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One Sunday our parish priest gave a beautiful sermon on the importance of lay people's spiritual lives.  He spoke about virtues - acquiring them and using them in daily life.  He mentioned kindness, brotherly love, and charity.

Being deeply interested in the spiritual life of the average Catholic lay person, I listened to every word.  After Mass, I saw the priest and I welcomed the opportunity to tell him that I thought his sermon was wonderful.  I congratulated Father and said: "The lay people need more sermons like that."

Father was not impressed with my congratulatory words nor with my zeal.  He did not even smile when he replied: "Thank you, but the sermon won't mean a thing to them.  They have already forgotten what I said. "Then with a deep sigh, he added, as he walked away: "That is the way things are.  People don't want to improve their spiritual lives."

The  average Catholic lay person is not interested in or else he does not know what it means to live a more active spiritual life.  He does not know what it means to climb the "ladder of perfection" towards closer union with God.  Furthermore, more and more Catholics are falling away from their religion.

In trying to help lay people live an active spiritual life, I have talked to and written to many fallen-away Catholics as well as to confused, bewildered Catholics who want to do more for God and their souls but who do not know how.  I have discovered that theology and the teachings of the Church have to be explained in a  simple way before the average lay person can apply any new religious knowledge to his or her spiritual life.  I have taken these basic problems and questions and answered them in the simplest, most understandable way possible.