How does one improve their relationship with God?

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TreeOfLife123

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Besides being a devout Catholic and doing as much as you can within Catholicism how does one improve their relationship with God? What I mean is are there specific sorts of practices or prayers or approaches to improving your relationship with God?

Since my healing is an up and down process it has me concerned that there is something wrong with my relationship with God on some level where I don’t really notice. I don’t know what I could be doing wrong. It might be something simple but I don’t know what it is.

I don’t know what the reason is…

My faculties of reason give me an idea that perhaps once I am converted and a Roman Catholic then my relationship with God will be much better. In other words once I’m in His Church officially I think that my relationship could improve or be much better.

But I’m still curious whether there are specific types of things that can be done like prayers or mental attitude or orientation towards God.
 
Start a little library for yourself of inspirational reading.

Browse through the CA store … click on the “shop” button at the top of the page.

Look up the “Confraternity of the Precious Blood” on the internet. They are in Brooklyn and have published a half-dozen little amazing and inspirational and insightful books … “My Daily Bread” is my favorite.

They’re located in Brooklyn, NY … never been there … but they have been around for a very long time. Their work is very helpful.

Get a copy also of “Weeds Among the Wheat” by Father Thomas Green.

These books are very helpful guides in meditating about God and our relationship with Him.

When you read them, feel free to just dip in and read a page or two.
 
Do NOT feel as though once you are converted, you will suddenly be the perfect catholic and do everything right and have a great relationship with God. This is the CAUSE of many post-conversion downfalls in faith. People suddenly feel horrible when they can’t do things right, and they give up because it is impossible.

Have you accepted Jesus into your heart? I mean, not only following His commandments, but putting Jesus into the very center of your life? Once He has a say in all your decisions, you will have a better relationship with Him.

You should also pray each morning “Lord, I give you all of the works I do this day”.

Hope this helps:).
 
You have asked a most complex question with the most simple root.

The simple root is Love, that which all the law is based. (Mt 23:36-40)

Seek to grow in Love of God and neighbor and you will grow closer to God.

As practical helps in this, I suggest reading of the “Little way of Love” developed by St Therese of Liseaux. At it’s core is the simple instruction to “do little things with great Love”.

In your post, you mention healing - may a presume that you have suffering in your life?
It is important that you recognize the principle of redemptive suffering. That suffering, borne for the Love of Christ, in reparation for our sins and the sins of others, is of great service to the Kingdom of God. Just as a soldier suffers pain and deprivations in training in order to be stronger and more effective in defending his country, so must we be willing to suffer willingly in order to build up the kingdom of God.

Lastly - If you are interested, take a look at the book I have linked in my signature. I get nothing from it’s sale, except the knowledge that hopefully it will be as helpful to others as it has been to me.

Peace
James
 
This has all been helpful, thanks.

I have already been working with Jesus Christ I have accepted Him. Maybe I need to accept Him even more by putting Him at the center of all that I do as you suggest. I pretty much do that already though. But maybe I am misreading and haven’t been doing it enough. I think it is a good idea to put Jesus Christ at the center of everything I do. I think that will not only improve my relationship, but also be more likely to get me the good healing and other things I have been seeking.

And I think it would be wise to work on my love for God as JRKH says. Sometimes stating to God that I love the eucharist brings me feeling closer to God and a more loving relationship.

The book you mention sounds like it has a very good concept in it.

Maybe my relationship to God is good already but He still wants me to suffer for Him.

Understanding the suffering is something I would like to do but maybe it’s not the right time.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
Besides being a devout Catholic and doing as much as you can within Catholicism how does one improve their relationship with God? What I mean is are there specific sorts of practices or prayers or approaches to improving your relationship with God?

Since my healing is an up and down process it has me concerned that there is something wrong with my relationship with God on some level where I don’t really notice. I don’t know what I could be doing wrong. It might be something simple but I don’t know what it is.

I don’t know what the reason is…

My faculties of reason give me an idea that perhaps once I am converted and a Roman Catholic then my relationship with God will be much better. In other words once I’m in His Church officially I think that my relationship could improve or be much better.

But I’m still curious whether there are specific types of things that can be done like prayers or mental attitude or orientation towards God.
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I may be mixing you up with another poster, but have you attended a mass yet?

If not, I would say attending mass is vital even and especially if you are in the beginning stages of exploring Catholicism.
 
I haven’t yet attended mass. But I want to but am not well enough to do so yet.

I think that seeking daily that Jesus Christ guide me through the whole healing and recovery process and also heal me is of great value in developing my relationship.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
I haven’t yet attended mass. But I want to but am not well enough to do so yet.

I think that seeking daily that Jesus Christ guide me through the whole healing and recovery process and also heal me is of great value in developing my relationship.
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I see. Have you watched any EWTN masses?
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
This has all been helpful, thanks.

I have already been working with Jesus Christ I have accepted Him. Maybe I need to accept Him even more by putting Him at the center of all that I do as you suggest. I pretty much do that already though. But maybe I am misreading and haven’t been doing it enough. I think it is a good idea to put Jesus Christ at the center of everything I do. I think that will not only improve my relationship, but also be more likely to get me the good healing and other things I have been seeking.

And I think it would be wise to work on my love for God as JRKH says. Sometimes stating to God that I love the eucharist brings me feeling closer to God and a more loving relationship.

The book you mention sounds like it has a very good concept in it.

Maybe my relationship to God is good already but He still wants me to suffer for Him.

Understanding the suffering is something I would like to do but maybe it’s not the right time.
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Understanding suffering is not always easy to do, especially if you’re in the midst of it. It’s always appropriate, however, to ask God in prayer to give you that understanding. Reading the lives of the saints can help with this, too, as many suffered greatly.

You may also want to check out Jeff Cavins’ book, Amazing Grace For Those Who Suffer, Peter Kreeft’s Making Sense Out of Suffering, or C.S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain.

Fulton Sheen, in his autobiography, talks in several places of offering his suffering (he even requests of God suffering at times!) for the salvation of a soul.

I don’t know how you suffer, nor is it any of my business, but I do know that to the extent that you are able to “offer it up” as the saying goes, and to the extent that you deepen your prayer life, your relationship with God will improve. But it’s a process, not something that happens all at once. And there will more than likely be setbacks which God will allow you to experience for your benefit.

I’ll stop preaching now :o.

Edit: While I was writing this several other posts appeared and I noticed that you haven’t attended Mass due to illness. Perhaps you could call your parish and request that a priest or deacon or extraordinary minister come to your home with the Holy Eucharist. I’m assuming here that you are Catholic.

In Christ,
Jeff
 
I haven’t watched such masses.

I think I might have learned of one reason I continue to suffer and it is related to Christianity: too much of pursuit of worldly pleasures. I think that causes a lot of tension and stress in my system to pursue such things. The Vatican says in one statement that a cause to mental illness is materialism.

But of course I don’t know if ceasing to engage in the pursuit of worldly pleasure would really make things better or much better. It seems it might have some interesting effects.

Anyone have experience with that?

And I’m on my way to becoming Catholic someday. I’m not well enough yet to go to the Parish. I’m not Catholic yet…But I aspire to be and am getting much enrichment and benefits and healing from the Catholic Church and practices of various kinds.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
I haven’t watched such masses.

I think I might have learned of one reason I continue to suffer and it is related to Christianity: too much of pursuit of worldly pleasures. I think that causes a lot of tension and stress in my system to pursue such things. The Vatican says in one statement that a cause to mental illness is materialism.

But of course I don’t know if ceasing to engage in the pursuit of worldly pleasure would really make things better or much better. It seems it might have some interesting effects.

Anyone have experience with that?
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It’s always tricky to know if one’s stress is due to “materialism”…After all since we rely on “material” to live, (food, housing, transportation, doctors, meds…etc…) one has to determine if there material desires are inordinate and disordered.

That said though, I completely agree that materialism is a cause of stress in the modern world and can certainly have a negative effect on ones physical and spiritual health.
And I’m on my way to becoming Catholic someday. I’m not well enough yet to go to the Parish. I’m not Catholic yet…But I aspire to be and am getting much enrichment and benefits and healing from the Catholic Church and practices of various kinds.
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If you are not healthy enough to go to the parish, you might want to give them a call anyway. Perhaps someone could come by and offer you support, instruction, even transportation if that would help you. It’s worth a try…

Peace
James
 
My experience is with lots of patience, prayer and time.

There is a ton of material out there which is accessible to all but I think we grow the most is during the times of uncertainty, struggle and trial because that is when we are calling on God the most to help us through our times of darkness. We also improve our relationship with God every time we say yes to God, we help a friend, and say we are sorry both inside confession but also one on one especially when we have done wrong. Our relationship with God is like the growing stages of human life. We start out as spiritual babies and eventually we mature until we become wise old owls. After that God calls us home.

The sacraments are awesome provided they are more than a simple ritual, they are something that helps to nourish your soul.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
I haven’t watched such masses.

I think I might have learned of one reason I continue to suffer and it is related to Christianity: too much of pursuit of worldly pleasures. I think that causes a lot of tension and stress in my system to pursue such things. The Vatican says in one statement that a cause to mental illness is materialism.

But of course I don’t know if ceasing to engage in the pursuit of worldly pleasure would really make things better or much better. It seems it might have some interesting effects.

Anyone have experience with that?

And I’m on my way to becoming Catholic someday. I’m not well enough yet to go to the Parish. I’m not Catholic yet…But I aspire to be and am getting much enrichment and benefits and healing from the Catholic Church and practices of various kinds.
Click to expand...
Hi Treeoflife,

I am sorry that you are suffering so much.

I just want to give you a word of admonition.

Being Catholic will not mean that you will not suffer. God can choose to heal your physical suffering at any time if it is his will, even now. Or he may choose to not heal something for a reason.

I just want to caution you about basing your desire to convert on the possibility of physical healing (if you are doing that). God will heal you whenever he wants.

Having a relationship with God gives you the grace to be at peace with whatever comes your way.
 
Hello All,
  1. Get a bottle of Holy Water and bless yourself before and after any praying or religious reading - or when you’re struggling with temptations.
  2. Pray to St. Michael and the Holy Ghost before and after prayer.
  3. Get some GOOD religious books to read, (including a Douay-Rheims Bible).
  4. Avoid all movies/music/television programs and books that are contrary to the Faith and/or have any sexual or extremely violent overtones.
  5. If you have a good imagination; picture yourself before the Blessed Sacrement and just meditate on that for a while or picture yourself with Jesus during some point of His Passion, (in fact, I read where meditating on His Passion contains more Graces than extreme fasting or other self mortifications- I believe I read this in The Secret of the Rosary by St. Louis de Montfort).
  6. Pray a lot. Pray always- while you drive, work, etc. (Just do it in your head or in your heart- just keep The Father, (Abba), Jesus, Our Blessed Mother or one of your favorite saints on your mind as often as you can).
Hope this helps. 🙂

Oremus pro invicem,

Sean C. :knight2:
 
This is all great. I appreciate everyone’s contributions.

I pray all the time. I think I pray too much actually.

I think there are a lot of things that can be done.

BTW, I think everyone has potential for a great imagination that can be improved with Catholicism and seeking it to be improved by God and Jesus Christ. Most of the Catholic practices provide amazing mental imagery and sometimes very beautiful feelings as well. I don’t know why I often get such wonderful results. I mean what I’m doing more specifically to get the mental imagery that is glorious and so wonderful and very Christian in substance. I think it has to do with loving good very much and saying that to God a lot as well as approaching the religion as a whole rather than just doing certain things.

Thanks to all
 
What I’m going to do in September is contact the parish and request that I have a phone talk with the pastor every so often. That way I can get started on a path of conversion and not have to do something I don’t feel comfortable doing yet because of the suffering and other concerns. It’s a somewhat involved matter these days but I think it will change.

Thanks again to all,
Adam
 
Maybe someone can find the picture and post it:

Two sets of footprints on the beach. Then one set of footprints stops and the other continues.

The speaker asks, “Jesus, why did you leave me?”

And Jesus says, “I didn’t leave you . That was when I carried you.”
 
i found a wonderful little book of healing prayers that helped me. it is not only for physical healing, but also spiritual and emotional healing.

i am a convert of a little over 3 years and i have found that my relationship with Jesus has improved by attending Adoration. i had a lot of anger at God from a lot of trauma i had experienced and going to Adoration has not only helped to heal that anger, but helped me to understand Jesus in an entirely new way. i am lucky enough to have a parish with perpetual Adoration so i attend on a regular basis.

i also subscribe to the Magnificat which is sent to my home monthly. it has the daily readings for the month as well as inspirational readings and short stories about the saints.

praying the Rosary on a daily basis or reading from a book of Catholic prayers is also helpful and spiritual warfare prayers are important too.

our God is a loving God and we are so important to Him. He wants us to come to Him with all of our problems and sufferings. He wants to help us.
 
TreeOfLife123 said:
Besides being a devout Catholic and doing as much as you can within Catholicism how does one improve their relationship with God? What I mean is are there specific sorts of practices or prayers or approaches to improving your relationship with God?

Since my healing is an up and down process it has me concerned that there is something wrong with my relationship with God on some level where I don’t really notice. I don’t know what I could be doing wrong. It might be something simple but I don’t know what it is.

I don’t know what the reason is…

My faculties of reason give me an idea that perhaps once I am converted and a Roman Catholic then my relationship with God will be much better. In other words once I’m in His Church officially I think that my relationship could improve or be much better.

But I’m still curious whether there are specific types of things that can be done like prayers or mental attitude or orientation towards God.
Click to expand...
trust and humility… that seems to be foundational. Read the writings of the Saints, this really helps to understand more about the spiritual life 🙂 I also think that once you have the Sacraments, that would help a great deal. But… try to offer your whole day to God, love Him in everything, accept suffering for love of Him, love your neighbour… everything has been shown to us by Christ 🙂 imitate Christ in His trust in the Father… have a strong devotion to our Blessed Mother and to the Eucharist. Go to Eucharistic Adoration frequently 🙂

God bless
 
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