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WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 1002 [post_author] => 6 [post_date] => 2019-07-05 19:21:17 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-07-05 19:21:17 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">For most of the past four years, I’ve had a familiar daily work routine: prepare for work (and by that I mean stress about work), commute to and from work, cook dinner, slip in a workout here and there, get errands done, study for the GMAT and try to be in bed by midnight to do it all over the next day. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">It didn’t feel like there was enough time throughout the day for me to pray, except for my short routine of praying right before bed. I was frustrated enough to try something new, so I decided to try and incorporate prayer at different times throughout the day and while I was at it, I figured I would also try to learn different types of prayer. After trying this for a few months, I realized it ended up transforming my day in three unexpected ways: </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class=""><strong>1. I am more thankful and appreciative</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">There was a Sunday about a year ago when the priest at Mass brought up Luke 9:26 during the homily in which Jesus says “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” For some reason, I forgot the rest of the homily, but that passage stuck with me. Around that time, I had visited a family friends house and they said grace before the meal. At my home we would say grace typically around a large meal such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, but not really on any sort of regular basis. That coming Monday at work with that homily in mind, I decided to not be afraid to pray in public. I did the sign of the cross during lunch and prayed to myself: “Bless me o Lord and these thy gifts which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">Taking the time to pause before eating and just say “thank you” was unexpectedly powerful. I realized that I was guilty of scarfing down food many times so I could get back to what I was doing. By taking an extra moment before I ate, I felt more engaged in the meal and enjoyed it more. After incorporating it before breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I started to feel more appreciative of not only food but other smaller things in general. I also noticed it was a form of “contagious appreciation.” On one occasion, a coworker noticed me praying and commented on how he had started incorporating it into his routine as well after seeing me doing it regularly.&nbsp; My family too started doing it religiously (pun intended) before each meal. I’ve found that it was a great way to keep the Lord in mind throughout the day, and it’s an easy habit to build. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class=""><strong>2. I have a stronger memory </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">I don’t have the best memory, so when I started incorporating the Examen before bed, it was a wakeup call. The Examen is a type of prayer that walks you through your day through guided reflection. It prompts you to reflect on what went well, what didn't go so well and to ask God to help you through your next day. It is a structured way to remember the important moments of the day, which to me has been incredible in helping me refresh my memory, but it has also allowed me to relive joyous moments throughout the day. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">Recently, I came back home from the summer and hugged my mom when she picked me up at the airport. That night when I prayed the Examen, that moment came back to me, which easily could have been something that was enjoyed but quickly forgotten. But I remembered the love that came with that moment and got to re-experience the joy that came with it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class=""><strong>3. I feel less stressed and more present during the day </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">As I mentioned above, the stress of the day-to-day was getting the better of me at a pretty young age. I only realize now that a lot of it was self-imposed stress, trying to achieve more and more while taking fewer and fewer breaks. One way that helped me slow down was prayer. By taking time out of the day, I at first felt even more anxious because I had “lost” those 15 minutes by trying to pray. However, what I found was that I was more productive throughout the rest of the day than if I hadn’t stopped. The act of stopping and reflecting is so important, especially in this day and age when we want everything to happen instantaneously. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">I started by praying the “Calm” praylist within Hallow that offers a mix of prayer techniques throughout eight prayer sessions. One type of prayer available is called Christian Meditation. It focuses on helping you connect with God through silence. After a few sessions, I realized just how uncomfortable I was with silence, but by trying every day, I have been able to grow past that. Now, instead of playing another song or podcast during my commute or while I am waiting in line to board my flight, I actually enjoy sitting in silence. Finding God in those moments has helped me feel more at ease throughout the day. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">There isn't a one size fits all approach to incorporating prayer into your life, but for me, these three things helped me to deepen my relationship with my faith while also helping me find peace along the way. I hope you can take a crack at trying at least one! </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => 3 Ways Prayer Has Changed My Day-to-Day [post_excerpt] => Bryan shares the impact of prayer. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => 3-ways-prayer-has-changed-my-day-to-day [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-02-05 15:51:06 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-02-05 15:51:06 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=1002 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 906 [post_author] => 5 [post_date] => 2019-06-12 06:49:35 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-06-12 06:49:35 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Last month I had the pleasure of hearing Kevin Kelly, co-founder of the tech magazine,&nbsp;<em>Wired</em>, speak on the intersection of technology and spirituality. I walked away with a new perspective on the role tech does and could play in our spiritual growth or demise.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">His first point was that God, the ultimate Creator, made us in His image, which means that we have the same creative force within us. The cool thing about technology is that it allows us to create in our own way and live out the image of God even more fully.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Well, if you reacted to this as I did, you may have thought of a million examples of technology that are not reflective of the image of God. Kelly’s response to this was that, while technology has the capacity for both good and evil, it is primarily up to the user to determines which – not the nature of the tech itself.&nbsp;<strong>The underlying technology itself isn’t good or evil, it’s how we use it and interact with it.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Take, for instance, the chemical DDT. Initially sprayed on plantations, DDT proved to be a severe health concern and could have easily been written off as an evil innovation. However, as Kelly pointed out, it was later discovered that when used in small doses in areas susceptible to malaria, it can be used safely to save millions of lives.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">This extends to the technology that has become so ingrained in our daily lives: computers, televisions, and, of course, smart phones. I’m afraid that, in most cases today, technology is used in a way that pulls us away from God. Beyond the explicitly harmful ways to use a computer or phone, there is also the subtler danger of constant distraction. I struggle with this as much as anyone. It can be so easy to get caught up in emails, on Facebook, or to fall into the crazy YouTube spiral of related videos. Consequently, it is not uncommon for us at Hallow to be asked “Shouldn’t we be trying to pull people away from their phones, instead of encouraging them to use them even more? How will another app help?”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I believe the answer lies in the DDT analogy. Technology is a tool. We can either use it for harm or for good. We can use technology to video call an out-of-town friend and strengthen a relationship, or social media to find a community where we truly feel supported. In fact, I wouldn’t have even heard Kevin Kelly’s talk without technology, nor could I be sharing these thoughts with you now. With Hallow, we hope to provide a way to use our phones for growth with God. Ironically, we’re trying to use our phones as a way to step away from our phones and step towards God. You open the app, press play, put your phone aside, close your eyes, and fully and completely focus on God.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">For better or worse, technology isn’t going anywhere. I’d be shocked if people spend any less time on a computer or a phone 50 years from now. So, if we can’t get rid of technology, let’s see if we can take some small steps to change the way we interact with it. I look forward to the day that the instinct is to look at technology and see, first and foremost, an aid to spirituality and human growth.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => Is Technology Evil? [post_excerpt] => Erich examines how technology and faith can interact. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => is-technology-evil [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-10-05 17:37:07 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-10-05 17:37:07 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=906 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 756 [post_author] => 8 [post_date] => 2019-05-13 05:28:39 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-05-13 05:28:39 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I can die happy now.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I finally saw the musical&nbsp;<em>Hamilton</em> – a hip-hop rap history lesson on the life of Alexander Hamilton, one the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">It’s intriguing how by telling the story of any historical figure, we as the audience already know the ending of the story. (<em>Spoiler alert!)</em> <meta charset="utf-8">He/she eventually dies! Alexander’s rival, Aaron Burr, puts it best when he sings, “Death doesn’t discriminate / Between the sinners and the saints / It takes and it takes and it takes…” Death, indeed, is the one experience common to every human being.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">From the opening lines of the show, we learn that all of the odds are stacked against our main protagonist. His father left. His mother passed away. His new guardian died by suicide. With nothing to his name but poverty, death looms quite large.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">To Alexander, life seems capped with a strict limit. Facing the uncertain mystery of certain death, he’s not willing to “wait for it.” There are a million things he hasn’t done, so he works “non-stop,” fighting and writing like he’s “running out of time.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">After all is said and won, Alexander hopes that his children will, one day, tell his story. So, with a chance to leave behind a legacy and live on after death in the words of his descendants, he’s “not throwing away his shot.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":763,"className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://hallow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/a.png" alt="" class="wp-image-763"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Grasping for immortality out of fear of death has been a perennial tendency for man since the very beginning. In the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, immediately after Adam dies the first natural death, his offspring start taking whatever they can from life. They seize power and fame, security and pleasure, and eventually make themselves into “heroes of old,” “men of great renown” (Gen. 6:4).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">In response, God floods the entire earth because He knows humanity’s self-led pursuits will not lead to authentic happiness. Rather, only through acceptance of their ‘creatureliness’ – with postures of humility and receptivity to God – will they know true happiness.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">To preserve this happiness for us forever, Jesus destroyed death with his own and rose from the dead. No longer was death a reason to fear. No longer was death a limit on life. Death instead became a portal, a passage into eternal life.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">When God’s people were suffering in Egypt, enslaved to their work and burdened by death, He rewrote their story. He them free from captivity and led them out where they could rest from work in order to worship, especially on a specific day that He hallowed and set apart.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote {"className":""} --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>God intended for Sabbath rest to be a consistent foretaste of our ultimate goal: Heaven, or&nbsp;"eternal rest."</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The Israelites were allowed to work for six days but not on the seventh, or else they would die (cf. Ex. 31:13-16). If any man were to neglect this sacred day of rest, he would lose sight of what truly mattered and then seek after lifeless things, things of lesser or no value.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Returning to our musical, we see how amidst politics, battles, and noise, Alexander Hamilton finally “takes a break” to rest when his wife Eliza announces the good news – the coming of their son. She reminds him, “The fact that you’re alive is a miracle,” and she provides him consolation, saying, “We don’t need a legacy / We don’t need money.” Simply being together “would be enough.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Nonetheless, Alexander blinds himself with busyness. He excuses himself from family time and chooses to work instead. Overstressed and isolated from his community, he looks to “be satisfied” elsewhere. He engages in a prolonged affair, and it brings death to both his reputation and his marriage.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Alexander confronts his mortality yet again when he watches his son suffer and then breathe his last. Here, death leads Alexander properly, into a posture of stillness and silence.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":764,"className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://hallow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/b.png" alt="" class="wp-image-764"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Now, Alexander “takes the children to church on Sunday,” and he prays; he admits, “that never used to happen before.” He also returns to his wife and stands “by Eliza’s side.” Alexander enters into these Sabbath moments to examine himself and own up to his failings. He takes a “look around,” and remembers the miracle that he exists. All of this strengthens him to seek forgiveness.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Eliza, a character who has been faithful to rest and to her husband, “takes his hand” and restores their brokenness into a new communion. For Alexander, this reconciliation with Eliza is his equivalent of the Flood of Noah’s Ark – a clean slate, a new beginning.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Two scenes later, Eliza calls Alexander “back to sleep;" she calls him away from work to rest. He tragically distances himself again and goes off to work instead. He slips away to duel with his rival, Aaron Burr, and what is the result?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Alexander's ambition and pursuits lead to his untimely death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">In contrast, Eliza continues on quietly, receptive and humble. She still does not grasp for more than her portion in life. In the final song, Eliza says, “The Lord, in his kindness / … He gives me more&nbsp;<em>time</em>.” She uses this time to care for orphaned children and to promote not her own story but her beloved's.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">From each Sunday lived well, peace and joy overflow into the rest of her week, and these days and weeks constitute a beautifully wholesome life. When the play ends and the curtain closes, Eliza, the only remaining Hamilton, is still alive on stage. As far as the world of theatre is concerned, <em>she</em>&nbsp;is the one who receives eternal life.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote {"className":""} --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>How can&nbsp;we</strong><em><strong> </strong></em><strong>hallow our Sundays and take time to consider “who lives, who dies, [W]ho tells our story”?</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:image {"id":765,"className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://hallow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/c.png" alt="" class="wp-image-765"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> [post_title] => Hamilton, Sundays, and the Meaning of Life [post_excerpt] => Takeaways from the musical Hamilton [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => hamilton-sundays-and-the-meaning-of-life [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-03-06 17:40:55 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-03-06 17:40:55 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=756 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 575 [post_author] => 5 [post_date] => 2019-04-18 14:00:59 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-04-18 14:00:59 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Looking for great Catholic gifts for Easter, Confirmation, or just because?<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">As I think back to the gifts that I received for Easter over the last 26 years of my life, they’ve largely fallen into one major category: bunny-shaped candy. Now don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my chocolate bunnies (and peanut butter cups). But recently, as I’ve been thinking about Easter gifts for my family this year - admittedly it’s coming down to the wire now - a thought crossed my mind: what could I give my friends and family members that is actually related to the holiday? In other words, what gifts could I give that could help others grow in their faith lives?<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">So I started looking around and have been pleasantly surprised by some of the amazing resources that I’ve found out there, and knew I had to share a few of the newest ones with you. I’ll keep this short and to the point so I’ll just share my top 3. <br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">First is a beautiful Mass journal called <a href="https://everysacredsunday.com/">Every Sacred Sunday</a>. Every Sacred Sunday provides the Gospel reading for every Sunday’s Mass and is complete with gorgeous hand-drawn illustrations and a place to take notes, allowing you to both better prepare for the Mass, and to respond and reflect more deeply afterwards. <br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:gallery {"linkTo":"none","className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped"><!-- wp:image {"id":578,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://hallow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ESS-pic-1-1019x1024.jpg" alt="Hallow App Blog - Catholic gifts for Easter" class="wp-image-578"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Processed with VSCO with s2 preset</figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:image {"id":579,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://hallow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ESS-pic-2-1024x1022.jpg" alt="Hallow App Blog - Catholic gifts for Easter" class="wp-image-579"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --></figure> <!-- /wp:gallery --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Second is a list of some of my favorite books. There are countless great books out there that have helped me grow in my faith life, dating all the way back to some classics written by saints hundreds of years ago such as <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Augustine-Hippo/dp/1681922843/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=confessions+augustine+our+sunday+visitor&amp;qid=1555562300&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-fkmrnull">Confessions</a></em> by St. Augustine, <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Interior-Castle-Teresa-Avila/dp/168192286X/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=interior+castle+our+sunday+visitor&amp;qid=1555562345&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-fkmrnull">Interior Castle</a></em> by St. Teresa of Ávila, and <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Mount-Carmel-John-Cross/dp/1684220351/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?keywords=ascent+of+mount+carmel+our+sunday+visitor&amp;qid=1555562450&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-fkmr1">Ascent of Mt. Carmel</a></em> by St. John of the Cross. <br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But new books are always coming out as well and two have even come out this very month that I would highly recommend reading: the first is <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Gentleman-Living-Authentic-Manhood/dp/162164068X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?keywords=the+catholic+gentleman&amp;qid=1551812263&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=sl1&amp;tag=tumbstrebook-20&amp;linkId=070999b4b15e40525dca673380076879&amp;language=en_US">The Catholic Gentleman: Living Authentic Manhood Today</a></em> by Samuel Guzman, and the second is <em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Prayerful-People-Strengthening-Relationship/dp/1594718792/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=five+habits+of+prayerful+people&amp;qid=1555557463&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-fkmrnull">The 5 Habits of Prayerful People</a></em> by Michael St. Pierre. Both of these books are extremely helpful in learning how to grow in holiness and in a relationship with God while living in today’s world. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:gallery {"linkTo":"none","className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped"><!-- wp:image {"id":582,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://hallow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Catholic-gent-book-1-672x1024.jpg" alt="Hallow App Blog - Catholic gifts for Easter" class="wp-image-582"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:image {"id":589,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none","className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://hallow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/5-habits-2-663x1024.jpg" alt="Hallow App Blog - My top 3 gifts for catholics this easter" class="wp-image-589"/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --></figure> <!-- /wp:gallery --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Lastly, as I’m sure you saw the shameless plug coming from a mile away, you can never go wrong with giving the gift of Catholic Meditation through a <a href="https://hallow.com/portal/#/gift">Hallow gift card</a>! Great news is they come instantly to your inbox after purchase, so it’s no problem if you procrastinated your shopping this year just like I did. <br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"className":""} --> <figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/al0ng3T7AouO8Kwp35jPRRTDyaoxSzInp7rOfv00yh_eJjJ8FDdlHhu0lwFdluj5oFjIbZ09KCpf_kJboacVLGvfbDOXVXYNzc0wmVclX7AbjZnmTLXBIEQemV8pnIxXHmynCUWE" alt=""/></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">This only scratches the surface of the huge world of wonderful Catholic gifts that exist out there, but I hope it gives you a few ideas for how we can use this time of year (or any occasion at all!) to help one another grow spiritually. If you’ve got any ideas that we missed, please feel free to leave them in a comment below! <br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Also, I hope this goes without saying, but please don’t feel like these have to <em>replace</em> the chocolate bunny, they can always just be added on instead :) After all, Easter is a feast day and those magnificent candies aren’t exactly available year-round.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":"","fontSize":"small"} --> <p class="has-small-font-size">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"style":{"color":{"text":"#86898a"}},"className":"","fontSize":"small"} --> <p class="has-text-color has-small-font-size" style="color:#86898a"><em>Quick disclaimer as I’ve seen the question come up a lot for similar posts before: this is not a sponsored post, and the owners of these products were not aware that I was writing it or would be mentioning them. I do know some of the folks behind these amazing products - I find their faith and ministries truly inspirational - but wrote about them because I genuinely believe you’ll find them to be powerful aids for spiritual growth :)</em><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => My Top 3 Gifts for Catholics This Easter [post_excerpt] => Hint: they all encourage spiritual growth! [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => my-top-3-gifts-for-catholics-this-easter [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-03-06 16:46:57 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-03-06 16:46:57 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=575 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 411 [post_author] => 9 [post_date] => 2019-03-15 01:23:11 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-03-15 01:23:11 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I go to Adoration so I can breathe again.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">It’s easy to get lost during the day. Between the demands of a busy college student schedule, and the fallen state of my being, it’s easy to fall away from how I desire to live. Instead of being wholly present, I devolve into anxious and restless thoughts. Rather than giving of myself, I seek my own glory. In front of classmates, friends, and strangers, I close my heart to encounter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I desire to be free. I want to love others well. I want to receive each moment as a gift, and to respond with gratitude. I know what it’s like to encounter God. I’ve met Him, and I want to always live with the joyful awareness of His presence.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But I cannot live with this awareness on my own. I am forgetful. No matter how many “good intentions” I set, no matter how much I seek His face, no matter how much I try to adhere to what I desire, I cannot control my reality. I can’t produce the encounter with God. I may see clearly for a moment, but it does not last.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">All it takes is something unexpected – stress, sickness, failure, distraction – and all of my plans crumble. The only thing left is my misery, my need. And in that moment, I realize that the way I can approach life is through&nbsp;<em>begging</em>. I must beg to be free. I must beg to be reminded of Him whom I have encountered, to know and to fall in love with Him always more.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">And the miracle is this: Christ, too is a beggar. He begs for&nbsp;<em>my&nbsp;</em>heart, just as I am begging for His. Even before I believed in Him, He was dwelling within my heart and inviting me into relationship with Him. All that He asks is that I turn to Him, show Him my need, and receive His love.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">There is no better place to encounter Him than in the Blessed Sacrament, the <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/eucharist-holy-communion-adoration-prayer/">Eucharist</a>. In front of His physical presence, I am reminded of His unconditional love and boundless grace. Through prayer, Christ invites me to surrender and to practice dependence on Him.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">And in adoring Him, I can breathe again.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Adoration isn’t the only place I can breathe. The gaze of my friends reawakens me, too. They look upon me according to who I really am, and help me live every factor of my reality. Likewise, encounters with those who are suffering reawaken me, reminding me of my own brokenness and Christ’s mercy. Perhaps most strikingly, beauty reawakens me: I can breathe in front of a dawning sun, or listening to the soaring melodies of Sibelius’ violin concerto.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But prayer, in particular, changes everything. Prayer – dialogue with my Beloved – allows me to live with a joy and a strength that would otherwise be impossible. Prayer cultivates my intimate friendship with the Lord, so that it is no longer just me, but Christ living through me. And here, I am truly free.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => Why I pray in Adoration [post_excerpt] => A reflection on the beauty of Adoration. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => why-i-pray-in-adoration [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2022-08-06 01:25:37 [post_modified_gmt] => 2022-08-06 01:25:37 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=411 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 418 [post_author] => 6 [post_date] => 2019-02-27 01:42:46 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-02-27 01:42:46 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Growing up, I hated the season of <a href="https://hallow.com/lent/">Lent</a>. I despised it. I would ask myself “Why in the world do I believe in a church that makes me give up good things for God? It just feels like one huge, antiquated guilt trip.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Among many things, I was an annoying pre-teen who thought he was smarter than he was. I had it all figured out at the wise age of twelve. One of these things was how absolutely useless it was to give something up on your own accord for the sake of religion. I thought that God just wanted me to be happy, and giving up chocolate certainly didn’t make me happy. It wasn’t until one of the strongest storms ever to hit the U.S. came that I realized just how foolish I was.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">It was 2005 when Hurricane Katrina obliterated the U.S. Gulf Coast. Death toll estimates range between 1,000 and 1,900 people were killed as a result of the storm and its aftermath, which caused a total estimated damage of $125 Billion. It currently is tied for being the costliest natural disaster in all of U.S. history (according to CNN). It smashed through New Orleans, Biloxi, Gulfport, Mobile, and Pensacola on the I-10 corridor. I used to live on the coast but had moved up to Meridian, Mississippi, which was two and a half hours up from the Gulf. That didn’t stop the storm from destroying homes in Meridian and knocking out power for a grueling two weeks in my neighborhood. Since it was August, we had to contend with a violent, humid Mississippi heat, and the horse flies and mosquitos were rampant.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Then it hit me.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I missed the power being back on so much. I longed for it, I pleaded for it. I wanted it to be back on. I wanted to watch TV and play video games and text my friends. I wanted to be able to see in the shower and wanted most of all to have that sweet feeling of central air-conditioning again. It was then I realized that I had always had and enjoyed electricity but had taken it for granted. I was overwhelmed by a strange sense of…guilt. I felt guilty for all the times I just used the things that the power allowed me to do and accepted them as if they were just something that would always be there. It was like the saying that goes “You don’t know what ya got ‘til it’s gone” spiritually punched me in the face. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">When Lent came around, I remembered that experience and realized that by giving something up willingly, I was actively working towards being in a state that is the opposite of being ungrateful. I realized I have the power to decide to deny my desire for something, and in that moment, be reminded of why I wanted it in the first place. It dawned on me that fasting strengthens self-discipline and allows me to actually do the things that I’ve wanted to do but have been to lazy to do (work out more often, eat healthier, go to church more often, etc.) Therefore, I’ve come to see Lent and fasting in general as opportunities to “work out” the muscle of the will.&nbsp; In today’s age of constant gratification and plummeting motivation, the importance of fasting has skyrocketed.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>One of the most important and valuable things we have is time.</strong>&nbsp;A lot of people wonder what to give up for Lent. Some of the most fruitful moments I’ve had during Lent have come from giving up my time and spending it doing something else, whether that be an extra day each month volunteering in the community, going to an additional mass every week, or spending some time in adoration. This Lent, I plan to devote at least 20 minutes a day for prayerful meditation (<em>will definitely be using Hallow for it</em>&nbsp;:P). At any rate, I learned that I take most of what I have for granted on a consistent basis. Despite the great loss of life and pain from Katrina, it did teach me to be truly and continually thankful for things in life, especially the ones that I usually overlook.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong><em>What is something that you guys have given up for a time? What are you hoping to do this Lent? Leave a comment below!</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => What a Hurricane Taught Me About Lent [post_excerpt] => Bryan reflects on how Katrina helped him understand fasting. 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WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 203 [post_author] => 7 [post_date] => 2019-02-06 15:43:40 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-02-06 15:43:40 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><em>Finding True Peace In the Age of Technology&nbsp;Overload</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Here is a truly shocking statistic: according to&nbsp;<a href="https://read.nxtbook.com/ncea/momentum/2018_fall/going_going_gone_the_dynamics.html">the latest research</a>, 74% of young adults between the ages of 10 and 20 who were raised in the Church no longer identify as Catholic. What’s even more shocking is that the median age of disaffiliation has been declining significantly and just recently reached 13.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">A large part of the problem is the near constant bombardment of texts, snaps, and tweets that today’s young people are surrounded with. Incredibly,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/millennials-engage-with-their-smartphones-more-than-they-do-actual-humans-2016-06-21">nearly 4 in 10 millennials report</a>&nbsp;actually interacting more with their smartphones than with their loved ones. It’s no wonder they have trouble connecting with a deep search for beauty and truth when they have become so addicted to their phones that they refuse to sleep more than a few feet away from them.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But it isn’t just the millennials and Gen Z’ers; thanks to our societal addiction to technology, the average office worker now checks their email inbox 30 times every hour and the average smartphone user picks up their device over 210 times a day, causing our collective human attention span to have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wyzowl.com/human-attention-span/">decreased by more than 30%</a>&nbsp;since 2000 (to less than that of a goldfish).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">So, what do we do? Collectively admit that enough is enough; that it’s time to roll back the clock on technological innovation; throw out our smart phones; and disconnect our wifi routers? Unfortunately, I’m not sure that’s an outcome we can bank on solving the problem.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The good news is that there has been a push to fight back against the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-be-yourself/201803/how-technology-makes-us-anxious">increasing levels of anxiety and depression</a>&nbsp;that come with technological dependency. One particularly popular solution, the practice of “mindfulness”, has become quite the buzzword in places like Silicon Valley. According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/">mindful.org</a>, “Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”&nbsp;<em>Sounds great! Sign me up!</em>&nbsp;There’s just one problem…</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Increasingly, more and more young people have pursued this idea of “mindfulness” outside of the traditions of the Church through secular pseudo-spiritual practices, replacing Mass with yoga and meditation classes. As a result, there has been a large movement of people leaving the institutional church for the self-ascribed&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/09/06/more-americans-now-say-theyre-spiritual-but-not-religious/">"Spiritual But Not Religious" life</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">But do those looking for a mindful or spiritual experience really need to look outside of the Church?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Of course not!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">As it turns out, there is 2,000 years of Church tradition filled with a rich history of contemplative religious practices. From the early desert mothers and fathers, to the Benedictines and Franciscans, to the Ignatians and beyond, contemplative approaches to prayer have been a core foundation of the church militant’s effort to know and love God from the beginning. Practices like Lectio Divina, the Rosary, and the Examen are often as core to the lives of Saints as is the holy sacrifice of the Mass.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">It seems that the challenge facing us is not that the Church has nothing to offer those seeking a mindful or mystic experience, it’s just that we haven’t done the best job letting people know that they exist.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">So how do we get people to believe that the stodgy old Catholic church has even more to offer the mediation crowd than any yogi they might find?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">As they say in business school, let your data do the talking.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Even at the level of physical health, the benefits of prayer are overwhelmingly clear. According to&nbsp;<a href="https://renewingallthings.com/spiritual-health/how-prayer-changes-the-brain-and-body/">research done by Dr. Caroline Leaf</a>,&nbsp; “It has been found that 12 minutes of daily focused prayer over an 8 week period can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan. This type of prayer increases activity in brain areas associated with social interaction, compassion, and sensitivity to others. It also increases frontal lobe activity as focus and intentionality increase.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Moreover, there have been initial indications that prayer can be effective in helping to treat addiction, particularly in alcoholics. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://nyulangone.org/press-releases/brain-images-reveal-first-physical-evidence-that-prayers-reduce-cravings-in-alcoholics-anonymous-members">recent study published in the&nbsp;<em>American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse</em></a>,&nbsp; “Previous investigations by other researchers of the role of prayer on drinking behavior found that alcohol abusers who reported a spiritual awakening drank less after treatment for alcoholism. Research participants assigned to engage in prayer—unrelated to drinking—every day for four weeks drank about half as much as those who were not.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">One specific area where the Catholic approach to mindfulness has been gaining institutional momentum is in Catholic schools. Sponsored in part by the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives, a group of researchers incorporated Christian mediation (a specific form of <a href="https://hallow.com/blog/contemplative-prayer-imaginative-prayer/">Catholic contemplative prayer</a>) into the morning routines of both faculty and classes of students in Catholic schools. “[A selected sample of teachers] indicated that initially there was reluctance, or bumps along the way, but all had similarly positive conclusions. Their students not only enjoyed the practice, but have grown as a result.” One specific reaction from Emily, an 11 year-old: “What I like about Christian Meditation is that you get time to stop and take time to be with Jesus.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “Today, schools of prayer and prayer groups exist; it is obvious people want them. Many seek meditation elsewhere, because they think that they will not be able to find a spiritual dimension in Christianity. We must show them once again, not only that this spiritual dimension exists, but that it is the source of all things.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Not only is that the truth, it is also the answer to the deepest longing we all have in our souls. No matter how great the filter, no Snapchat story or Instagram post can fill that void. Only by inviting God into the silence of our hearts and accepting his loving embrace can we find true peace.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">He is there waiting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"className":""} --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-helpful-prayers"><strong>More Helpful Prayers</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list {"className":""} --> <ul class=""><!-- wp:list-item --> <li><a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-rosary/">How to Pray the Rosary</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><a href="https://hallow.com/2022/09/02/prayers-for-hope/">Prayers for Hope</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><a href="https://hallow.com/blog/prayers-for-strength/">Prayers for Strength</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><a href="https://hallow.com/blog/prayers-for-anxiety/">Prayers for Anxiety</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray/-our-father/">Our Father Prayer</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --> <!-- wp:list-item --> <li><a href="https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-hail-mary/">Hail Mary Prayer</a></li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> [post_title] => Overwhelmed? Have Trouble Disconnecting? Try Prayer. [post_excerpt] => Find peace in God. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => have-trouble-disconnecting-try-prayer [to_ping] => [pinged] => https://hallow.com/2020/02/12/how-to-pray-our-father/ [post_modified] => 2024-02-13 21:04:44 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-02-13 21:04:44 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://hallow.local/?p=1 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 422 [post_author] => 5 [post_date] => 2019-01-29 01:46:20 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-01-29 01:46:20 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">This post is about a revelation. It’s about tying together all the little pieces of my life that brought me to the moment that I decided to join Hallow. The journey to clarity was one of prayer, as I discuss in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hallow.com/blog/how-prayer-led-me-to-quit-my-job-and-move-across-the-country">previous post</a>. The following paragraphs describe the unlikely and sometimes unexpected steps that built this road to Hallow. Were it not for each of these pieces coming together, I find it extremely unlikely that I would've joined Hallow full-time.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The story begins with a conversation on a beach. Apart from a brief introduction on campus during our senior year, I did not know Alex (Hallow’s co-founder) at all while we attended Notre Dame together. We met only because we both joined the Chicago office of the same consulting company. And even then, we never worked together and only met because we found ourselves on the same beach at the same time of night during a company retreat. Somehow the conversation turned to God and faith and how to keep up a strong faith life during a hectic job with a largely secular employee base. So, we continued to talk on a regular basis about precisely this. And over the course of 3 years at the company, we never worked together and never even worked in the same city, yet became great friends. Had I not met Alex on that beach, or had faith not come up in our conversation, we may have never gotten to know each other the way we did, and Alex’s conception of Hallow might have taken the form of a journal entry, rather than a phone call to a friend.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Fast forward two years. For the third year at McKinsey, you can choose to do one of many “third-year rotations”, including anything from externships at technology companies, to living abroad for a year, to an internal rotation with the company. I had my mind set on one in particular: an externship with The Gates Foundation. It would have me performing very meaningful social justice work in a cool position at an impactful and inspiring organization. I thought I had the necessary skills, passion, and intention to be a valuable asset to their work. I had very favorable performance reviews and had spoken to prior externs and I felt good about my chances. Instead, I got my second choice – working in the Fast Growth Tech practice at McKinsey (now called Fuel). During my rotation with Fuel, I spent the year serving tech startups on go-to-market and growth strategy. The projects on which I landed could not have been more pertinent to the work that I do at Hallow today. Perhaps even more importantly, if it weren’t for this rotation, I certainly would not have moved to San Francisco to begin with, and I have a hard time believing I would have left Chicago for a new business venture later if I hadn’t already been there.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Then, shortly after hearing about my third-year rotation, I applied to business school. I fell in love with Stanford’s program, and, once again, thought that I was doing it for the right reasons and that this was the path on which I belonged. I was going to use Stanford’s Social Entrepreneurship resources to build up my skills to have an impact in the social justice world. I fit in well with the culture, and I was even already living in San Francisco. I applied and I got an interview, and I thought it went well. I didn’t get in. I had no idea why. But if I had, there is not a doubt in my mind I would have accepted an offer; had I done that, I know that I would not have been able to dedicate myself to Hallow.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">In my other&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hallow.com/blog/how-prayer-led-me-to-quit-my-job-and-move-across-the-country">post</a>, I mention that at this point in my life I so nearly moved back to Chicago that I applied for two full-year leases with my old roommates. We had the income levels and the credit scores we needed to get the places, and I had never been rejected for a rental application in my life. We didn’t get it. If we had, I would’ve been locked into a lease in a different city. In that instance, I am uncertain I would have pursued Hallow. Even if I did, then I certainly wouldn’t have been able to dedicate myself to it to the same extent as I have.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Now, when I applied to live in Chicago, I obviously told my roommates in San Francisco that I was leaving. Even though I was leaving, they decided to re-sign our 3-bedroom place and decided they would search for a replacement on their own. However, by the time I changed my mind and decided to stay in SF (less than 3 weeks before my planned last day in the city), they hadn’t yet committed my room to anyone. If someone had taken my room, I am not sure I would have stayed – I was lucky enough to be living in a place with very low rent and moving would likely mean paying 50-100% more each month, which is tough to justify with a new absence of income.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Of course, I did not understand the eventual implications of any of these things as they happened. In fact, I was severely disappointed when most of them happened. I had really wished I had gotten the call that said I was going to the Gates Foundation. I was severely disappointed when I found out that I didn’t get into Stanford. I was praying that the place in Chicago would accept our application to live there. And these weren’t long shots for me either. I was confident going into each of these situations that the result would be the opposite of what ultimately occurred. It’s not easy to overcome these initial reactions, and I didn’t put the pieces together on my own. It was through my days of prayer in discernment that I realized how all of this had come together to put me in the perfect position to pursue the project about which I was so excited. If I hadn’t met Alex, or if I had gotten my first choice for rotation, or if I had gotten into Stanford, or I had been accepted for a lease in Chicago – any of these seemingly extremely likely events would have almost certainly prohibited me from joining Hallow full-time.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Now you may read all of this and be happy to chalk it all up to coincidence, or just making the best of the cards I was dealt. And I cannot stop you if you do. But to me, I see a guiding hand behind it all. Some divine nudges here and there. And I choose to call&nbsp;it a recognition of His will. It wasn’t me thinking long and hard about it, slowly coming to convince myself, but rather the realizations came flying in all together at once.&nbsp;<strong>It was almost as if someone decided to sit me down and say, “Sorry for how all those things turned out, but step back and look at everything I lined up for you. Don’t just throw all that away to take the less scary path.”</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I must clarify, I do not think that following this path&nbsp;means everything will work out perfectly, that Hallow will be a booming success, or that it'll be where I spend the rest of the life. It simply means that I believe it is the right thing to do at this time, in this place of my life. Maybe it's all just to learn a few lessons before everything fails and I move elsewhere, or maybe it's the beginning of something bigger - only time will tell.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">In prayers of petition, I used to explicitly ask for specific outcomes. Now, whenever I pray, “Lord, please let X happen” or “help me to do Y”, I’ll always add: “I mean, I guess unless You think there’s something better for me like all those other times.” This is the heart of Hallow’s Letting Go ‘Praylist’. Jesus probably said it better with “Not my will, but Yours”, but I prefer my version; it sounds more like me.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => Coincidence or God? [post_excerpt] => Erich reflects on how God led him to Hallow. 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WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 424 [post_author] => 8 [post_date] => 2019-01-16 01:48:57 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-01-16 01:48:57 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">Now that the Christmas season officially ended this past Sunday, I realize that the only thing about Christmas I don’t like… well, maybe, the only Christmas&nbsp;<em>song</em> I’m not particularly fond of is… “The Little Drummer Boy.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">With most things, I gravitate towards the dramatic. I like things that carry weight – Christmas songs like “O Holy Night” and “Come, All Ye Faithful.” I also laugh imagining a kid banging a drum while poor Mary and Joseph are trying to soothe their child to sleep. I’d be embarrassed if the best I could offer them was just noise. I’d want to be one of those Wise Men – kings who presented only the greatest stuff to their newborn King. In prayer, too, I want to give God things that are really impressive and holy.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">Yet it’s funny… The other day when I was sitting in chapel, the silence gave me a prick of humility. When I pray, I am often that drummer boy. My mind races, knocks on everything, and makes lots of noise.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">This is why my mind was racing: Next weekend, a group of guys I live with are travelling to Chicago to play in a basketball tournament. My athletic skills aren’t quite up to snuff. Still, one of my brothers suggested that I come along. (Discerning and making decisions though usually overwhelm me.)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">In prayer that evening, I was trying to focus on beautiful lofty things as usual. But I kept getting distracted, weighing out pros and cons of my trivial decision. Frustrated,&nbsp;<strong>I eventually decided to try talking about the distractions themselves and letting God into them.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">“<em>Lord, I want to go. Well, kind of. I don’t know. It’d be great for community-building... Nah, I should stay, get ahead on work, right? You brought me here to study, and it’s just basketball… But, still… it’s only one weekend away. Do you think I should go…? Nah, I barely know the guy coordinating the trip. At this point, I bet there isn’t any room left...</em>” (Like I said,&nbsp;<em>lots</em>of&nbsp;<em>noise</em>.)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">But God was patient, always listening, silently there with me.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">I didn’t know what to do. Inspired with childlike boldness, I looked up and told God frankly –</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class=""><strong>“<em>I don’t know whether I’m supposed to go or not … If You want me to stay, I’ll stay. But if You want me to go,&nbsp;You need to make it happen.</em>”</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">That was it. No second-guessing, no take-backs.&nbsp;<strong>All was in His hands.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">For a moment, I was finally able to listen and sit in real silence. Then I got up and headed to dinner. After I finished eating I was about to head out, but one of my brothers came by and struck up conversation. We stayed for another half hour or so. By now, the room had cleared out, save for our table. I was again ready to call it for the night when I looked around and saw the captain of the basketball team walking in. He grabbed a bowl of cereal and joined us at table.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">This past Sunday, we closed out Christmas by celebrating Jesus’ Baptism. The Gospel verse that stood out to me most was,&nbsp;<strong><em>This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased</em></strong> (Lk. 3:22).God the Father looks upon Jesus and announces this to the world: 1) Jesus is God; 2) the Father loves Him; and 3) He’s well pleased with His Son’s existence.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">God is neither a magician nor a genie. He doesn’t make everything happen instantly nor does He grant every wish.&nbsp;<strong>In my life there are PLENTY of prayers God either answered differently than hoped for, didn’t answer at all, or hasn’t answered (yet) – all for better reasons than I can see.</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">But that night, after hearing me out, God answered my prayer. The Father provided for something seemingly insignificant because He loves His child.&nbsp;<strong>Nothing we give Him in sincerity of heart is ridiculous or petty.</strong><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">Next weekend, I’ll be cheering on my brothers loudly and proudly, and I’ll be staying in the 3^rdallotted guest room. (At our dinner table, the team captain said they just so happened to have one open spot left.)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">... I don’t know exactly how the newborn Jesus reacted to the ruckus from the drummer boy. But I trust that as it was the best the boy could give, God&nbsp;<em>listened</em>, and He was well pleased to accept the gift.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => Sometimes, I Make a Lot of Noise in Prayer [post_excerpt] => Prayer doesn't need to be perfect. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => sometimes-i-make-a-lot-of-noise-in-prayer [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2021-02-05 15:47:17 [post_modified_gmt] => 2021-02-05 15:47:17 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://hallow.com/?p=424 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 204 [post_author] => 5 [post_date] => 2019-01-15 22:53:59 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-01-15 22:53:59 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Yesterday over dinner someone asked me if Hallow had changed my life. I answered “Of course, it has drastically improved my faith life, and I am now praying in a number of ways I had never known before, and am praying more frequently than I ever did.” Clearly unsatisfied, he pushed me, “No, I mean a real, concrete example of what you’ve done differently as a result of your prayers and Hallow.”&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Truth is, I simply would not be where I am now if it weren’t for the first ‘Praylist’ I ever tried out. I wouldn’t be living where I’m living, living how I’m living, or doing what I’m doing.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I’ll set the context. It’s 2017, and I just finished my second year in management consulting at McKinsey and was loving it. I was learning an astonishing number of truly pragmatic lessons every day, I had amazing perks, was traveling the world, and was surrounded by intelligent, driven, kind colleagues. I moved to San Francisco from Chicago in July of that year for a one-year rotation with McKinsey to serve startups.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">My first ‘Praylist’ (though it wasn’t done through the app) was on the topic of discernment, and I began in July 2018, at the official end of my one-year rotation. In that year, I had started to involve myself more and more in a very exciting side project – the nascent stages of what would become Hallow. The decision before me was essentially this: Do I (1) stay at McKinsey and return to Chicago or (2) quit McKinsey, stay in San Francisco, and join Hallow full-time. I felt that joining Hallow from Chicago was not an option, as I knew if I was going to do it then I needed to dedicate myself fully to the cause, or else I’d always be stuck thinking what would have happened had I gone all-in. So, I mapped out the draws of each side, and I ended up with something like this:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:columns {"className":"has-2-columns"} --> <div class="wp-block-columns has-2-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph {"align":"center","className":""} --> <p class="has-text-align-center">(1)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">My girlfriend is moving to Chicago</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I was raised in/around Chicago and lived there for the first two years after college</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">My parents still live around Chicago</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The majority of my high school and college friends live in Chicago</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Chicago is way, way more affordable than San Francisco</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I think Chicago is the greatest city in the world</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">My salary at McKinsey recently doubled to something&nbsp;rather competitive for a 25-year-old</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I was just told I am weeks away from a promotion to manager</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I love McKinsey – the work, the people, the learning, the travel, everything</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">McKinsey would pay for me to relocate since it was the end of my rotation anyway</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">There’s Portillo’s in Chicago</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph {"align":"center","className":""} --> <p class="has-text-align-center">(2)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">I love working on Hallow</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">It could be fun to try something on my own and be my own boss</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Looking at these lists, my instinct was (1). I even went and applied to two leases in Chicago with my old roommates. Yet, something wasn’t sitting right. I stayed up every night thinking about whether or not it was the right decision. It was tearing me apart. So, one day, while waiting for my flight to board at LAX, I called Alex (Hallow’s only founder at the time). To his credit, he didn’t really push me one way or the other. He didn’t offer me a position, equity, co-founder status, or any money at all. He had only one push: take this discernment to prayer and see what happens.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">Even today I have a long way to go in my prayer life, but back then especially, my prayer life wasn’t what I’d call strong. My immediate reaction was little better than, “Great, like that’ll get me anywhere.” But instead of voicing this to Alex, I asked for tips on prayers of discernment as I know it was a subject he had recently researched (in fact, these prayers would later be built out into what is now Hallow’s “Decision Making” Praylist). First, I tested my reactions to making the decision each way. I imagined I had already chosen option (1) and carried on with my day, meditating on the resulting emotions along the way, looking for confirmation from God, before then switching and imagining I had made the decision for option (2) and doing the same. Next, in Drake-inspired fashion, I considered what God’s plan might be – meaning which direction do I think God would recommend for me to essentially live my best life and be the best version of myself. Lastly, I meditated on what the person whom I respect the most might choose in this situation, and whom God might suggest I consult on the matter.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">After each new prayer, I became more and more uncomfortable with moving back to Chicago and staying with McKinsey. Over the course of these few days in prayer, I was hit over the head with all of the things that had lined up in my life perfectly to bring me to that moment. It was crazy. So crazy in fact, I had to write an entire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hallow.com/blog/coincidence-or-god">other blog post</a>&nbsp;just to capture this revelation and the clarity that it brought me. Thomas Aquinas said that God sometimes talks to us through our own faculties, and it was through recognition of my own that my eyes were finally opened to God’s plan all at once, and I was overwhelmed with a sense of direction.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class="">The last piece for me with which I needed to come to terms was the mission of what I was doing. I was unsure whether or not I was called to bring people into the Church. In all honesty, I myself didn’t feel like a big part of the Church for much of my life or even at that very moment. To this deliberation, one last thought came to me – clarity about what Hallow’s mission truly was. We are hoping to bring people peace, and we are hoping to bring through Christian values which essentially boil down to one thing: love. Peace and love are our mission. And yes, that is something to which I would dedicate my life.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph {"className":""} --> <p class=""><strong>So I did it. I left a job I loved, right before a promotion, to stay in a city that didn’t feel like home, with no promise of equity or title at Hallow, to pursue a calling</strong>.&nbsp;I realize that could sound silly to some of you. Frankly, prior to this experience I could never relate to “callings” myself either so I don’t blame you, but I’ve found that’s the most accurate description. Has it been easy? Of course not. But that wasn’t ever the promise. It’s hard. I’m living in the most expensive city in the world without an income, and sometimes I feel rather lonely and sometimes I feel rather lost. But, despite those moments, I have yet to doubt that I made the right decision. I wake up every day doing something I love, that I truly believe will help a few people. And hey, even if I spend years on this and Hallow brings peace and love to just one person, then the world is a bit better off, and that’s enough reward for me.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => How Prayer Led Me to Quit My Job and Move Across the Country [post_excerpt] => Erich tells the story of how he came to work with Hallow. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => how-prayer-led-me-to-quit-my-job-and-move-across-the-country [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-02-13 21:08:05 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-02-13 21:08:05 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://hallow.local/?p=155 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw )

WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 431 [post_author] => 3 [post_date] => 2018-10-24 01:59:42 [post_date_gmt] => 2018-10-24 01:59:42 [post_content] => <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">I have written in a few of our&nbsp;<a href="https://hallow.com/blog/my-journey-from-atheist-to-maybe-a-christian-pt-1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="posts (opens in a new tab)">posts</a>&nbsp;about the power of a collection of great books and the impact that they have had throughout my faith journey.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">I’ve broken these 9 books across 3 phases of my faith journey so far: discovering my faith, diving deeper, and learning to live it out. I am very much still in the midst of each of these steps, so if you have any recommendations please send them my way by commenting below or emailing me at alex@hallow.com.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class=""><strong>Discovery</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">1.<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.paulistpress.com/Products/3-269-0/doing-the-truth-in-love.aspx" target="_blank">Doing The Truth In Love</a>&nbsp;by Michael J. Himes. This book was recommended to me by one of the most intelligent Christians I know as a simple, yet thoughtful way to understand what it is that Christianity really believes. It's short, sweet, and a phenomenal intro to the theology of Christianity. &nbsp;It really helped me to discover that the Christian God was not some old man sitting up in the sky judging all of us, but that at His core is Love.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“What the Christian tradition maintains is the least inadequate expression for God finds its clearest, sharpest, simplest statement in one of the last-written documents of the collection of the early Christian documents which we call the New Testament, the first letter of John. There we read that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8 and 16). But the love which is offered as the least wrong way to think and speak about God is of a very peculiar sort:&nbsp;<em>agape</em>.&nbsp;<em>Agape</em>&nbsp;is a Greek word meaning love which is purely other directed, love which seeks no return, love which does not want anything back. Perhaps so as not to confuse it with the many other meanings which we attach to the word “love” in English, we might translate&nbsp;<em>agape</em>&nbsp;as “pure self-gift”</p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">2. The second book is by one of my favorite authors of all time: C.S. Lewis. &nbsp;He argues with beautiful logic and clarity for what we all believe in as Christians. &nbsp;He has many books (even two more on this list), but the one I started with was&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.christianbook.com/mere-christianity-c-s-lewis/9780060652920/pd/2926X" target="_blank">Mere Christianity</a><strong>. &nbsp;</strong>I credit this book with helping to re-introduce me to Jesus.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”&nbsp;</p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">3. The last on my list of discovery is the book&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chesterton.org/lecture-44/" target="_blank">The Everlasting Man</a>&nbsp;by G.K. Chesterton. He does a great job of deciphering between different religious belief systems and helping us to understand the relationship between science and Christianity.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Nobody can imagine how nothing could turn into something. Nobody can get an inch nearer to it by explaining how something could turn into something else. It is really far more logical to start by saying ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth’ even if you only mean ‘In the beginning some unthinkable power began some unthinkable process.’ For God is by its nature a name of mystery, and nobody ever supposed that man could imagine how a world was created any more than he could create one. But evolution really is mistaken for explanation. It has the fatal quality of leaving on many minds the impression that they do understand it and everything else.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class=""><strong>Diving deeper</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">4. Now as we dig deeper we’ll move to one of the classics: Dostoevsky’s<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://medium.com/@brandonmonk/a-way-to-read-the-brothers-karamazov-800d0cf9ac9f" target="_blank">The Brothers Karamazov</a><strong>.</strong>&nbsp;This is beautiful novel about family, spirituality and about God. It's dense, full of meaning, and to be honest with you, I’m not sure I even understand half of what he is trying to say. I’ll just keep re-reading it till I do.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“There is only one way to salvation, and that is to make yourself responsible for all men's sins. As soon as you make yourself responsible in all sincerity for everything and for everyone, you will see at once that this is really so, and that you are in fact to blame for everyone and for all things.<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">5. Another fantastic book is Francis Chan’s&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.chesterton.org/lecture-44/" target="_blank">Crazy Love</a>.&nbsp; It does a phenomenal job of re-introducing us to the radicalness of the Christian faith and dares us to live as our Christian faith calls us to.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.”<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“When it's hard and you are doubtful, give more.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">6. Time to add another C.S. Lewis to the list!&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/article/why-you-should-read-cs-lewis-the-great-divorce/5128/" target="_blank">The Great Divorce</a>&nbsp;is a beautifully written visualization of heaven and hell.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class=""><strong>Learning to live it out</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">7. Have you had enough of C.S. Lewis yet? &nbsp;Too bad! This is one of the more difficult books I’ve ever read.&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.amazon.com/Screwtape-Letters-C-S-Lewis/dp/0060652934" target="_blank">Screwtape Letters</a>&nbsp;is written from the perspective of a demon who is actively trying to win over a man’s soul. &nbsp;Before reading this book, I probably would have described myself as a pretty good guy. Needless to say, after reading this book and Lewis’ perfect articulations of our day to day sins, my perspective of myself quickly changed.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“When He [God] talks of their losing their-selves, He means only abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">8. And now arguably my favorite book on this list (except for the last): Fr. Gregory Boyle’s&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.homeboyindustries.org/fatherg/" target="_blank">Tattoos On The Heart</a>&nbsp; This is the best example of how to live out&nbsp;<a href="http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/">Catholic Social Teaching</a>&nbsp;that I’ve ever read. I honestly cried at every chapter of this book.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“If there is a fundamental challenge within these stories, it is simply to change our lurking suspicion that some lives matter less than other lives.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Success and failure, ultimately, have little to do with living the gospel. Jesus just stood with the outcasts until they were welcomed or until he was crucified — whichever came first.”&nbsp;<br></p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">9. Lastly, the&nbsp;<strong>Bible</strong>. I couldn’t in good conscious put it on a list with any other book. &nbsp;Those books are great, but they are all written by people talking about God. The Bible is something different. After re-discovering my faith, I began to make my way through the New Testament (am now still working through the Old), and it changed my life. &nbsp;I felt power and meaning in words that I was only beginning to understand. It began a conversation with God that I know will continue for the rest of my life. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">One of my favorite ways to engage with Scripture is through the ancient prayer method Lectio Divina, a beautiful way of reading scripture slowly and meditatively, letting God speak to you directly through the words. It is one of my favorite prayer methods in Hallow’s guided meditation and prayer app. There are no quotes that would do this justice, but because I couldn’t resist I pulled a few from Hallow’s first introductory Lectio Divina sessions:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>“Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)</p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>‘A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But [Jesus] was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. &nbsp;[Jesus] said to them, ‘Why are you afraid?’’ (Mark 4:37-40)</p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:quote --> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote"><p>‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’ (Matthew 5:14-16)</p></blockquote> <!-- /wp:quote --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p class="">As I said at the beginning: I am still very much at the start of this journey and would love to hear your comments and any book recommendations you have - please comment below!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> [post_title] => The 9 Books That Helped Make Me a Christian [post_excerpt] => Alex shares some of the books that changed his life. 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