If you feel like your spiritual growth has come to a standstill, it may be time to set a new spiritual goal.
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No one enjoys being lukewarm in their faith. We all desire that “fire in our hearts” feeling, like the apostles felt on the Road to Emmaus (Lk 24:32), but seasoned Christians will tell you that flame perpetually wanes and gains. It’s natural to go through highs, lows, and even standstills on our journey of following Jesus.
Setting a spiritual goal for yourself can help you through periods of feeling stagnant in your faith.
What is a Spiritual Goal?
A spiritual goal is an objective you set for yourself to help you grow in holiness and to become closer to Jesus.
To be successful in your spiritual goal setting, you must recognize that growth does not come from our own actions, but from God alone.
Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
1 COR 3: 7-9
When you set a spiritual goal and work towards it, you are watering the seeds already planted in you by the Holy Spirit. “You are God’s field” (1 COR 3:9), and should anything spring forth from you—count it as the work of God.
How Do I Know What My Spiritual Goals Should Be?
Choosing a spiritual goal isn’t something you do by yourself. You do it hand-in-hand with Jesus and his Spirit. When determining what your goal should be, the best thing to do is to converse with Jesus in prayer. Ask him to reveal to you where you need to grow spiritually.
Examining our internal, spiritual life can reveal to us areas where we can set goals for growth.
Ask yourself, “where can I grow in holiness…
…in my relationship with God?”
…in my relationship with others?”
…in how I treat myself?”
Remember that a spiritual goal is not set with a focus on human achievement. Through Jesus’ teaching, we are taught “that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement—however beneficial it may be—such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love…” (CCC 1723).
23 Examples of Spiritual Goals
The path to the Kingdom of Heaven is tread slowly, “step by step, by everyday acts” (CCC 1724). With this in mind, here are 23 examples of spiritual goals for Catholics.
- Set aside a daily/weekly holy hour, half-hour, or fifteen to spend with the Lord
- Read one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) from start to finish
- Commit to starting every day with prayer
- Keep the Sabbath day holy by attending mass and setting aside time to rest every Sunday
- Talk about your faith with another person
- Volunteer with your parish or a community service organization
- Read a spiritual book
- Go to confession
- Learn about the history of the Rosary + pray the Rosary
- Learn about the history of the Divine Mercy Chaplet + Pray the Chaplet
- Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church
- Seek out faith-centered media to read, listen to, view or watch in place of your current media choices
- Break a sinful habit
- Begin a consecration to St. Mary or St. Joseph
- Apologize to someone you’ve hurt
- Forgive someone who has hurt you
- Pray for a family member who is struggling
- Pray for an increase in vocations to Holy Orders
- Make a donation to a food bank or clothing center
- Assess your tithing practices. Is there room to be more charitable? Consider donating to Catholic Charities or increasing your Sunday collection offering.
- Attend a Catholic Conference
- Join a virtual or in-person bible study
- Offer up a penance every Friday such as fasting or a charitable practice of your own choosing
Setting spiritual goals has helped my walk with the Lord so much! One of my big ones was my Marian Consecration, and I was so overjoyed when I completed it! I find that when I write down my spiritual goals in my prayer journal, I’m more likely to complete them, so I highly recommend that!