Nourish Your Spiritual Life

7 Nov

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.”
~ Buddha

I was speaking with Deacon Napoleon a couple of weeks ago as I was writing these reflections ahead of my vacation so that I could queue them up to send on the appropriate day (not knowing if I would have internet connectivity on some of the days midway through the transatlanatic cruise).  I was tired, having written several already and having a few more to go.  I told him that I often wondered if I was going to “run out” of ideas and we both laughed.

Yet, every time I scan sites for quotes, they jump out at me and I can see the post taking shape before my eyes.  I think that is because, in a very real way, these writings are one of the ways that I pray.  When I sit behind my worn keyboard, my mind turns to God and I ask Him to give me something to say so that I might reach just one person.  If only one person is touched by something that I write, the flame of God’s love is spread.  That person might tell someone about what he or she read and what it meant.  That, in turn, might spread the flame to yet another person’s life.

We cannot function without a spiritual life.  If all we do is work to get ahead, we will quickly burn out.  If, on the other hand, we do all that we do dedicating our thoughts, words, and works to God, we will never run out of ideas, of motivation, or of energy.  God will always supply to us since we are doing everything that we can to do His will.

But, again, the car cannot run without fuel and we cannot run without God.  If our spiritual life is not being attended to, we will find ourselves flagging.  We must do all that we can to keep our spiritual lives fresh so that we can find the energy that we need to impact the lives of as many as possible.

How do we attend to our spiritual lives?  There are different ways and each person knows best what works.  Prayer, spiritual reading, listening to religious music, reading the Bible, visiting church, sitting before the Eucharist, going to Mass, doing charitable works: these are all ways that we feed and maintain our spiritual lives.

If God is important to us, if eternal life is our goal, we must maintain a healthy spiritual life.

FAITH ACTION:  Make time today to nourish your spiritual life.  Do not let the day go by without making some time for God.