5 tips to develop a deeper spiritual life

Hello everyone! 

Sorry about the lack of posts. I've been stuck on a post that's taking me ages to write, so I'm taking a break from it and writing other stuff. 

Now, to give you some background before the tips, a few years ago I started developing a deeper spiritual life due to just one talk I heard when I was eleven or so. It was a talk by a priest about the Eucharist. Now, he talked about the parallels the Eucharist has in the Old Testament and Jewish Law but that part didn't really effect me. At the end he asked us (I was with a group of girls) how we prepared for Holy Communion and thanked our Lord after. I usually said a couple prayers after that were in my missal, but I didn't prepare, and left as soon as Mass was over with my family. He told us about the amount of preparation and thanksgiving we should do, and said they were equally important. He said that we should stay in church 15-20 minutes if we could after receiving Jesus, because it is only after that time that His Presence leaves the host. 

So, I started preparing Moreno carefully for Communion and communing with our Lord better after from that time. But I was -and am- by no means perfect. I got distracted, I stayed longer after Mass because my friends did, and was too preoccupied with other people. But it doesn't matter. I grew by trying. And this brings me to my first tip: 

#1 Receive the Eucharist frequently and well.

Try to receive our Lord every Sunday - or oftener if you can - and prepare for Him well, particularly from the start of the canon. (I'm thinking of writing a post on recieving Communion well, would you all like that?)

Thank Him after receiving Him, and ask Him for everything you need. "Ask and ye shall receive." There is no better time to ask our Lord for favours, to tell Him you love Him, and to get to know Him, as when He is literally present within you. 

 “I urge you with all the strength of my soul to approach the Eucharist Table as often as possible. Feed on this Bread of the Angels from which you will draw the strength to fight inner struggles.” ~Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati.

After going on some time with certainly improvements and deepening of spiritual life, but nothing very profound or changing, I happened to start doing a lot of spiritual reading. But the particular thing that helped me was a YouTube channel called Sensus Fidelium.  They are a channel that posts priests' homilies, several every day, and some of them are amazing. They changed me and helped me grow and deepen spiritual life so much. I like cross stitching and knitting, so I would listen to hours of them while doing those, and they changed my life. With that said: 

#2 Read spiritual books

I cannot stress to you enough how important this is. It doesn't matter if it is a lives of the saints book, a Catholic podcast, spiritual guides like the Imitation of Christ, as long as it encourages you to grow as a Catholic and you try to do a little every day. 

"Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." ~St. Alphonsus Liguori

Reading and listening to Catholic material encouraged me to apply my faith more into my daily life, in this way:

#3 Build good habits

And stick to them! These can be things like getting up early, doing school without procrastination, saying the rosary every day, they make a huge difference in building stability and discipline in the spiritual life. And whatever happens, stick to them. (I guarantee, through personal experience, if your good habits crack, so will your spiritual life.)

"You aspire to great things? Begin with little ones." ~St Augustine. 

#4 Start a devotion and friendship with a particular saint. 

Sometimes, trying to grow closer to God can be lonely. It's not something that's easy to talk to someone with. We fear they won't understand, or think we're aiming to high, or wasting our time. We're afraid of ridicule, or just outright confusion on the part of others, and that's okay, as long as we don't hesitate to proclaim our faith when necessary. But, you can talk to saint without any of those fears. They understand, they went through it themselves. You may not get a direct or immediate answer, but you will get one. Pick a saint who strikes you. Learn as much about them as you can, and then just talk. The saints are eager and willing to help us if we let them. (And yes, you guessed it, this saint for me is Bl Pier Giorgio Frassati XD. If you want to hear more about my story with him, read this post here.)

"Follow the saints, because those who follow them will become them." ~Pope St Clement I. 

Finally as St Thomas Aquinas said:

#5 "Will it!"

These are what have personally helped me grow spiritually in the past and I hope they can help you too! 

Let me know in the comments what spiritual habits have helped you!