Wellness Check (12/04/2025)

We are midway through the final year of preparation for the confirmation candidates in our parish, so last evening, the students and I did a wellness check on their spirituality. We considered the challenges that have been put before them and the requirements they are asked to meet. We discussed whether they felt their spirituality and faith had grown or not. It was an interesting conversation that carried over to my nighttime conversation with the LORD on the porch before bedtime. How healthy is my spirituality?

We have wellness checks or physicals for our bodies annually. Our souls and our spiritual well-being deserve such a conscious and focused check at least that often. While me must take care of our bodies so they last for our lifetime on earth, shouldn’t we be as concerned for our soul and spiritual health which we need to carry us beyond this lifetime?

Advent is the perfect time to do a spiritual wellness check. It is the beginning of a new liturgical year. It is the time of preparation for the coming of our Savior and Lord. It brings us up to the New Year when we make “resolutions.” It’s perfectly natural to take time to see if we are moving in the right direction, moving toward our LORD or away, growing in our awareness of “Him in whom we live and move and have our being.”

It's the perfect time for our family to join together to make extra efforts to stay focused on what really matters, not the gifts with bows under the tree so much as unwrapping prayerfully and gratefully the gifts given to us by our LORD. It is a time to light the candles of the advent wreaths at our tables nightly and remember that this world can be a dark place, but we are called to bring the Light of Christ into every day and to be the Light of Christ every day. It’s a time for hope, for peace, for joy and for love. No spiritual life can survive without those elements. What are our levels of hope, peace, joy and love? What are we doing to grow them?

As I sat last evening and began my own spiritual wellness check, I recognized several areas that could definitely use some improvement. That was the first step. Now, I need to prayerfully discern how to best grow my faith, increase my hope, and deepen my love. It’s not enough to realize I need to turn to the LORD more wholly, I must carry through on that. But I know that I can get distracted, I can make excuses, I can get sloppy and even lazy. Put another way, I know I need the LORD’s help to stay the course. And so, I prayed to the Holy Spirit for help, for grace and guidance.

As we near the end of our first week of Advent, let us all take time to take stock, to check the wellness of our spirituality, the strength of our reliance upon the LORD, and the depth of our love for Him without whom we would not be nor could thrive.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.