Many years ago, I took up an interesting practice- once a week, I purify and bless my home, usually on Saturday nights. Saturday night is an opportune time as many churches are celebrating a Vigil Mass around sunset. 

A Saturday night purification serves two purposes- one is to cleanse the home of the past week's accumulation of (potentially negative) energy, and the second is prepare the home to experience the power of the Mass. 

A third purpose might be to open up the home to be consecrated and dedicated- in my case, I dedicate my home to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

There are multiple ways in which the purification of one's home can be accomplished; through prayer, through a small ritual, through the use of Holy Water or incense (or both!), and so on. 

Personally, I purify my home by summoning the Four Classical Elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, and I add to this Spirit. I make the Sign of the Cross while speaking aloud word to banish negative energy and negative entities. Then I repeat the process with a blessing of the home and those virtues and such that I want in my home. 

Other people may choose to simply recite the Our Father or the Hail Mary or some other set of prayers; perhaps someone lights a candle and recites the Holy Rosary. 

Others may simply have so much spiritual energy in their home that they would find a Weekly Blessing to be redundant; that's valid, too. 

Either way, a Weekly Purification is another way for us to live out our spiritual path. 

In Christ, 

​Steve

Good morning, everyone!
As you can see, the website's having a bit of an update. 
We're trying to modernize things a bit in every aspect of the word. 
Unfortunately, we missed the post for yesterday's Daily Devotional, but a storm brewed up near me, and there are also several different buttons that have to be clicked for the posts to appear on the blog. 

Future blog-posters on here, beware of this. 

That being said, small mistakes like this are bound to happen, and missing a day of something, having a little "hiccup" is an idea that can translate to our spiritual life as well. 

Most of us don't have the luxury of escaping the hustle-and-bustle of modern life, and I'm not sure many of us would want to leave behind our modern conveniences for the sake of a monastic life, even if the opportunity presented itself. 

Certainly, the life of a householder is much easier in this modern era that it was in times past, and so what once may have served as an escape from the struggle and responsibilities of life in becoming a monk seems like a choice to embrace austerity! 

How times have changed. 

In living out our lives in the world, we're "bringing God to the marketplace." True, we have our sacred ceremonies and sacred spaces, but those certainly affect us, and finding the Divine in the moment (or perhaps, turning our awareness to the Divine in the moment) is equally sacred. 

And because we're doing so much all the time, we're bound to forget something. We'll never get it correct 100% of the time. 

That's how it should be. Go easy on yourself when you're a busy person that has hiccups in your spiritual life. 

In Christ,

​Steve

Sometimes, the most obvious things elude us. Those things which benefit us may seem too simple, too immediate, too easy to be of any real help.

This is a mistaken point of view. For most of us, our lives aren't going to get better because of a single massive shift. True, this sometimes happens- someone's deep misfortune turns around, and things are suddenly much better. That's not the norm, so we best prepare ourselves. 

So. Breathe. Just take a deep breath, hold it, then slowly breathe out. 

Now repeat. 

And repeat. 

And repeat. 

After enough deep, soothing breaths, you'll notice a few things- your body relaxes just a little. Everything seems to slow down, just a little. You gain a little more control of yourself and your situation. It's not a huge amount of control- but it's more than you had when you started breathing slowly. 

Life is like this in the broader sense, as is the spiritual path for most of us. The breakthrough moments of someone attaining theosis or enlightenment usually are breakthroughs because the person was practicing so much before. What seems sudden and out of nowhere was really determined by numerous preparatory steps and practices over a long period of time. 

Breathing deeply and focusing on your breath won't solve all your problems, but it will allow you to calm down just a little. 

Your life won't miraculously be changed by breathing deeply for a few minutes- but you'll be happier and have less suffering, and that's the goal.

In Christ,

​Stephen 

Welcome to the Daily Devotional!
Here, we'll try to make your life a little bit better on the daily. 
You'll find posts on positive thinking, energy work, and mindfulness.
You'll also find quotes from Sacred Scriptures and reflections on the Mass.