daily readings) and 12 additional minutes from other sources (See list of recommended books) 
• Pray the Rosary
• Pray before each meal and openly demonstrate the Sign of the Cross 
• Attend Daily Mass (when possible; see - www.masstimes.org) 
• Invocations or short prayers throughout the day 
• Frequent Confession (start with once every 3-4 months and build up to once a month) 
• End the day with an Examination of Conscience

Like any new plan you should consider your determination to implement the changes in your life. You may be better served to start with a few of the recommendations and build yourself up to doing more. The goal is NOT to create a check list of things you are doing, but to increase your relationship with Christ. We are the Church Militant engaged in what St. Paul calls Spiritual Warfare. These are some of the spiritual weapons we have available to us as we make our way in our daily lives in pursuit of holiness.