Now that the New Year is here, here are some spiritual resolution ideas you can take, to get spiritually stronger in 2019.
1. Daily Mass. If you don’t go at all, try going one day a week. If you go one day a week, try two. If you go every day…well, good job.
2. Pray a daily rosary. Some people pray the rosary while in the car or while travelling. Find what works for you.
3. Memorize a weekly bible verse. Write it on a post-it note and stick it on your desk for the week.
4. Visit an adoration chapel once a week, even if it’s just for five minutes.
5. Learn about someone who is on the path to canonization but is not there yet (a Blessed or Venerable or Servant of God). Start asking for their intercession and see if you can help their cause! Learning about the lives of saints can strengthen our own faith and give us role models to look up to.
6. Participate in the life of your parish. Offer your talents to God through singing, reading, leading, or just helping out.
7. Do something for the homeless. Pope Francis has continually encouraged us to encounter the poor – to know them and look them in the eye and love them. You can volunteer at a local shelter, or even just smiling at a homeless person on the street.
8. Visit someone you know is lonely. Step away from (un)social media and reach out to a friend you know is struggling.
9. Go to confession. Has it been awhile? Resolve to make the sacrament a more regular habit this year. Once a month or even more frequently is recommended.
10. Try a new way of prayer. Stuck in a rut? Try a new devotion. Check out the Liturgy of the hours or intercessory prayer. God speaks in many different ways.
11. Visit a nursing home or a friend in the hospital. Corporal works of mercy? Check.
12. Join a Pilgrimage. Pilgrimages to shrines and other holy places recall that our entire lives on earth are a pilgrimage to reach heaven. By taking a pilgrimage, we choose to recognize that the ultimate goal of our life is union with God, and that our whole life, therefore, should be a prayer in itself.
The important thing in the spiritual life is to take small, manageable steps toward God so as not to get discouraged. Pick one or two new things from the list and start incorporating them into your life.
