Spiritual health is essential for our lives as Christians. Without God, nothing else matters. Fittingly, it also turns out that resilience and spiritual health are linked. This article will discuss the relationship between spiritual health and resilience and ideas for improving your spiritual health.
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Research on Spiritual Health and Resilience
Researchers have found a strong relationship between religion, spirituality, prayer, and resilience (1, 2).
One interesting study of women coping with domestic violence found that spirituality, a personal relationship with God, reading the Bible, and prayer were essential for their resilience following the trauma they experienced (3).
Why does this relationship between resilience and spiritual health exist?
Researchers believe that when people care for their spiritual health, they can find more meaning, hope, and relationships with fellow believers, all of which help them to cope with trauma and daily struggles and thrive (4, 1).
Spiritual Health
Spiritual health involves regular prayer routines that help us grow closer to God and receive His grace. Each person’s approach to this will be unique because we are all uniquely created. So, we will connect with God in unique ways.
In 13 Powerful Ways to Pray, Fr. Eamon Tobin describes this reality with an analogy to shoes.
We all have different foot sizes and shapes, so we will need different kinds of shoes. We also have our own preferences and styles. We also have other shoes for various occasions, such as gym shoes for walking and fancier ones for parties.
Similarly, different types of prayer may meet our unique needs and desires in our relationship with God. We also have our preferences for how to pray, which may cause different schools of prayer to work for us. Additionally, as we go through life, various styles of prayer may be better as we face different circumstances.
Overall, Fr. Tobin says that when we pray effectively, we should grow in holiness and become more open to God’s work in our lives.
Below, I’ll discuss more types of prayer to consider when figuring out your unique prayer routine, but I highly recommend talking with a spiritual director for additional, personal guidance.
Types of Prayer
There is tons of advice out there about how to pray, but I have personally found Fr. Tobin’s explanation helpful when considering my prayer life.
In 13 Powerful Ways to Pray, Fr. Tobin talks about two types of prayer:
- Occupational prayer, or prayer throughout our daily lives
- Spousal prayer, or prayer that involves resting from activity to be with our Lord.
Both of these types of prayer feed off of each other. If we only talk to God at scheduled times, is He really the Lord of the entirety of our lives? Additionally, if we don’t make intentional time for God, it is also difficult to say He’s the Lord of our lives because if we can’t set aside 15 minutes for Him, we cannot say He’s our priority.
Additionally, both scripted and unscripted forms of prayer can be helpful. Scripted prayers can give us words to say when we struggle to pray and can guide our minds to focus on the Lord and avoid distractions. Additionally, unscripted prayer helps us to talk to God in our unique ways.
With those two things to keep in mind, here are four types of prayer I try to integrate into my life:
- Scripted occupational prayer: Scripted prayer throughout the day, such as the Jesus prayer, the Angelus, and prayer before meals.
- Unscripted occupational prayer: Chatting with the Lord throughout the day, such as by asking for help, talking about things I’m facing, and thanking Him.
- Scripted spousal prayer: Time set aside for scripted prayer, such as the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and Liturgy of the Hours
- Unscripted spousal prayer: Time for personal prayer, such as the Prayer Process, ARRR method, or just praying from the heart during a set-aside time.
The Importance of the Sacraments
A personal life of prayer is necessary for our relationship with God to flourish, but we also need to receive the sacraments regularly, especially the Eucharist and Confession, to receive the Lord’s grace.
At a bare minimum, the Church requires the following:
- Attendance at Sunday Mass and receiving the Eucharist once a year during the Easter season
- Going to Confession once a year
The Church encourages us to do more, and it is important to find a rhythm that works best for you in your season of life.
I try to go to Mass as often as possible, and this has changed throughout my life. Right now, I can attend on Sundays and then at work on Wednesdays, but other times don’t work with my work schedule. At different times when I had a more flexible schedule, I made it to Mass every day. Figure out what works best for your season of life, but for sure, make it to Mass on Sundays.
Many people suggest going to Confession at least once a month, but once again, this can vary depending on the season of life. If you’re fighting a serious habitual sin, more might be necessary and fruitful.
One helpful way to think about the regularity of Confession is an analogy put forward by Matthew Kelly in Rediscover Catholicism.
When we wash our cars, we tend to be sensitive for a while to avoid getting them dirty. We’re careful about trash, mud, and all sorts of things. But slowly, we lose our sensitivity. The first time we hit some mud or don’t have time to throw away trash, we slowly stop being as careful, and soon, our cars are as dirty as they were before we got them washed!
The same is true for our souls. After we go to Confession, we tend to be more careful with what we do or say. After all, we don’t want to dirty up our souls again. But, like with the car, we can lose our sensitivity over time. Matthew Kelly suggests figuring out your sensitivity, and developing your Confession rhythm around that.
Conclusion
There’s a lot we can do to improve our spiritual health, and it can be tempting to try to figure it all out all at once. I challenge you to take stock of these different areas of prayer. Odds are, you’re probably good in at least one or a couple, and maybe there are some other areas that you struggle in.
Identify those struggling areas and pick one to work on for the next month, identifying a habit to add in to improve. See what works for you and helps you grow closer to God uniquely, and stick with it!