Merry Christmas!

I hope that you all had a blessed holiday, and were able to find time to relax and pray over the busy weekend. I am taking a break from blogging this week in order to relax and enjoy quality time with my family, so there will be no usual post this week. However, I decided to still write something, because I want to draw your attention to an upcoming novena called Fiat 90 that will be starting soon, and I want to invite anyone interested to join me.

Fiat 90 is a 90 day novena and personal retreat that focuses on drawing closer to God through one’s body, mind, and soul. It combines numerous spiritual exercises, including a rosary novena and Marian consecration, with physical and mental disciplines meant to separate one from worldly distractions and purify one’s body and mind in order to glorify God through one’s entire person. Fiat 90 is meant primarily for women, with a heavy spiritual focus on developing a relationship with Mary and allowing her to lead us closer to her Son. For men, there is a similar personal retreat known as Exodus 90, which focuses more on escaping one’s own personal “pharaohs” that keep one enslaved to sin. (I don’t know as much about Exodus 90, and I have never attempted it, but I have heard many positive testimonies about it from my male friends). While the two retreats have different spiritual focuses, and small differences in disciplines, they are very similar in concept and in practice, and both lead people to deeper union with God and more Christ-centered lives.

If you want to deepen your relationship with Mary, grow in spiritual willpower, and/or purify your heart and soul for Jesus, then I highly encourage you to discern whether to make your own Fiat or Exodus this year. I have done Fiat 90 for two years now, and while it is definitely a challenge (imagine Lent, but extended), the spiritual growth that resulted from it was tremendous. I have always struggled over the years with making Christ the center of my life and avoiding spiritual distractions, and this retreat provided me with a structured, concrete plan to cut distractions out of my life and strengthen my relationship with God. Because both retreats are meant to be undertaken in groups, it also provided me with some much-needed accountability and encouragement.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, more information can be found here, for Fiat 90, and here, for Exodus 90. If you’re worried about not having a group to do it with, reach out to your friends and see if they would be interested! And if not, both websites have resources to help you as well. I’ll be organizing a group for Fiat 90 in the Houghton MI area, and if there is enough interest, I could lead one online over Zoom as well. 

I hope you are able to join me on this spiritual endeavor! As always, I am praying for you all, and I hope you have a blessed week!