An Introduction

God never ceases to bestow spiritual, psychological, and physical providence in His love, and grace and mercy flow from this love for us.

Here are some very general and practical ways to approach the Christian faith. None of these are hard and fast by any stretch but it may help one understand what a path to faith may look like. The whole of this site is dedicated to helping with growth toward/in the spiritual life. The Christian faith is more a mystery to be lived than a process to be worked on or a problem to be explained. However, one may say the journey is the whole point, always becoming who we were meant to be.

In order to begin growing as Christians, we must first assent to the tenets of the faith through the "illative sense" i.e. coming to see how it conforms to reality.

1. Research and know exactly what the Church teaches and why it teaches that which it does. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is an excellent way to research as well as Apostolic Letters, Encyclicals, etc. 

   1. Reserve hesitations until you can tell you have engaged the content with humility and understand each definition and term as well as their source.

   2. Be diligent in your objectivity. 

      1. Is there something affecting how you think about faith? 

         1. Emotional appeals

         2. Feeling the existence of God to be absurd

         3. Feeling religion is an oppressive entity, bent on control.

      2. Is there anything that moves you to choose against faith besides objective facts that you verified the truth of? 

      3. What sources do you trust with your view of what is true? 

         1. Do these sources make a logical approach to things citing their sources and being objective about things as well? 

         2. Do they align with other reliable sources?

   3. In light of this read Scripture often using the Early Church practice of Lectio Divina <-Click and find the section on Lectio

2. Ask God for the grace to know the deepest and truest reality of faith and open yourself up to it.

   1. Learn what He is like, what He does to us, and why people believe in Him.

3. The more you come to know the more you will love.

4. Let love lead you on, as you learn to appreciate truth, goodness, and beauty. Do not let anything discourage you because there are many forces that try.

5. Begin a daily prayer routine starting with 10 minutes of silence remembering His love, seeking His loving and penetrating gaze, listening to Him, asking Him for things, and thanking Him for all you have been given.

6. If you are not Catholic, ask a local parish about RCIA. Bring your questions and an openness of mind and heart so that you can come to an assured conclusion of whether or not you wish to join the Church.

When you have made this faith of others your own, continue to engage with God in prayer being wary of the forces in the world that would rather you not be Christian i.e. the demonic, the culture, and even your own attachments to sin.

1. Encounter Christ in prayer by coming to know His love

2. Begin living the Gospel as literally as you can. Beware of the enemy's goals.

3. Surround yourself with people that bring you closer to God and less time with those that lead you to things that are contrary to life with Christ.

4. Ask yourself if all this is true how should I act. "Be imitators of Christ..." Ephesians 5:1-2 

5. Receive the sacraments often since they will arm you against temptation and transform your heart for love

6. Learn the beauty of making difficult decisions to live in accord with the Gospel and moral life.

7. Continue letting love be the source of your life and its direction

8. The more you understand what the Church means in its teaching and what Christ commands, the more it should draw you in.

Seek a holy life.

1. The more you are able to let sin go and cling to God the greater your ability to love will become

2. You will continue to experience what it means to be free of sin.

3. See how you can help others attain this love of God.

4. Remember always what God promises you, that He always cares for you.

5. Offer even the little things for the love of Him. 

6. Learn the joyful, new, redemptive meaning of suffering and let love transform You into who God wants everyone to be as well as you in particular

7. Never stop living for the mission of God, His grace will transform You and has never ceased preparing you for His Judgement Day

8. Never grow complacent know that your faults are not always visible to your conscious self

Living a life enfolded in God's guidance, graces, and love experience perpetual access to many aspects of heaven and more as you grow, understanding all the time more of the lives of the Saints that gave and/or lived their lives for Christ with reckless abandon, will never cease to bring you happiness and peace as from no other source, in a lasting and deep way that cannot be beaten or matched.

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