Pillars, Precepts, and Practical Habits of Faith

A Guide to Catholic Spirituality

Holy Spirit Power

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Jesus, Acts 1:8

Our youngest sibling was among a group of people I was privileged to accompany through nearly a year of preparation culminating in the reception of the Sacraments of Christian Initiation at the Easter Vigil. It was the highlight of the year, and a cause for great rejoicing.

Stir into Flame the Gift of God

I remind you to stir into flame the Gift of God you have.

2 Timothy 1:6

A high school or college graduation ceremony is also a celebration, properly called “Commencement” indicating not an end but a beginning. So too with the Sacraments. The outward physical signs and symbols are but shadows of inward spiritual changes: The infusion of the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. While these sacramental endowments are gifts we cannot earn, faith requires a response on our part. We are encouraged to continually “stir into flame” these gifts.

The Greatest Commandment

You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Luke 10:27 “The Greatest Commandment”

The Talmud calculates there are 613 commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures. God the Father personally gave Moses Ten Commandments, and God the Son condenses those further: “Upon these two [Love God, love people] depend the whole law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). Our priority as Christians is to love God by loving the person in front of us.

Pillars in the Life of Jesus

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor before God and man.

Luke 2:52

Jesus humbled himself to live and suffer among us, and in so doing to give us a model for living the Christian life. We know very little about his human life before his public ministry, but in Luke 2:51-52 he gives us a basis for how to be fully human. It states Jesus was obedient to his parents, and grew in wisdom, stature, and favor in the eyes of God and other humans. Like a well-balanced table, these are the four pillars of the balanced human life: Respectfully improving by daily growing intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially.

Pillars in the Early Church

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers

Acts 2:42

About three thousand were baptized after Peter’s bold speech on Pentecost, and the ensuing liturgies included teaching and prayer, communion with one another and sharing in the Lord’s Supper. Sounds like the Mass!

Pillars of the Catechism

The desire for God is written on the human heart…. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.

Catechism of the Catholic Church #27

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) delves the depths of Sacred Scripture and the wisdom of the Saints to provide a guidebook to what we as Catholics and Christians believe, why we believe it, and how best to live it. It is organized into four pillars.

• Learn and profess the Faith (Creed)
• Celebrate the Faith (Liturgy and the Sacraments)
• Live the Faith (The Moral Life)
• Pray

Matthew Kelly’s Pillars of Catholic Spirituality

The philosophy of Christ is the ultimate philosophy of human happiness. It isn’t just a way of life; it is the way of life.

Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism pg. 32

Matthew Kelly is a business leader, speaker, author, and founder of Dynamic Catholic. His book Rediscover Catholicism (2002, Beacon Publishing) is a life-changer. In it he examines seven pillars of Catholic Spirituality.

• Confession – Regular reception identifies weaknesses and transforms them into strengths.
• The Bible – Daily reading and meditation connects us to the Divine,
• Daily Prayer – Start with 10 minutes a day and build from there. It is a discipline. (See below)
• Fasting – Disciplining and denying ourselves in small ways each day actually strengthens us for the journey.
• The Mass – Recognize and enter fully into the eternal gift of the liturgy and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
• Spiritual Reading – Books are to the mind what exercise is to the body and prayer to the soul.
• The Rosary – Satan hates the Rosary. It is beautiful and powerful.

Precepts of the Church

The obligatory character of these positive laws… is the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor.

CCC #2041

The Catechism lists five minimum requirements for a faithful Catholic (CCC #2042-2043).

• You shall attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
• You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
• You shall receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
• You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
• You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.

Twenty Practical Habits

In addition to the items listed above, the following is a checklist of 20 ways (in no particular order) in which to grow in the spiritual life. What would you add to this list?

• Pray and play as a family.
• Seek spiritual direction.
• Turn off screens and noise and embrace meditative silence.
• Give generously and sacrificially.
• Volunteer in your parish and community.
• Adopt aspects of popular piety (CCC 1674-76) like veneration of relics, Stations of the Cross, pilgrimages, and processions.
• Read saintly biographies and pray with the Saints.
• Join or host a Bible study or prayer group.
• Evangelize, invite others, purposefully engage in Jesus talk.
• In addition to Sunday Mass attend one daily Mass each week.
• Attend one hour of Eucharistic Adoration each week.
• Listen to Catholic radio.
• Set aside an altarcito/prayer corner in your home.
• Practice Lectio Divina, prayerful reading and mediation on Scripture.
• Prayerfully read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, especially the section on prayer.
• Practice God mindfulness, praying often in the moment.
• Pray with a daily missal (like Magnificat).
• Protect your home from the encroachment of the secular culture.
• Practice spiritual exercises like the Daily Examen.
• Pursue continuing education and faith formation at your parish and through sites like Institute of Catholic Culture, Word on Fire, Ascension Presents, Bible in a Year, Dynamic Catholic, Real Life Catholic, etc.