Making the Choice to be Faithful

Linda Kracht reflects on the importance of making deliberate efforts to grow in faith and deepen prayer.

Being faithful is an art and a decision

Being faithful to anyone is both an art and a decision. Just as we need discipline, practice, and determination to love our children or our spouse, so it is with God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our relationship with God is an art that also requires action. And it involves a whole lot of colorful virtues that work together in concert to help us turn Faith into a personal, encounter with Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, or with God the Father.   

It may help to turn to books that invite you to reflect on God’s Word each week. Just as we read the news or other facts daily, we also need to keep up on what God is trying to telegraph us every day and every week and every month. It helps to figure out how to apply His Word to our everyday life more deliberately. In turn, we become more authentic disciples of Jesus. 

Love cannot be forced

God will never force us to love Him, just as we can’t force someone to love us authentically. Love is either freely given or taken away. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours (see paragraph 2560). In other words, He thirsts for us and we thirst for Him. Does it seem like a universal thirst is growing exponentially stronger every day all around us and without being quenched? This thirsting feels very palpable to me and I believe that it's genuine because too few are going to the Well of Life. Eventually this thirsting will lead to severe dehydration and detachment from the Lord. And many don’t know why their thirst can’t be quenched.

In Searching for and Maintaining Peace, Fr. Jacques Philippe said it best: our thirsting is often the result of wounded pride — not because God is being offended and spat upon time and again — but because of our own desire to serve ourselves. We will ultimately get stuck in quicksand when we refuse to move toward the only Living Water.  

How can we genuinely love God?

It starts by taking and making time to see what Jesus has to say. It involves listening to teachers that love Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It means reading the lives of the saints who walked before us. It means taking the time to reflect on the daily Gospel readings for just a few more minutes every morning. It means trying to pray a little bit longer every day and shutting out the busy-ness that surrounds us. It means trying to relax while praying with the understanding that Jesus loves hearing from you. It means making your prayer time personal — between you and Jesus.

Praise Him for the beautiful flowers and blue skies that you see. Ask Him for forgiveness for your busy-ness. Pray with ACTS: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication. Jesus knows what you need, but He needs to hear you verbalize your needs just as you expect your spouse or your kids to do. Make your prayer time a bouquet for Jesus! Turn your faith into your own art form.  

Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.

Copyright 2024 Linda Kracht
Images: Canva