A Spiritual Tune-Up
Posted on: June 1, 2015
- In: Everyday Life | Faith | Prayer | Sacraments
- Comments Off on A Spiritual Tune-Up
Once a year, to keep up the warranty coverage, we need to have our upright piano tuned. And today was the day.
Our freshly tuned piano
Some people might find it annoying to hear the same notes being struck over and over as the tuner checks the piano, but it doesn’t bother me. I know it’s necessary to keep this beautiful instrument playing well—or at least as well as I can play it. And when the piano tuner is nearly finished, he plays a song to check one last time that everything is as it should be. I love hearing what the piano can sound like when played by someone skilled.
All this got me thinking about the importance of tune-ups and maintenance. Just as we have our piano tuned, a vehicle serviced, or even our teeth checked, shouldn’t a spiritual tune-up be high on our to-do list?
We might not realize we haven’t spent much time with God lately until the feeling hits us that we’re in a spiritual desert. We know it isn’t healthy to wait to drink water until we feel very thirsty; why should we wait until we experience a dry spell to think about our spiritual health?
We could take a few moments to ask ourselves when we last did the following:
- prayed other than during Mass or before a meal, such as a short prayer, the rosary, a chaplet or a novena
- focussed on the scripture readings at Mass
- listened to the homily and thought about how it applied to our lives
- marvelled at Jesus’ presence in the bread and wine at Communion
- received the sacrament of reconciliation
- read the Bible outside of Mass
- looked up something in the Catechism
- made time for spiritual reading (the biography or autobiography of a saint; a papal encyclical; books about the Mass, Eucharistic adoration, or prayer; and so on)
Whether we’re cradle Catholics, converts or RCIA candidates, our spiritual life shouldn’t become just a habit, something we do without thinking. We talk about becoming like Jesus, not being like Jesus, and so we need to be engaged and committed to growing in the faith rather than choose to be comfortable where we are and stand still.
I pray that we would take a little time to look at where we are in our faith walk and ask God to show us how to move forward.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want;
he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
~ Psalm 23:1-3*
(*Scripture quote taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.)
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 