I haven't been posting much, not because things aren't happening here, but I haven't been taking pictures of things. I have some ideas, but I need to take more pictures to document my journey.

My favorite part of the semester so far has easily been prayer and spiritual direciton. I wrote earlier about how impactful the beginning of the year retreat was, and that has only continued forward. 

While at Ohio State and especially while working a job, prayer was always a bit difficult to make time for and enter into. It was something that sometimes slipped through the cracks, and I certainly didn't pray outside of my daily scheduled time unless something big was happening. Now that we are full swing into the semester and even past the halfway point, I have been able to enter so much deeper into my interior life. 

​What I have pictured below is a book on St Teresa of Avila's masterpiece: The Interior Castle. It is a book that outlines the stages a person progresses through in the interior life. There are seven total stages, and she says that most people don't make it past stage one or two (kind of daunting at first). This book has changed the way I view the spiritual life. It tangibly shows how the Lord has advanced me in prayer while at the same time revealing where He wants to take me down the road. The other thing it uses as a metric is our inclination to sin. It is easy to assume that I sin a permissable amount since I am such a holy seminarian... hah. But seriously, it shows that my inclination to sin is one of the primary things holding me back from experiencing a greater intimacy with Jesus.

The other thing that I have been noticing in prayer is a similar theme to the silent retreat: I can simply talk to Jesus easier than I used to. This involves both quality and quantity. I find myself not needing to rely as much on pre-written meditations or spiritual reading to have a heart to heart conversation that exposes my vulnerabilities. It has allowed me to see my wounds and brokenness in my everyday life much easier. I also have noticed a freedom to simply enter into prayer or to pray more throughout the day. It sounds ridiculous, but WE CAN PRAY OUTSIDE OF OUR NORMAL TIMES.

It is easy to schedule a holy hour into my calendar, but maybe Jesus wants to talk for a while at the end of the day. Sometimes I stay after mass or liturgy of the hours for a bit. Maybe I find myself with some extra free time, so I head to the chapel early for my prayer time. I know that it is easy to feel good when one is not in a stressful, secular, busy environment, but I am still developing the skill and habit of prayer that I will carry with me forever. 

I am so grateful for the formation I received at Ohio State, especially from my FOCUS missionary: Patrick. Those two final years of developing a consistent prayer life were so crucial to where I am now. I never shut up about Buckeye Catholic or FOCUS here because of the amazing work they are doing. They are making a tangible, significant impact that will bless so many people. I feel like I have been able to hit the ground running here which is a nice change. Before, I have felt "behind" since I received poor catechesis from my childhood parish and a public school education where we learned nothing about religion. I didn't even know what the Hail Mary was until high school youth group...