Anchor Yourself in Heaven

From a great homily on Four Pillars that anchor a good spiritual life:

1st Pillar: PRAYER. Prayer is 10% talking and 90% listening. Prayer can be a simple as thanking God first thing in the morning, asking Him to guide and counsel you through the day, talking to Him and your guardian angel throughout the day, your simple words and thoughts. Without the daily presence of prayer, the devil is right there to suggest and guide.

2nd Pillar: SACRAMENTS. The Supernatural Grace that comes from the Sacraments of Confession and Communion are on the same level of importance as eating and sleeping.

3rd Pillar: EFFORT: Constant efforts in our words and actions in relationships and encounters throughout the day - every day, trying to be more aware of serving others in Christ than the day before.

4th Pillar: CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: Surround yourself with people whose spiritual life is healthy. Join prayer groups, have people who post solid, sound and prayerful things on your social media, read books written by saints, turn on EWTN, listen to Christian worship music and Catholic radio. Your mind is a blank chalkboard--weed out people and things whose influences take you away from God.

Without the constant practice of these four pillars, it won't be long before the devil strikes you out of the game. The devil is constantly pitching you the ball. Be on the lookout for him, through your day, using even good friends, unwittingly, or in things you read and watch. Remember that the devil even used Peter, whom Christ later chose as Pope to dissuade him from doing God's will in his life. People who love us are often not impartial. They say and support things, or want things for you they think will bring you happiness or make life less burdensome.

Listen carefully to your conscience. It knows and will speak the truth.