EXPLORE · LIVING THE CATHOLIC FAITH
FREE SAMPLE · DAY 1 OF 364
Living the Catholic Faith
Day 1: The invitation comes first
1 · ARRIVE
Father, you have drawn near before I knew how to seek you. Help me receive this beginning as a gift. Quiet the fear that I must impress you, and give me an honest willingness to listen, learn, and answer your love with the freedom you have given me.
2 · ENCOUNTER
1 John 4:19 — “Let us therefore love God, because God first hath loved us.”
Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition. 1
3 · UNDERSTAND
An invitation tells us something about the person who sends it. Before we decide whether to accept, someone has already made room for us. That is a useful place to begin the Catholic faith. The Catechism opens with God's initiative: God freely creates human beings to share his blessed life and draws near to them (CCC 1). Our first task is not to make God interested in us.
Notice the order in today's Scripture. Human love answers a love already given. This does not make our response unimportant. It means the response has a source. Grace is God's free help enabling us to answer his invitation to become his children and share his life (CCC 1996). We do not earn the invitation by arriving with impressive religious knowledge or an untroubled past.
The desire for God belongs to the human heart because we are made by God and for God (CCC 27). Yet that desire may be difficult to recognize. It can appear as a question about meaning, a longing for lasting goodness, or a dissatisfaction with living only for the next reward. These experiences are invitations to inquiry; they are not, by themselves, proofs that every feeling comes directly from God.
Faith begins to take shape when we listen and respond to the God who reveals himself. The Church describes this response as entrusting ourselves to him and assenting to what he reveals (CCC 142). Trust and understanding belong together. We can ask questions while learning to pray. We can admit uncertainty while taking the evidence and the invitation seriously.
For this journey, let the first step be small and truthful. You need not manufacture a dramatic spiritual experience. Pay attention to the possibility that your life is already addressed by love. Then consider what a response could look like today: a moment of listening, a question honestly pursued, or a prayer offered without polished words. The beginning is God's gift; your answer can be genuinely your own.
Sources:
Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1. 1
Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 27. 2
Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 142. 3
Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1996. 4
Scripture: 1 John 4:19, Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition. 5
4 · MEDITATE
Where do I most need to hear that God takes the initiative?
What honest first response can I offer today?
5 · RESPOND
God of generous love, I bring the questions I actually have and the life I am actually living. Help me begin without pretending to know more than I do. Thank you for inviting me before my efforts could earn anything. Give me courage to offer a truthful answer today.
Write one sentence beginning, “God, the question I bring to you today is…” and pray it slowly.
6 · REMEMBER
God invites us first, and grace helps us respond freely to his love.
Continue with Day 2
The rest of this journey is free with an account. Your account saves your progress, and you can open any day at your own pace.