Deacon Ben Eichten shares his vocation story and provides Catholic families and individuals with some practical ways to support, encourage and discern vocations.

Serious Knowledge of the Faith

To understand the faith we must develop a habit of study, for God wills that we labor to
remedy the ignorance that results from original sin: “By the sweat of your brow you shall eat
bread” (Gen 3:19, NABRE). Those who have been away from formal schooling for some time
have no reason to be intimidated. Within the busyness of daily life, the Lord has opened up for
modern man a rich variety of channels to arriving at knowledge of Him. A plethora of digital and
audio books, recorded talks, and videos of spiritual conferences can easily be at hand, aside
from those opportunities we have to engage in spiritual conversation or even more formal
learning with those possessing sound spiritual and theological formation.

Annual Retreat

The key word for any retreat is conversion. Without despairing or becoming discouraged over
our weakness and inconstancy, we must realize that we are always in need of returning to God,
from whom we fall away by failing to respond to His love. Thankfully, God’s mercy is infinite,
and He is always inviting us to begin again, to be made new creatures in His grace and love.

When we speak of a spirit of vigilance (or watchfulness), we mean a habit of attentiveness to our spiritual wellbeing. Mindful of the words of the Apostle, “Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8), and of our own weakness, guard our soul like a prudent householder guards his possessions, or a stock trader monitors his positions.

Talk by Dr. Peter Distelzweig on The Spiritual Depth of Almsgiving including how it expresses the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. The most significant obstacles in advancing in the mature practice of almsgiving are also explored.

Each member of the Catholic Advance ought to strive to appreciate the personal and ardent love that the Virgin Mary has for him or her and to trust in both her motherly concern in their regard and in the great power she has before the throne of her Son to obtain all the graces needed to acquire holiness and make our path to holiness both easy and sweet.

It should come as no surprise that the most essential of the Seven Basic Points is to love Jesus Christ. For “he is the image of the invisible God,” (Col 1:15) and in loving Him we fulfill the first of all commandments to love God with our whole being. When we are in Heaven, we shall love Him there, “face to face.” While we are yet on earth, we must love Him as He is present to us, within our hearts and hidden under the veil of the Eucharist.

On Jan 21, 2025

“If any man wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). Whether it is to avoid sin, to better serve our neighbor, or simply to be more united with Christ crucified, we as Christians must be well-trained in the art of “saying no” to our irrational passions and inclinations, and governing the rational.

Readings here

It should be of no surprise that prayer has preeminent importance for our spiritual lives. Yet hopefully now we are able to see why that is so. It is through prayer that our relationship with God plays out from day to day, and through it that our knowledge and love of Him grows and matures. As we saw above, prayer is essentially a humble attentiveness to God, seeking both from Him all that we need to do for Him all that He desires. In the end, both to receive from God or to give back to Him are two movements of the same act: to love.