Catholic Faith Formation Resources

Peter Kreeft, a Catholic professor, philosopher, theologian, and author of many books about philosophy and Catholicism, suggests that we can know God in "the concrete, involved, experiential, practical knowing with which we know each other and the things in our lives," in at least the following eight ways: 1 (1) through prayer; (2) through genuine encounter with our conscience, which is the voice of God in our soul; (3) through mystical experiences, which are rare; (4) through common intuitive religious experiences, such as cosmic gratitude or awe or wonder, which is a kind of embryonic worship; (5) through death and the fear of death—the fear that is awe and wonder, not the fear of evil and loss; (6) through encountering beauty and the longing ( Sehnsucht ) it sometimes inspires for something indescribable and transcendent; (7) through the history of God’s interactions with the Jewish people; and above all (8) through Jesus Christ. 1 Take some time to reflect on how...

A blessing "is a prayer invoking God's power and care for a person, place, thing, or undertaking" ( CCC , p. 868 ). "Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts" ( Id. , no. 1671; see nos. 1667-1679 ). Let us freely offer blessings, expressed through our thoughts, words and actions, praising God and invoking God's love, power, care, truth, peace, compassion, and healing for persons, places, things, and undertakings we encounter throughout the day.

" He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how " —Friedrich Nietzsche. Viktor Frankl was a prisoner and survivor of Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Based on his training as a psychotherapist and his experiences as a prisoner and survivor, he formulated the theory that he called "logotherapy," that he explains in his book, Man's Search for Meaning ." 1 According to Frankl, logos is a Greek word denoting "meaning," and logotherapy "focuses on the meaning of human existence as well as [one's] search for meaning....[T]his striving to find meaning in one's life is the primary motivational force in [humans]....This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by [the person] alone; only then does it achieve the significance which will satisfy [their] own will to meaning. . . .[Logotherapy] tries to make the patient aware of what [they] actually long for in the depth of [their] bei...

" Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about Him. " ― Fr. Thomas Merton , OCSO (d. 1968) When and where do you experience God in your life? Thomas Hart, in his book Spiritual Quest , * defines spirituality as "our lived relationship with Mystery." For Catholic Christians, this "Mystery" is our Triune God, who is most revealed to us in the teachings, life, and person of Jesus the Christ through the Holy Spirit. Hart suggests the following "eight ways to give meaning to the word God, based on experiences available to us all," for God is at the heart of all reality: 1. God is the source of reality. In God, "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). God brings forth, nourishes, and sustains all of creation. 2. God is the Object of our deepest longing . Our ultimate desire is for more than what our finite existence can offer; it is the desire for the infinite God. 3. God is the Assurance of meaning, ...

You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your deep driving desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed, so is your destiny. —Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Our underlying desires, conditioning, assumptions, and habits shape our thoughts, our will, and our actions that ultimately affect our character and determine who we become. Take some time to reflect on what deep desires drive your life. Are they self-centered desires for pleasure, possessions, power, or prestige? How important to you is the desire to do the will of God? Or, the desire to be other-centered through helping others in need? Do your words and deeds bear witness to your driving desires? "For a person will reap only what he sows" (Galatians 6:7b). If you are not finding happiness in the finite things you are chasing after, which can never satisfy your ultimate desire which is for God, you can change through God's grace. Surrender your mind, heart, will a...

OPENING PRAYER The Gift of Story Holy One, you have given us the gift of story in our lives, ways of understanding who we are, ways of making sense of our world, of finding meaning and knowing how to respond to all that happens in our lives. Please show us where our stories fall short or are too narrow, where they exclude rather than include, where they divide rather than unite. Help us to see where a story we live out of may go amiss of what is real, where it allows us to escape becoming whole, where it lets us live comfortably in fear. Fill us with your story, the story of unity and compassion and love. Fill us with images that energize us and give us hope and lead us to the fundamental truth that you have tried to teach us all along: we are all one. Amen. Judy Cannato, Field of Compassion: How the New Cosmology is Transforming Spiritual Life . FIVE STEPS TO A FULLER LIFE " To be a witness for God is to be a living sign of God's presence in the world. ...