No matter how difficult your day-to-day life might be, these simple steps will transform how you live your life and bear amazing fruits of Christian joy. When we take time to cultivate a deeper prayer life, serve others and live out the Gospel message we will discover true happiness is right around the corner. The truth is in giving we receive and when we live a life of serving and helping others we discover the joy of the Gospel.

1. Don’t Hide Your Light!

We read in Matthew 5: 15-16

 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

Don’t be afraid to share the good news of Christ with others. Speak of Christ’s love and let others know you not only care for them, but you are entrusting them to the Lord through your prayers. We can SHOW others we love them by the good deeds we do to glorify the heavenly Father.  Consider embracing your daily tasks with joy and practice the Works of Mercy. Here is a link to the free Check List of the Works of Mercy for Busy Moms based on my book, Divine Mercy for Moms. You don’t want to miss these amazing opportunities to show others that you care for them!

2. Faith is passed to others and must be caught!

“In Pope Francis’ first Encyclical, Lumen Fidei, we read, Faith is passed on, we might say, by contact, from one person to another, just as one candle is lighted from another. Christians, in their poverty, plant a seed so rich that it becomes a great tree, capable of filling the world with its fruit.  By our Holy Witness. of virtuous living, we are able to plant seeds of faith and deliver a message of hope to others. 

The real question is do live a life that is integrated and authentic? Do we seek to be loving, kind, and virtuous to our family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers? What would our close friends say about us? Now is the perfect time to start to work on your legacy of faith and seek to spread seeds of faith through your holy witness and how you treat others.

3. “Saints Beget Saints”

Develop Holy Friendships and be inspired by the Saints and those who love Christ!

The question is what music or books are you listening to?  What type of books do you read? What kind of shows do you watch? Who do you surround yourself with? Do you have holy friends?  Do you have people who inspire you to greatness? I once heard in a homily that “Saints Beget Saints”.

 Oftentimes we can read over and over again how a Saint was inspired to become a saint based on the faith of someone else- a parent like St. Zelie and Louis Martin had a massive impact on St. Therese and the other martin girls. Or friendship like St. Francis and St. Clare or St or St. Hildegard of Bingen and Blessed Jutta or St. John Paul II and St. Teresa of Calcutta. Lastly, Siblings can inspire each other to be saints like St. Benedict or Scholastica or St. Therese of Lisieux and Servant of God Leonie Martin. 

In the Friendship Project, Michele Faehnle and I wrote an entire book on the importance of Spiritual Friendship!

4. Faith is Experienced: Go on a Pilgrimage

Be inspired, be transformed, and renewed by a holy pilgrimage. It might be just traveling to a nearby town and exploring and seeing the faith lived out by others. It can be like my son, who is studying abroad for the semester through the Franciscan University of Steubenville as they are in the midst of a 10 day trip to Italy including Rome and Assisi. He is texting me how much this trip has meant to him and deepened his faith. I had the same experience when I went there first as an 8th grader and later as a college student.

My life was greatly impacted when my parents took me and all my siblings on pilgrimage when I was in Middle School. We traveled to a Marian Shrine and Rome. I can still recall seeing the sights of Rome as a young child and knowing that my faith was bigger than my local church and CCD class. I can recall having a life-impacting faith experience that has changed the way I view the world.

5. Cultivate a Heart after the Heart of Jesus! 

Experience the love of Christ and share that with others. Allow selfishness, sin, and vice to be burned off by the burning love of Jesus. We read in scripture Ezekiel 36: 36: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. “  We need to allow Christ to touch our heart and thus we can respond to his invitation to follow him.

Our greatest witness is how we live ordinary moments each and every day! Offer your kindness, prayers, and good works to others!