Increase your capacity for holiness through a closer walk with Jesus. Lent is the perfect time to take this walk with easy, fun, holy ideas to live thoughtfully and deepen your faith. Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Fr. Donald Calloway, and Fr. John Riccardo shared their holy habits in Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith and Get to Heaven.
Fr. Donald Calloway, M.I.C., of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception, vocation direction and house superior of the Marian House of Studies in Steubenville, Ohio and author of many books including Consecration to St. Joseph—The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father
· * On all my Christmas cards I write: “Mary Christmas!”
· * I pray a Hail Mary for the souls in purgatory every time I pass a cemetery.
· * Whenever I pass a Catholic Church, I pray a Glory Be and bow my head.
· * Whenever I see a Masonic or LGBTQ+ sticker on a car, I pray a Memorare for the driver.
· * Whenever I see an ambulance on the street, I pray a Hail Mary for the situation.
· * I often give my upgrades on flights to complete strangers, especially the elderly and women.
· * I give away rosaries and books on the Rosary.
· * Whenever someone in public uses the name of Jesus in vain, I add to it, “ ___is Lord, or ___be praised.
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Go here for a listing of his many books.
Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., president and founder of Ignatius Productions and an EWTN radio and TV host contributed his ideas for walking with the Lord. He is fluent in thirteen languages and is bi-ritual, meaning he can celebrate liturgy in both the Roman and Maronite rites.
· * I use some hymns as my ringtone in my cell phone. I am using the hymn “Al Messiah Qama min bayn al-amwat” (Christ has risen from the dead; a Melkite Easter hymn), and during Lent I used “el Yom Ollika” (The day Christ hung), with Fairuz singing both. These are two of my favorite hymns, and they get me singing them after a phone call.
· * I downloaded the Bible in Hebrew and Greek into my phone, so I can always look up a passage when I need it.
· * In my computer I have a great Bible program—Bible Works, though I also have the Logos program, which helps me in my work here at EWTN as well as in my writing.
· * In confession, I frequently recommend that people addicted to pornography use an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a screen background or use a series of them for screensavers. Not many people want their Mother to catch them looking at porn on the Internet.
Fr. John Riccardo, a priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, author of Rescued: The Unexpected and Extraordinary News of the Gospel, and host of the Ave Maria radio show Christ Is the Answer, contributed his tips. It’s worth mentioning that he signs all his emails: “In His Love.”
· * I make sure I start my day by offering God the first fruits of my time. In other words, prayer needs to come first before anything else. This seems to have the effect of multiplying the time I have for people for the rest of the day, and it also enables me to enter into situations “armed,” if you will.
· * Take care of your body every day. In other words, find something you can do daily to work out. This eases stress and enables me to get back to other matters with more energy.
· * Ask the Lord daily to show you who is calling out for your time or attention . . . and then do something somehow.
· * Like many of you perhaps, I am continually trying to find ways to maintain a sense of interior calm in an overly connected world so that all I do, I do well. To that end, please note that I do not look at email on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) or Mondays.
To order a copy of Holy Hacks, go here.
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For more inspiration check out Patti’s latest book: Holy Hacks: Everyday Ways to Live Your Faith & Get to Heaven. Other books include: Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories from Everyday Families and the best-selling Amazing Grace Series.
