Strength training, especially of the upper body, has a place in every well-rounded fitness routine. Not only does it help you achieve a desired physique but it also enhances so much of your everyday movement.

Think about how many tasks you perform in a day that rely on your upper body strength––lifting groceries, carrying a baby, reaching for an item in your kitchen cabinets or closet.
Your ability to execute these, and other necessary and life-giving activities depends on you taking the time to workout this area of your body.

Upper body strength training exercises, both with or without weights, target five major parts of the upper body: chest, shoulders, upper arm, lower arm, and the back, enhancing the following muscle groups:

• Deltoids
• Pectoralis Major
• Pectoralis Minor
• the Rotator Cuff
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Latissium Dorsi

These muscles are responsible for everyday movements like pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, bending.

Weakness in these areas can negatively affect your ability to perform these movements but can also impact the efficiency of your workouts and your bodily health as a whole.

Benefits of Upper Body Workouts

Working the upper body not only tones the arms and helps you perform basic tasks, but it also offers other amazing benefits1:

• Improves your posture
• Increased strength of bones, muscles and connective tissues
• Boost metabolic rate
• Improves your flexibility, mobility and range of motion.
• Improves overall health
• Reduces your risk of injury
• Helps prevent and relieve upper back, neck and shoulder pain.
• Furthers your fitness goals.

Walking is a low-impact form of exercise that is often overlooked yet offers many health benefits to people of all ages and fitness levels.

It’s easy to fit into your day; and even just walking 30 minutes a day can greatly improve the overall health and wellbeing of your body.

1. Improves Circulation

Get moving and get the blood pumping! Walking at any pace causes the muscles in your legs to contract and relax, a movement that squeezes around large veins encouraging healthy circulation especially in areas of the body where flow may be more stagnant.

2. Support your Joints

Because walking is a low-impact form of exercise, less stress is placed on your weight-bearing joints, especially in your knees and hips. Not only that, but walking can actively help protect the joints by strengthening muscles and by helping the cartilage that cushions joints to stay healthy.

3. Lower Blood Sugar

Over time, high blood sugar (glucose) levels can permanently wear away at your pancreas’s ability to make insulin and can damage blood vessels in your body which can cause long-term, serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney problems.

Walking, especially after meals, can help your muscles use more of your body’s glucose therefore lowering your blood sugar levels.

4. Burn Calories

Even adding 30 minutes of brisk walking to your day can help you burn about 150 more calories a day. And the longer (and faster) you walk, the more you can burn.

5. Reduce Risk of Chronic Illness

Walking is an easy way to prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and even some cancers.1 It can also help you manage symptoms if you already suffer from illness.

6. Improve Your Energy

When you’re tired, going for a walk may be more effective in improving your energy than grabbing a cup of coffee. Walking helps you feel more awake by increasing oxygen flow and hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine that elevate energy levels.2

7. Improve Mental Health

Walking also releases endorphins, a chemical in our brain that can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression and improve your overall mood. Even in the colder months, walking, especially outside, can help you fight off seasonal affective disorder.

8. Improve Sleep

Catch some more ZZZs with the help of a daily walk. A good night’s sleep is vital for your body to function well but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one-third of American adults do not get the recommended amount of sleep every night.

Researchers have found that people who walked regularly fell asleep more quickly, slept longer, and had better quality sleep than those who did more vigorous exercise.3

9. Improve Creativity

Nothing can get you out of a creative rut like a nice walk. Just ask powerhouses like Nikola Tesla, Ernest Hemingway, and Steve Jobs who all believed the act of walking to help with the flow of ideas.<sup41

According to researchers, going for a walk can boost creativity by giving your mind a chance to wander. In a 2014 study, creative-thinking tests were administered to subjects both while sitting and while walking and found that the walkers thought more creatively than the sitters.5

10. Live a longer life

Because of all the amazing benefits associated with walking making it a part of your daily routine can help you live a longer, healthier life. Research has shown that brisk walking can even increase your life expectancy by 15 to 20 years on average. It’s amazing that a seemingly small and easy change to your day can positively impact your life in such a significant way!

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Lent is the forty-day penitential season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. Beginning Ash Wednesday, this new liturgical season offers the faithful a chance to more intentionally enter into the Paschal Mystery so we may more joyfully celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

Still not sure what to do over these next forty days to make them as fruitful as possible? Here are 12 ideas for Lent that will fill your body, mind, and soul and help ready you for encountering the Resurrected Christ.

Body

Fasting

The Church observes the discipline of fasting, particularly during Lent, as a way for the faithful to atone for their sins. Fasting fosters self-control by bringing your body’s appetite under your volition.

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the faithful (with some exceptions for age or health issues) are asked to eat only one large meal and two smaller meals.

You may also choose to fast from something else throughout the whole season. Is there a part of your diet you’ve been wanting to improve? Giving up something like sugar, alcohol, or processed foods for Lent can actually benefit your bodily health.

Abstinence

Catholics are called to practice abstinence by not eating meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent. But the benefits of a few meatless days goes beyond spiritual health. Eating plant-based meals, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, legumes, and nuts, also offers many health benefits.1

Daily workout

Commit to glorifying God with your body during these next forty days through daily exercise. Similar to fasting, exercising can help order your bodily passions and develop discipline, which will help with your pursuit of virtue. Pietra Fitness even offers a Lenten-specific workout series to accompany you during this season.

Mind

Read a spiritual book

The Catholic Church has a vast treasury of wisdom and reflection from the writings of great philosophers, theologians, and saints. Reading these books will help you intellectually know God in a deeper way, strengthening your faith.

Pick a book on an aspect of the spiritual life that the Holy Spirit has put on your heart, or pick a book about this particular liturgical season like Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth or The Fourth Cup by Dr. Scott Hahn to accompany you during these forty days.

Meditation

The act of Daily Meditation offers many benefits. For Catholics, meditation isn’t about finding escape from the stresses of the world, but finding meaning and purpose in our sufferings and our joy in Christ alone.

Spend some time meditating on the mysteries and love of God. You can use an app like Hallow to guide you in this form of prayer or you can say meditative prayers like the Rosary on your own or with a friend and Holy Family School of Faith.

Give up technology

Lent is a time to delve deeper into prayer, a task that is often made more difficult by the amount of content we consume and the constant noise in our lives. You can make room for more silence and contemplation by putting down your phone, logging off your social media, or giving up your favorite shows for forty days.

Listen to good music

What we listen to when we are cleaning the house or driving in the car may seem like an inconsequential decision; however, what we listen to can deeply affect us. Plato even said that music “is an art imbued with the power to penetrate into the very depths of the soul.”

For the next forty days, try to be intentional with the content coming from your speakers. Listen only to music that raises your mind to God. This doesn’t mean you can only listen to Praise and Worship (though there are many seasonally-appropriate hymns that would work) but choose music that emphasizes the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.

Don’t complain

With all the difficulties in the world today, it’s easy to fall into the consuming trap of negativity. This mindset can be difficult to overcome, especially if we regularly find ourselves complaining.

Break the cycle by giving up complaining this Lent. Or even better, take some time everyday to cultivate gratitude.

Spirit

Mass

The Mass is the memorial of the Paschal Mystery. It helps us call to mind the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and helps reorient our hearts toward God. Consider adding another mass each week (maybe even daily) to help open yourself up to receive God’s love and mercy during this upcoming Easter Season.

Confession

Ash Wednesday, with its focus on turning away from our sins and preparing ourselves for heaven, reminds us of the necessity to frequent the sacrament of Confession. If you haven’t been to confession in a while (or even if you have), check your parish’s schedule and make time to ask God for forgiveness.

Pray the Surrender Novena

In the days leading up to His Passion, Jesus showed us what true surrender looks like. In the same way we remember His forty days in the desert, let us also remember and follow His example of abandonment to the will of God with the Surrender Novena.

The Surrender Novena is a 9-day prayer that helps you let go of whatever you are holding on to and entrusting it to the Lord’s loving care. This easy-to-say novena will transform your spiritual life, especially during Lent. You can find the full prayer here.

You may want to pray the novena with us in the online studio using the Surrender Novena Series.

Stations of the Cross

The well-loved Lenten tradition of Stations of the Cross provides you with a meaningful way of meditating on the Passion of Christ. Praying in this way allows you to follow the footsteps of Christ and unite yourself to Him in his sufferings. The Stations of the Cross will help draw your soul closer to God and help you experience in a real way His immense love for you.

By combining Christian meditation and exercises proven to strengthen your body, Pietra Fitness’ classes help you nourish your Body, Mind, and Spirit during your Lenten journey and throughout the whole year.

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One of the tragic effects of original sin is that we tend to hide from God. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they felt both naked and ashamed. They covered themselves with fig leaves and hid behind the trees. The more I grow in my relationship with God, the more I have become aware of my own tendency to cover myself with figurative fig leaves and hide. And I venture to say that you, as a person living with the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin, may, with a bit of introspection, find that you have a similar tendency.

Our way of hiding is often much more subtle than putting on extra clothing and ducking behind a tree. We have become masters of it so much so that we can even hide from ourselves the fact that we are hiding!

I’ll give you a couple examples of what my sort of hiding looks like. I discovered a tendency in myself to pray only when I felt “worthy.” I may realize that I am struggling in a certain area and so I don’t feel fit to appear before God. Perhaps I have angry feelings toward a family member or thoughts of pride. Rather than opening my heart as it is to God, I would try to prepare for prayer by fixing my problem on my own–I don’t like the idea of God seeing that anger or pride in my heart so I try shoving those thoughts away with my own strength and then begin my prayer. The trouble is, of course, that without Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5). He alone is the Divine Physician. My thinking I can fix myself and then appear perfect before the Lord is nothing short of ludicrous!

Another way I find myself hiding is in the vague way in which I apologize to someone I hurt and/or confess my sins. Say, for example, I lost my temper. When I apologize, I may simply say, “I’m sorry I lost my temper,” which is a rather vague statement that can actually serve to hide the ugly things I did during that loss of temper. If I were to say, “I am sorry that I threw something across the room and screamed at the top of my lungs,” I would be revealing the truth about what I did. This same vagueness or honesty can be brought to the confessional. I have learned that the more honestly and fully I expose my sickness to the Divine Physician, the more quickly and easily He heals me.

This one simple word has recently transformed my spiritual life: expose. When I expose everything in me to the Father, He sends His Holy Spirit to heal. When I notice something (e.g. stress, anger, pride, fear) disturbing my heart, I simply turn to Him, and say, “Look, Father, this is what is in my heart right now. I open it up to You.” When I first began this practice, I was almost surprised at the way God worked in me. I had, for example, been hiding my thoughts of pride because I was ashamed of them and afraid of what God would think of them. But when I began exposing them to Him, they just melted away, as an ice cube would on being exposed to the hot summer sun. I also realized that God is not at all shocked by my sinfulness: “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). I even sense that we are both laughing a bit as He melts away the disturbances of my heart that I thought I had to fight without end with my own (very weak) power.

In exposing ourselves constantly to God, He sends His healing and peace. The healing may be immediate, as in my example of my pride melting like an ice cube before His gaze, or it may take some time. But the healing certainly begins when we open our hearts as they are to Him. This is a truth that the Evil One tries very hard to hide from us. The Evil One will whisper any lie he can to keep you from exposing your heart to your Father. The lies may sound like this: “You’re not good enough to talk to God;” “You’re so weak, no one can help you;” “You got yourself into this mess, you better figure out how to get yourself out;” “If anyone knew what you were really like, nobody would love you. So you need to just put on a good face.” When you hear these things in your heart, expose them to God! He will reveal them as the lies they are. He may lead you to renounce in Jesus’ name whichever lie is keeping you from Him. And then I pray that, with confidence in God’s great love for you, you will be free to expose your heart to Him continually and receive His healing continually.

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Clare Schiller is a daughter of the Merciful Father, wife, and mother. She is passionate about discovering the truth and living in it. Clare enjoys the outdoors (particularly when the sun is shining), reading aloud with her children, playing the piano, and any sort of good conversation with a cup of tea. She contributes to a blog at flourishyourfaith.com and writes meditations for Pietra Fitness classes. Clare graduated from Ave Maria University in 2012 with a BA in Literature and received her Pietra Fitness Foundations 2 certification in 2019.

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A new year always offers a fresh start, and for many of us, that means re-evaluating our food choices. While we can make positive change any time of year, the turning over of the calendar offers a special boost of motivation. But, truth be told, you may not get very far trying to overhaul your diet with a vague mission statement (like “This year I’ll eat better” or “This year I’ll cut back on sugar”). Trust me, as a nutritionist, I’ve seen enough to know that these nebulous intentions rarely pan out. Instead, it’s usually best to set measurable, attainable goals you can actually reach.

Here are six smaller changes to set you on the path toward healthier eating in 2021.

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1. Add fruits and veggies at breakfast

If you’re going to get to the recommended target of five fruits and veggies per day, you’ve gotta start early! Breakfast isn’t where most of us think to load up on produce, but it’s not all that difficult to add fruits and vegetables to many traditional (and nontraditional) breakfasts.

Try a smoothie or oatmeal chock full of berries, sliced banana on peanut butter toast, or a handful of spinach tossed into your morning eggs.

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2. Choose whole grains over refined

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage making at least half our grains whole. Whole grains contain more fiber, B vitamins, and other nutrients than their refined counterparts. Plus, they’re simply more filling!

One idea: Make it a practice to purchase whole grain products for home cooking, and save refined (or “white”) grains for dining out.

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3. Eat more fermented foods

Fermented foods may not sound all that appealing, but they can be surprisingly tasty. Sauerkraut adds a salty tang to sandwiches, kimchi spices up plain Asian noodles, and yogurt, of course, provides a creamy touch to sauces, tacos, or parfaits. These foods are all rich in probiotics, the beneficial bacteria that promote a healthy gut. Including them regularly in your diet will help create a thriving microbiome—which research shows can boost weight loss, reduce risk of diabetes, and even lower rates of depression.

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4. Go meatless one day a week

Eating meat isn’t necessarily bad for your health. It’s eating too much meat that can be a problem. Red meats are high in saturated fat, and both red and processed meats (like hot dogs and deli meats) have been linked to colon cancer. Meanwhile, large-scale cattle farming has a reputation for poor environmental practices. Cut down on your carbon footprint and do your health a favor by opting out of meat one day a week.

Try substituting tofu, beans, or veggies for the meat in casseroles, Mexican dishes, or soups. With the right flavor blend, you may not even miss the meat.

5. Cook with healthier oils

Better eating begins in your home kitchen. When basting, grilling, or firing up a skillet, it’s up to you to choose oils that will help, not harm, your health. You’ve probably heard olive oil touted as a heart-healthy component of a Mediterranean diet—and for good reason. This veggie oil contains high amounts of the monounsaturated oils associated with cardiovascular health.

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Whenever possible, choose olive (or canola, peanut, safflower, or corn) oils in your cooking.

6. Base desserts around fruit

Don’t get me wrong. As a sweets lover, I believe there’s definitely a time and place for rich desserts. But for an everyday ending to a meal, it’s smart to train our taste buds to be content with nature’s candy: fruit! To get more out of fruit as dessert, minimize distractions and give a dish of juicy strawberries or cool melon bites your full attention. Doing so will create a mindful experience of savoring, which leads to increased satisfaction.

Here’s to a happy, healthy 2021!

So, you’ve decided to commit to your fitness goals this new year. Congratulations! You’re at the start of a healthier, happier you.

As exciting as this is, starting your fitness journey can certainly be intimidating. Maybe you’re a total beginner unsure of how to get going, or maybe you’ve struggled to follow through on this resolution in the past.

Keep reading for seven tips on how to start a successful and sustainable fitness journey.

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1. Identify your goals

Why are you committing to this fitness journey? What do you hope to achieve?

Consider setting S.M.A.R.T goals, or goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-focused, and Time-Bound. (For example, “I will work out 5 days a week” or “I will be able to run a 5k by November.”) These will help you clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, and use your time and resources efficiently.

Identifying your goals will help you create a plan to go about achieving them.

2. Start small

You won’t go from sitting on the couch to running a marathon overnight. It’s okay (and in fact, best) to start small.

Starting slow will ensure that you’re not trying to do too much too quickly—a sure recipe for burnout. Physically your body needs time to adjust to your workout routine and avoid injury. Mentally, pacing yourself can help you create a sustainable and lasting fitness habit.

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3. Shift your mindset

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome at the beginning of your journey is unhealthy and limiting ways of thinking about fitness or even about yourself.

The right mindset for your fitness journey is the one that chooses growth over negativity.

It’s easy to critique your body or physical abilities early in your journey, but having a growth mindset will help you see challenges that arise as opportunities to grow.

You’ll also need to ditch the “all or nothing” mentality when it comes to exercise. There may be days where a 15-minute walk around your block, or a few sit-ups before work might be all you can manage.

Getting a small workout in instead of your usual full routine is always better than not moving your body in a meaningful way.

4. Find a coach

Having a coach walk alongside you, especially at the start of your fitness journey, can greatly help your motivation and confidence to help you on your way to success. Taking an in-person or online fitness class is an excellent way to learn, grow, and stay motivated.

Pietra Fitness classes guide you through exercises designed to increase your flexibility, develop your muscle and core strength, and increase your range of motion, posture, and stability.

5. Develop healthy habits

Your fitness journey is more than about exercising; it’s about improving the overall health of your body and committing to making the choices that most align with these goals.

Developing healthy habits in your already established daily routines—like getting enough sleep each night, eating well, and staying hydrated—will aid you in your fitness goals by making sure your body is happy and healthy.

6. Ask for the necessary grace

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.–Philippians 4:13

If you’re looking to more perfectly glorify God with your body, seek His help at the beginning of your fitness journey. Ask for the graces of perseverance, strength, patience, and diligence. You can even invoke the intercession of some fitness-loving saints to help you too.

7. Make time for Rest

This tip may seem counterproductive; you want to get fit! How would rest help you do that? However, rest days are a necessary component of fitness training.

Exercise creates microscopic tears in your muscle tissue that are repaired by cells called fibroblasts during periods of rest. Fibroblasts help the tissue heal, grow, and strengthen.

Rest also helps restore your body’s energy, reduces the risk of injury, and ultimately improves your performance.1

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Ah, the start of a new year-- bright and shiny with the promise and hope of good things to come.

But is January 1st really any different from December 31st? Will this next year be the best yet? Well, a lot of that is up to you.

Start the New Year off right with these five tips.

Revisit your why

Take time at the beginning of the new year to revisit and reevaluate your priorities as an individual or with your family. What do you value? What is the driving force behind your actions and decision making? What is your why?

There’s the old saying “He who has a why can overcome any how.” Maybe you want to develop healthier habits so you can be more present to your children, or so that you can better glorify God through your body.

Understanding (or remembering) where you place your value can help you determine your goals for these next 12 months and give you the motivation you need to accomplish them.

Get S.M.A.R.T.

When making your resolutions or goals for the new year, make sure you’re setting S.M.A.R.T goals.

A S.M.A.R.T. goal is something that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-focused, and Time-Bound.

For example, instead of making your goal for the new year “get healthy,” consider saying: “I will work out 5 days a week” or “I will be able to run a 5k by November.” In doing so, you can help clarify your ideas, focus your efforts, and use your time and resources wisely to actually help you keep your New Year’s resolutions.

Declutter

While it’s not really the season for “spring cleaning,” ridding yourself of clutter can help you get the fresh start you need this January.

Identify the biggest sources of clutter in your life and get to work. These sources could be physical, but they also might be technological, mental, or spiritual.

Perhaps, you need to take time to organize the papers covering your desk, or cleaning out your garage. Or maybe you need to unsubscribe from a few email lists, unfollow certain accounts on Instagram, or set a screen limit on your phone.

Removing the clutter from your life can help make space for more important things (remember your why!)

Cultivate gratitude

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and anticipation for new changes at the start of the new year, but a huge way to start the year right is by cultivating gratitude for what you already have.

Studies have shown that gratitude “helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”1

Cultivating gratitude in your daily life takes only a few short minutes a day, and is well-worth the effort.

Feed your body, mind, and spirit

God, in His infinite Wisdom, created human beings as a composite of body and soul. This beautiful truth means that the integration of body, mind, and spirit is necessary to become the person God created you to be.

When setting your goals this new year, make sure you are making time to nourish your body, mind, and spirit.

And when you take a Pietra Fitness class, either with a live instructor or in the online studio, you can do just that. Pietra Fitness combines stretching and strengthening exercises with Christian prayer and meditation to help you enrich your body, mind, and soul.

Social distancing. Canceled events. Little (if any) time with extended family. After nine months of the many precautions that have accompanied the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re all probably pretty weary. 2020 has been a rough road, to say the least. Now, with Christmas on the horizon, the idea of celebrating the season with limits and restrictions may seem awfully discouraging.

This year’s commemoration of Jesus’ birth definitely won’t be the holiday we’re used to. But with a bit of perspective and positivity, it just might be possible to see a silver lining in the difficulties we’re facing. Here are three ways to have yourself a surprisingly merry (and wonderfully holy) little Christmas, even in the midst of the pandemic.

Let go of holiday excesses

In the months leading up to Christmases past, we’ve probably all made promises to ourselves. Maybe you told yourself you wouldn’t let your spending get out of hand, wouldn’t let stress levels rise too high, or wouldn’t overcommit yourself to too many events.

And now, here we are in a year that might just allow us to do all of these things.

A pared-down Christmas, though painful in some ways, could be the relief your spirit has longed for in years gone by. Letting go of the need (or even the ability) to “do it all” this year offers the hidden blessings of peace and quiet. Less time spent running around shopping or cooking for a crowd means more quality time with your inner circle—or more opportunity to simply contemplate the real reason we celebrate: the coming of our Lord as the infant in the manger.

Meanwhile, if shipping delays or hoarding have left stores with limited supplies of the gifts you’re looking for, try simpler local or handmade presents. The time you put into something homemade brings a unique touch to your gift-giving, while buying close to home supports your local economy.

Find value in suffering

We live in a world that doesn’t value suffering—but as Catholic Christians, we know there is great redemptive power in bearing with hard times. During the Advent season at the end of this challenging year, perhaps we can tune in to the emotional weight Jesus’ human parents carried leading up to his birth. Imagine Mary’s discomfort traveling on a donkey at the end of her pregnancy, or Joseph’s anxiety for his wife and child. In spite of their uncertainties, Christ’s mother and father remained faithful to God’s calling on their lives. Could their steadfastness inspire more long-suffering and patience in us?

Jesus, too, is always intimate with our struggles. In taking on human flesh, He experienced what it meant to live the frustrations, sorrows, and disappointments of the human life. Even now, He knows our hearts’ every concern, whether a job loss, a relative fighting Covid-19, or our loneliness for the friends and family we’d normally celebrate with.

In the words of St. Padre Pio, “The more you are afflicted, the more you ought to rejoice, because in the fire of tribulation, the soul will become pure gold.” We’ve been offered a unique gift in 2020: the ability to offer our suffering to Jesus as a gateway to joy and deeper union with Him.

Remember the good in a tough year

The end of the year is all about perspective. In the extra quiet moments of this more subdued Christmas season, we can all reflect on the 12 months past. (There’s probably plenty of fodder for reflection!) What did you learn? What did you realize was really important? What would you have done differently? Where do you see God was at work in your life, even if you didn’t realize it at the time?

With the slowed pace of a Covid-19 Christmas, allow these reflections to provide an emotional and spiritual reset. Then rest in the knowledge that, no matter what lies ahead, you can look to the future with clarity and peace.