Plan of Life

Thank you Fr. Roger Landry for this wonderful self-help guidebook on how to achieve an improved spiritual life! The author offers two levels of actions for forming a relationship with God: basic fundamentals for growth in the spiritual life, and second, additional habits that might help the reader to grow even more once the "basics" are satisfactorily accomplished.More specifically, in the first part of the book, the author offers 12 "basic" ways to better interact with God, starting with consideration of the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He places the Holy Spirit at the center of our actions, encouraging "docility" in accepting the many influences of the Holy Spirit on the various paths that life takes us or that we choose to go. In addition, the benefits of traditional Catholic practices such as daily prayer, personal examination, scripture reading, acts of charity, confession, Eucharistic adoration, mass attendance on Sundays, Holy Week and Easter attentiveness, and devotion to the Blessed Mother through the Rosary are discussed in such a way as to make them easy to do on a regular basis. Often these same acts of thoughtfulness, attendance, kindness or devotion are framed as "obligations" to the Church rather than as means to personal spiritual growth. Fr. Landry disabuses the reader of this notion, emphasizing that a personal relationship with God is not merely something that we have to do to be a good Christian, but rather that these practices will lead to an inner purpose and joyfulness through the reciprocal love we can find with God.The second part of the book describes acts that require more time and thought than the basic measures of faithful practice. These include going to daily (and not just Sunday) mass; making increased Marian devotions; increasing penitential practices; undertaking a daily exam to eliminate bad habits and creating new habits in conformity with Christ's teaching; using our daily work/employment to serve and love God; making spiritual retreats and reading religious writings in addition to Scripture; and purifying our "thoughts of the heart" and acting accordingly, becoming more like Christ. This beautifully written book artfully explains these and many other helpful suggestions to improve our spiritual life, and the possibilities for personal enrichment are profound.I will just mention two special thoughts that were enlightening to me: first, make every Sunday count and "live Sunday well". I do go to mass but I'm not sure that I focus on the true meaning of the Sabbath, as a day of renewal - how do I "keep holy the Lord's day" and keep it from being just another day that I don't have to go to work? Second, I appreciated the suggestion that living our faith and growing closer to God has an intellectual component, an "intellectual renaissance" as Blessed Fulton Sheen urged, replete with reading and studying as well as acts. Fr. Landry reminds us of the words in Matthew's gospel to love the Lord our God "with all our mind."There are so many self-help books relating to other personal aspects of life including weight, employment and relationships, but few books on how to improve our relationship with God. As the author notes, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and the Jesuits as well as the plan of St Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, set a gold standard for spiritual life plans; however, Fr. Landry simplifies the necessary habits in such a way as to make these plans accessible to all, providing an excellent "Plan of Life" to grow closer to God! This book is a treasure!

I loved the book. I saw the author discussing the book on several Women of Grace programs and I also follow his columns in the National Catholic Review. The book revealed many things I was not aware of or knew the origin of in practicing my faith since a cradle Catholic. It would also make a great gift for adults entering the faith, for grown children who may have fallen away from practicing their faith.

Like turning on the GPS when you do not quite know the way – or even when you know the way but don't want to risk getting lost or delayed – Landry's Plan of Life offers concise synopses of the traditional Catholic norms of piety that make up a Catholic's plan of life. Not wanting to overburden the souls he is caring for, Landry's book serves as a guide for making each of these a habit.More than a dry manual of directives, Plan of Life reads likes a perfect combination of collected correspondence from a dear friend sharing his own personal encounter with God, a TED talk on the fundamental elements of faith and Catholic tradition, and the unequivocal encouragement of a "personal trainer" for how to better treat Our Lord with all of our heart, soul and mind. As Landry so concisely explains, "a Plan of Life is much more than discrete prayers and practices: it's a cohesive whole that forms us to live consciously and continuously in God's presence."Plan of Life, much like coming in contact with the book's well-formed and attentive author, is a wonderfully fresh resource for any person seeking to grow in the interior life.

I was blessed to have Fr Landry as a retreat master in 2002 fairly early in his life as a priest. I was taken by his humility and over the past 20 years he had been generous with spiritual direction when I’ve asked.My personality is that of one who plans everything and creates check lists except when it came to spiritual matters (the most important plan of all). His book was a wake up call and the Saint JoseMaria app he recommended provided a framework to implement Fr Landry’s format (I created my plan in Acts of Piety portion of the app). The spiritual fruits resulting from the treasure Fr Landry gave to us are abundant.

I just finished the book and have to say it is one of the most practical yet in depth books I have EVER read, especially for my faith. It's also easy to read and very understandable. Truly inspirational and I know it's going to be a book I keep returning to as a reference resource on my faith and life journey.

helpful

This book is excellent. It gives practical steps in order to have a meaningful life with a divine purpose. It provides strategies to find God in daily life. I have been recommending it to many other as it can be life transforming.

I liked the way the book made use of analogies e.g. "be concerned with your daily accounting of actions and your moral bottom line like an accountant audits daily receipts and expenses." Tying the Morning Offering in with the evening General Exam was a great suggestion i.e. offering works, joys and sufferings to the Lord in the morning and then reflecting on these at the end of the day. I will now say the Morning Offering as I make my bed and at the end of the day ask myself if I suffered today, how did I handle it etc. The chapter on Confession motivated me to set aside the First Saturday of the month for Mass and confession ~ not an easy thing for me to do, but that's how powerful this book is.

In an otherwise great book, the one glaring omission was any reference to devotion to Divine Mercy, God's incredible gift to the Church in the 21st century. Millions of Catholics say the Divine Mercy chaplet and the Three O 'Clock prayer every day, practise the Sunday of Divine Mercy devotion and have an image of the Divine Mercy in their homes. However this is a great book to help Catholics to get back into a prayer groove, whether they be practising Catholics who want to do better, formerly lapsed Catholics who have returned to the practice of the Faith or converts to the Faith.

Will buy again!

Great read.