Increasing Discipline?

[Striving_Catholic]

Hi all,
I’m wondering about increasing your discipline. I’m interested in making my life more Christ-centered and turning the sparks I feel in my soul into an intense spiritual fire of love for the Lord (if that makes any sense)… the problem is, I don’t yet have that fire and my discipline isn’t the greatest. I’ll try to “turn things around” and get more into my faith, but things always seem to be like a “two steps forward, one step backwards” type of situation. How do I increase my spiritual discipline so I can move forward much more quickly in my goal to make everything I do about God?

 

[TheLittleLady]

Start small, it is better to take a small step and be able to accomplish it then to move to the next step.

Like with Lenten penance, do not vow to eat bread and water for 40 days, do not set yourself up to fail.

 

[Greenfields]

Agree with TheLitteLady on beginning small
Making an offering of love and sacrifice for Jesus in every little thing you do .

 

[PeterT]

If you haven’t done so already, make it a daily habit to start your day and end your day with a prayer.

First thing in the morning, pray a morning offering prayer like this one:

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day
for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart,
in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,
for the salvation of souls, the reparation of sins, the reunion of all Christians,
and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father this month.
Amen.

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/morning-offering.cfm

And at night, right before you go to bed, pray a prayer of thanksgiving for all the gifts and blessings that you received from the Lord that day.

Making it a daily habit of praying first thing in the morning and the last thing at night will also help with your discipline of being Christ-centered throughout each day.

 

[Bluebright]

I know it may sound obvious but it’s so easily forgotten. Ask God for the grace of discipline, devotion and fervour, or in your own language and simplicity …say to God as often as you need, help me.
Also there are many devotions which increase fervour, such as devotion the Sacred Heart of Jesus (it’s one of the promises). I recently discovered a simple but beautiful thing about the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is his human will. It serves me well to remember that I receive that human will of Christ, that very one which battled temptations in the garden of Gethsemane (as well as when he was tempted in the desert) in the Eucharist and he knows how I feel when tempted so gives me his heart to strengthen me in my struggle.

 

[Mary888]

First of all don’t fall into disappointment about yourself if you experience small failures. Get up and try again. Forget about what YOU want and just make the effort stay constant.
Like already suggested - daily prayers.
I read a comment on the internet that kinda scared me but also helped me because it was already giving me the answer to while scaring me. It was said by a priest who didn’t remember which saint said it: “Even you do get at the gates of Heaven when you are asked - “who is it?” if you reply “it is me” then you cannot enter. The correct answer is “You” or “us”.” I hope it’s not that strict but anyway I get the point that if I get to Heaven is because of God not my own merit and I cannot get to Heaven if you don’t bring someone else into it as well (also as a glory of God and not mine).
To increase spiritually you first need to diminish your ego.

 

[Trishie]

In our search for holiness and fervour we always need to consider these words of Jesus, because we can easily become caught up in our own piety and worship of God, and sometimes neglect a little the second part of Jesus command. Two scriptures, two directions given by Jesus, need to guide us, Matthew 22, 34 to 40, and Matthew 25, verses 31 to 46. In the former, Jesus points out the essential. In the latter, Jesus, as Judge of souls, highlights the importance of all our practical acts of kindness, large and small.

Matthew 22
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Both commands of love, of God, and of other people require dedication, discipline, and sacrifice. Both commands must be lived out in our lives, and often it can be challenging, and sometimes we fail, so we ask God to bless us with the graces to continue in humility, in trust, in faithfulness, even at those times when it is most difficult to love God, or even more difficult to love others, in all the small and larger ways that each passing day requires.

 

[ReaderT]

Making it a daily habit of praying first thing in the morning and the last thing at night will also help with your discipline of being Christ-centered throughout each day.

I agree, start the day and end the day with prayer. The Eastern Church uses these prayers, called the Trisagion Prayers (the + indicates where to make the sign of the cross)

+Glory to Thee, our God, Glory to Thee.

O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, the Treasury of blessings and Giver of life: Come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

+Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal: have mercy on us. (3 times)

+Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

O Most-Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our transgressions. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.

Lord, have mercy. (3 times)

+Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Through the Prayers of our Holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us! +

 

[ReaderT]

Also, whenever traveling the spiritual life, it’s recommended to have a Spiritual Director (in the East “Spiritual Father”) for guidance.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The transforming grace you seek comes from God alone.

The most we can do is be open to God.

Daily scheduled prayer time, morning and evening has been my way of opening myself to God.

Sometimes it’s difficult, but in my days of employment before I retired, I got up a half hour earlier than needed, just to do prayer time.

Then, evening after supper before watching TV or reading, one half hour of prayer

I couldn’t do it without the help if the Holy Spirit.

In Christ
Jim

 

[Beryllos]

How do I increase my spiritual discipline so I can move forward much more quickly in my goal to make everything I do about God?

Be aware of Jesus’ presence to you at all times. Of course you encounter Jesus personally in the Eucharist and also in Confession, but he is also with you every moment. Therefore don’t hesitate to pray little prayers for help with the challenges of life, especially temptation. Offer a prayer of thanks after those occasions when you resist or avoid temptation. When you suffer emotional or physical pain, unite your suffering to that of Jesus on the cross (spend a moment beside him on the cross) for the salvation of other souls. Praise him and express your love when the spirit moves you.

 

[fide]

The answer is simple - to be committed to God, and HIs will, you have to want to. You’ve made a beginning: you want to want to. The problem is, there are other “wants” in your life, that work against the wanting to become a disciple of Christ, the Lord, who is Life.

The Holy Spirit wants to help you! He is the one who is sent to the Church by Jesus to do three things:

Jn 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor [the Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Jn 16:8 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
Jn 16:9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
Jn 16:10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more;
Jn 16:11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Disciples of Jesus become disciples, and not just spectators, because they have been convinced - convicted - of sin, of personal unrighteousness, and judged as a lover of this world and in bondage to the ruler of this world who is the evil one: the enemy of souls, the enemy of life.

And they have come to hate that evil, that enemy, that death. They have come to hate the bondage of the evil one, and they have come to know that life - their life - is at stake, and the only one who can save them is Jesus the Lord.

How have they come to this knowledge - this firm resolve - this power in their souls? They have come to the turning point because they have heard GOD and His TRUTH in this message!

I urge you to listen to the words of God - Holy Scripture - in order that you might, in this way, HEAR GOD. Listen until you hear the Word of God, in His words. Then you will know the Truth that you must respond to, or die.