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WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 1185 [post_author] => 4 [post_date] => 2019-08-06 01:38:12 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-08-06 01:38:12 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Do you have a hard time falling asleep? We're sharing a few ways to pray before sleep that can make your transition into rest more peaceful. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote {"className":""} --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“In peace I will lie down and sleep,</p><p>for you alone, Lord,</p><p>make me dwell in safety."</p><cite>Psalm 4:8</cite></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:heading {"className":""} --> <h2 class="">My struggle to fall asleep</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Sometimes, I hate going to sleep. With the threat that my seven-month-old could wake at any moment, the pressure is on to go to sleep as fast as possible.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But often, no matter how tired I am, the moment my head hits the pillow, my mind starts buzzing: to-do lists for work, reliving moments from the day, nonsensically thinking of Christmas presents months in advance.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I know I’m not alone in this struggle. In fact, the team at Hallow all shared how difficult it is for all of us to find peace at night. So we decided to create an entire Sleep Section — a collection of prayers that quiet our hearts and minds as we prepare to sleep.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"className":""} --> <h2 class="">Here are a few ways to pray: </h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>You can find all of these prayer methods in Hallow's Sleep Section. </em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3,"className":""} --> <h3 class=""><strong>Listen to a Sleep Bible Story</strong> </h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">These are so calming! They help you take a breath and focus your mind on the Word of God rather than on your <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-prayer-helped-me-with-my-to-do-list-anxiety%EF%BB%BF/">to-do list</a>. Hallow has a variety of <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/fall-asleep-with-7-new-bible-stories/">bedtime Bible stories</a>, all taken directly from Scripture. Hear Jonathan Roumie (from <em>The Chosen</em>) read the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205-7&amp;version=NABRE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sermon on the Mount</a>, Fr. Mike Schmitz prayerfully read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+1&amp;version=NABRE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John 1</a>, and more. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3,"className":""} --> <h3 class=""><strong>Try an Examen</strong></h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">As I mentioned above, a struggle of mine is re-living the day in a not productive way. I find myself remembering times when I wasn’t at my best or should have done something differently. But through the <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray/-the-examen/">Examen</a>, I can re-live my day and see it through God’s eyes. I can give thanks and ask forgiveness. I can let go of anything I’m holding onto and leave the day in God’s hands. And I can look forward to the next day with newfound hope and peace because I am reminded that God is always with me through prayer.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3,"className":""} --> <h3 class=""><strong>Meditate</strong> with the Rosary or a saint prayer</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">This type of prayer comes in many forms — I find it comforting to pray the <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-rosary/">Rosary</a> or simply sit with a prayer that a <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-with-saints/">Saint</a> has written, such as "Be at Peace" by St. Francis de Sales.&nbsp;The Sleep Meditation section has a list of beautiful meditations that re-focus my mind away from busy or negative thoughts and instead fills my mind with prayer. Some of my favorites are "Rest in God's love" and "Communion of Saints."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3,"className":""} --> <h3 class=""><strong>Falling asleep with Scripture</strong></h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">My personal favorite prayers to listen to before I fall asleep are Hallow's Sleep <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray/-lectio-divina/">Lectio Divinas</a>. Hear God reminding you to "Be still," or imagine God leading you beside still waters through <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+23&amp;version=NABRE">Psalm 23</a>. After you've prayed with the session, you can hold the word, phrase, or image that stood out to you in your mind as you fall asleep. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator {"className":"is-style-wide"} --> <hr class="wp-block-separator is-style-wide"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">In Hallow's Sleep Section, you'll find all these prayers, plus Night Prayer and more! We hope that these prayers are a source of comfort for you as you find rest and peace with God.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:buttons {"contentJustification":"center"} --> <div class="wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center"><!-- wp:button --> <div class="wp-block-button"><a class="wp-block-button__link" href="https://hallow.app.link/blogdownload">Fall Asleep With Hallow</a></div> <!-- /wp:button --></div> <!-- /wp:buttons --> [post_title] => How to Pray Before Falling Asleep [post_excerpt] => Learn tips to help you fall asleep in prayer. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => falling-asleep-with-god [to_ping] => [pinged] => https://hallow.com/2019/08/05/how-prayer-helped-me-with-my-to-do-list-anxiety%EF%BB%BF/ https://hallow.com/2021/01/11/fall-asleep-with-7-new-bible-stories/ https://hallow.com/2019/09/13/how-to-pray-the-examen/ https://hallow.com/2019/09/23/how-to-pray-the-rosary/ https://hallow.com/2021/04/06/how-to-pray-with-saints/ [post_modified] => 2022-09-09 13:12:45 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-09-09 13:12:45 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=1185 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )
WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 205 [post_author] => 4 [post_date] => 2019-03-06 02:43:20 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-03-06 02:43:20 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Did you know that Ash Wednesday is the most attended mass for all Catholics in the United States? And it’s not even a required mass to go to, in the way Sunday masses and Christmas and Easter are.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">There are a few theories on why this mass is so heavily attended, but whatever the reason, we go, in droves, to have our foreheads marked and to hear the words, “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">It’s ironic that we flock to this mass in particular - <strong>because isn’t it uncomfortable?</strong> Shouldn’t we avoid this mass in favor of the joyful Easter and Christmas celebrations?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>Remember you are dust. Remember you are nothing. You are speck of dirt in the grand scheme of eternity.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>And to dust you shall return. One day you will die; we all will. And our bodies will be buried and absorbed by the earth, and then one day, we will be forgotten from all memory.</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Our faith is full of uncomfortable notions: God becoming a baby. Being born of a young, poor, virgin woman. Living as a carpenter who became a preacher who was killed as a criminal. The first shall be last. Love your enemies. Bread and wine becoming body and blood.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are supposed to be uncomfortable.</strong> Jesus never promised us good feelings. He never promised that we wouldn’t have any suffering. In fact, He promised the opposite - He promised that if we decided to follow Him, we would have to carry heavy crosses, we would be challenged to live lives of radical forgiveness, justice, self-giving love.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But, Jesus also promised that He would journey with us. He would help carry our burdens, would offer us healing and forgiveness when we failed, would fill us with His Spirit and give us strength.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">So, my theory for why Ash Wednesday is so popular is that in a world that encourages us to take the easy route, to streamline our lives, to get rid of anything that is uncomfortable - <em>we long to be challenged.</em> We long to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We long to be uncomfortable, because when we are uncomfortable, we are more likely to work to change.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>For me, prayer is a time when I am often challenged to be uncomfortable.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I’m one of those people who secretly likes being upset -&nbsp; I often hold grudges, I enjoy being a little dramatic, I stubbornly stand my ground, even when I know I’m wrong.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But prayer makes me get over myself. If I’m honest in prayer, I see myself clearly, and see that the way I’m acting is a bit ridiculous. Prayer makes me admit my weakness and ask forgiveness. It doesn’t let me hold grudges. It pushes me to resolve disagreements, to focus on the good from the day instead of the hard things. It reminds me that I’m not the center of the universe, but rather that I am here to love, serve, give. And it’s in that state of being uncomfortable where I am pushed to be better.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Today we are reminded that we are dust and to dust we will return. So I’m going to challenge myself to lean into being uncomfortable. To enter into these 40 days of <a href="https://hallow.com/lent/">Lent</a> with the hope that by being honest in prayer, I will lean on God. That as I am made more aware of my imperfection, I will in turn be reminded that I need only reach out, and the God who loves us so much that He gave everything is right there beside me.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>How are you hoping to be challenged this Lent?</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => On Ashes and Prayer: How Being Uncomfortable Challenges Us [post_excerpt] => The unexpected reason we flock to Ash Wednesday mass [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => on-ashes-and-prayer-how-being-uncomfortable-challenges-us [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-02-13 21:08:41 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-02-13 21:08:41 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://hallow.local/?p=158 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )
WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 206 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2019-02-26 03:03:47 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-02-26 03:03:47 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">With the rise of Headspace, Calm, and all of the other mindfulness meditation apps, those of us coming from a Christian background can have a lot of very good questions: are these methods okay to use? Are they bad or evil? Are they Buddhist? Are they in line with Church teaching? I, myself, was an avid Headspace user for 3 years and at the time, I loved it. It helped me to focus and to learn to sit in silence without my mind constantly racing through my to-do list, but I always kept questioning how it fit in with my faith.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The good news, I found, is these are not new questions, and this is not a new problem. To find the answer, it turns out, we have to look no further than Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict. He wrote a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19891015_meditazione-cristiana_en.html">letter</a>&nbsp;30 years ago addressing exactly these same questions*. He starts by acknowledging the deep spiritual need that underlies these questions:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>“The spiritual restlessness arising from a life subjected to the driving pace of a technologically advanced society … brings a certain number of Christians to seek in these methods of prayer a path to interior peace and psychic balance.”</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">and,</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>“Without doubt, a Christian needs certain periods of retreat into solitude to be recollected and, in God's presence, rediscover his path.”</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">He also encourages us not to reject these ways ‘out of hand simply because they are not Christian, but that the Church recognizes what is true and holy in the other world religions because they 'reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men.'</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">All that being said, he raises some serious concerns about these methods of meditation as they relate to the conception of Christian prayer:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true,"className":""} --> <ol class=""><!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>What is the core?&nbsp;</strong>The center and core of all Christian prayer and meditation must always be God and striving to engage in a real living dialogue with Him.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>What are the consequences?</strong>&nbsp;Spending too much time focused on our bodily sensations and experiences (e.g., breathing exercises, body scans) can potentially lead to a number of dicey consequences. One is misinterpreting feelings of calm and relaxation as spiritual consolations and thus ignoring the interconnection with our moral condition. Another is the lack of focus on humility and the potential for an increase of self-centeredness.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><strong>Where is the focus?</strong> Many of the meditation practices common today are associated with an internal focus (e.g., on the breath, body or mind) whereas the aim of Christian prayer is always to “flee from impersonal techniques or from concentrating on oneself.” The future Pope cites <a href="https://hallow.com/saints/augustine-of-hippo/">St. Augustine</a> to help bring home this point:</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>"On this topic St. Augustine is an excellent teacher: if you want to find God, he says, abandon the exterior world and re-enter into yourself. However, he continues, do not remain in yourself, but go beyond yourself because you are not God: He is deeper and greater than you...."To remain in oneself": this is the real danger.“</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">So where do we go from here? What are we supposed to do with all of these caveats and warnings? Should we use these mindfulness apps to meditate or not?&nbsp;<strong>The great news is that there’s another option: Christian meditation.</strong>&nbsp;It’s a method of meditation that incorporates the calming recollection that we’re all seeking with the beauty of the Christian faith. It lets us find our center, while ensuring that the center that we find always ends up being God.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">This is why we built the Hallow app, to try and help us discover and grow in this form of prayer and recollection (we also hit on many other beautiful methods of Catholic contemplative prayer and meditation including the Examen, Lectio Divina on the daily Gospel, and the Rosary). The app leads you through easy-to-follow guided sessions on each of these methods, lets you pick across themes of humility, calm, gratitude, joy etc. or dive into traditional Catholic prayers and content (e.g., Our Father, Stations of the Cross, Saints) to re-discover and meditate on their beauty and depth. The short answer is, if you’re interested in learning more, I recommend you download and try it out! If you’re interested in finding out more about Christian meditation, though, just keep reading.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">So what exactly is different about Christian meditation? Well, at the core there are 3 big differences:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>1. Why we do it</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The first difference comes down to why we’re doing it in the first place. When I was meditating using the mindfulness apps, I felt like I was trying to exercise my mind into building the ability to be more present and to better myself. There’s nothing inherently wrong or right with that, but Christian meditation and prayer is distinctively different.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The point of Christian prayer and meditation is to grow deeper in a relationship and friendship with God. Sure, through this relationship you are challenged to become a better person and be more mindful, but that is not the primary goal. The primary goal is to sit with and spend time with a friend.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>2. How we do it</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The ‘how’ is the second biggest difference. The eastern and secular mindfulness meditation methods I had exposure to were focused largely inward: on your body, your breath, and your mind.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Christian meditation may seem like it starts off somewhat similarly. It often begins with much of the similar deep breathing exercises in order to re-collect and ground ourselves. As Cardinal Ratzinger writes:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>“[All of these dangers do] not mean that genuine practices of meditation which come from the Christian East and from the great non-Christian religions, which prove attractive to the man of today who is divided and disoriented, cannot constitute a suitable means of helping the person who prays to come before God with an interior peace, even in the midst of external pressures.”</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But this is where the similarities stop. The focus of the sessions must always turn from ourselves to something…or rather Someone, who is at the same time both separate from ourselves and deeper within. To humble ourselves with the realization that we’re sitting in the presence of God. And through this new kind of mindfulness, to become closer to, and more like, God.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The last big difference in terms of the ‘how’ is who really is in control. In eastern practices, the more you practice letting your thoughts pass by, the better you get at it. You’re not supposed to try to force anything, but in the end, it’s you who is doing the work to improve. In Christian prayer, this isn’t the case. Our work is simply to put ourselves in the position to let God take over.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>3. What you get out of it</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The rewards of mindfulness meditation are often described as finding calm, escaping stress, relieving anxiety, becoming happier etc. But this is essentially the opposite for Christian meditation. While it is calming, peaceful and joyful in many ways, the Christian life isn’t a stress-free one, but rather one of finding meaning and purpose in deep struggles, heavy burdens, and intense suffering. Our aim is not to discover a beach and sit watching the waves come and go, but instead to bend down, pick up our cross and give our lives to God. And when we do, we find a friend, our cross becomes lighter, and we find a Love and Peace deeper than anything a beach could offer us.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">&nbsp;This post was originally published on Catholic Gentleman's blog. Check it out&nbsp;<a href="https://www.catholicgentleman.net/2019/02/is-it-okay-to-meditate-as-a-catholic/">here</a>.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>*All quotes in this article are from this letter: LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION* October 15, 1989</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => Is it Okay to Meditate as a Catholic? [post_excerpt] => Comparing Christian meditation to other forms [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => is-it-okay-to-meditate-as-a-catholic [to_ping] => [pinged] => https://www.catholicgentleman.net/2019/02/is-it-okay-to-meditate-as-a-catholic/ [post_modified] => 2023-07-19 20:34:23 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-07-19 20:34:23 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://hallow.local/?p=161 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )
WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 441 [post_author] => 4 [post_date] => 2018-10-23 02:07:29 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-10-23 02:07:29 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I attended a Catholic college where every dorm had a chapel, the church bells rang out the hours, and it was normal to see priests strolling across campus. Dorm Mass, campus ministry retreats, and deep talks about God were as central to my college experience as dining hall dinners, staying up far too late to write papers, and running across the quad to make it to class on time.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">When I left college to pursue my first adult job, I panicked. Suddenly I was living alone, far away from my best friends, in a city I had visited once. Instead of leaning on God, I tried to figure it all out on my own. And I had no idea what to do.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Not everyone had the same college experience I had - some of you might have been at public schools, some of you might have been really involved in your Newman Center or Campus Ministry, some of you might have entered the Church during your time at college, some of you might have not gone to any church service these past four years.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Whatever the case, prayer life after college is a whole new mountain to climb, and it can be both a great adventure and a huge struggle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Here are four quick pieces of advice I received post-graduation that helped me as I transitioned from college student to working adult:<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>Remember it is going to be different.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I constantly compared my new life to my old college life. I grieved not living with my best friends. I missed nightly Mass. I missed the feeling that I belonged in a place.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">A good friend reminded me that it was okay to be freaked out by change. But change is part of life. As you encounter life’s changes during post-grad life, don’t be discouraged if your prayer life changes too. It should! As we mature and encounter new experiences, our prayer life should mature and change along with us.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I might not be going to daily night Mass in a dorm with my friends anymore, but I have gotten to read some amazing books, I’ve gotten to have conversations that have taught me more about God, I’ve gotten to witness God’s love in the people I work with. It’s different, but it’s just as good and challenging.<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>Join a church.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I traveled for my first job and would go to whatever church I could make it to each Sunday. I knew I&nbsp;<em>should&nbsp;</em>join a church, but I didn’t really get why.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">About a year ago I finally joined a church. I wish I could say that it totally transformed my life, but honestly it didn’t. What it did do was encourage me to start financially giving to the church, to gradually get to know people’s names around me, to notice areas of need that I could fill.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I started to feel like something bigger than myself. Unlike in college, I was surrounded by people of different ages - elderly people, middle-aged people, kids, babies, young families. &nbsp;I could look around and see the vastness of the Church, and see the small role I could play in it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">So take the plunge. Register to be a member. Try to go to the same Mass every week. Get involved, and see what happens.<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>Dig into a community.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Community is so, so important. But it’s also hard to find. Two pieces of advice here:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">First, keep up with your old friends that encourage you. Becoming long-distance friends is a tough transition, but technology makes it so much easier. Some ideas on how to do this:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"className":""} --> <ul class=""><li>Read a book together (I recommend&nbsp;<em>I Believe in Love</em>&nbsp;by Jean C.J. d’Elbee, or anything by C.S. Lewis) and have a weekly or monthly call about it.</li><li>Make a group text - on Mondays, you ask how you can pray for each other during the week, then on Fridays share how your week went</li><li>Find an app that connects you - I’ll throw in a plug here for Hallow, where you’ll find guided prayer and meditation sessions, and then talk with your friends about how God is working in your life.</li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Secondly, find a community where you are. As tempting as it is to cling to old friendships, we need to interact with people in person. Join a young adult group, volunteer at a Catholic Worker, push yourself to talk about God with others. And don’t be turned off by someone who isn’t Catholic - one of my best friends is agnostic, two of them are Protestant - and all three have helped me grow closer to God. So invite that coworker you click with to coffee, no matter what their faith background is - you might be surprised by how you can encourage each other in your faith journeys.<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>Set aside time each day to pray.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">We hear this a lot, that prayer takes discipline. And it really, really does. Just as we take care of our mind and body, we need to take care of our soul.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">One simple way that has helped me set aside time is to consider my mornings as coffee dates with a friend. Spending fifteen minutes reading the Gospel, journaling, or just being with God while I sip my coffee sets my whole day on the right track.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Other ways include stopping by a chapel on your lunch break, going to daily Mass, turning off the radio and praying on your commute, praying as you run or go for a walk, or winding down your day with prayer before bed. Check out spiritual books, download an app, start a prayer journal, and seek out a spiritual advisor.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Try a few things out one at a time, and see what works for you. And remember that it might change! I’ve found that some seasons of life I’ve loved morning prayer, other seasons I’ve leaned on daily Mass, and other seasons diving into Scripture through Lectio Divina has nurtured my spirit the most.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Let God lead you in this, and have fun with it, knowing that you are delighting God simply by your desire to spend time with Him.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">To close, know that you are not alone. Transitions are incredibly difficult, but God meets us where we are. He wants your life to be full of His joy and peace. But His plans and timing might not look like what you planned. Trust Him, enter into prayer and relationship with Him, and let Him take the lead. I promise you that you will never regret it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => 4 Ways to Grow in Prayer After College [post_excerpt] => Tips for navigating post-grad life [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 4-ways-to-grow-in-prayer-after-college-2 [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-10-05 18:01:23 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-10-05 18:01:23 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=441 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

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