How to Grow Closer to God

Q: How do I start growing closer to God?

Start with rhythm, not intensity. The Maronite monastic tradition grew saints not through heroic bursts of devotion but through small practices repeated daily: a morning offering when you wake, one psalm during the day, and a brief look back over the day each evening. Ten faithful minutes every day will carry you further than an occasional hour. Add the sacraments, especially Mass and confession, and let the habit do its slow work.

Q: What did Saint Charbel say about knowing God?

Saint Charbel left almost no writings; his teaching was his life. Words attributed to him in the Maronite devotional tradition insist that prayer is not one activity among others but the atmosphere of a life: the person who prays lives the mystery of existence, and a heart kept pure and quiet becomes the place where God's light shines. His twenty-three years of hermit silence at Annaya said the same thing without a single word.

Q: Can I grow closer to God if I have been away from church for years?

Yes, and the door opens from your side more easily than you fear. The Christian tradition is built on returns: the prodigal son was met on the road, not interrogated at the gate. Begin with one small prayer a day and one Mass, even if you only sit at the back. Many in the Lebanese diaspora return to the faith of their grandparents after decades away and find that the tradition kept a place for them.

Q: How long should I pray each day?

Long enough to be real, short enough to be repeatable. For most people that is ten to fifteen minutes: a morning offering of about one minute, a psalm or a decade of the rosary during the day, and a short evening examen before sleep. The monastic rule teaches that a small measure kept every day forms the soul more deeply than a great measure kept occasionally. You can grow the time later; first grow the habit.

Q: What is the 22nd of the month devotion to Saint Charbel?

On the 22nd of January 1993, Nohad El Shami was healed after Saint Charbel appeared to her, and he asked that the 22nd of each month be kept as a day of prayer. Maronite churches around the world now celebrate Mass on the 22nd, and devotees mark the day with confession, Communion, and prayer to Saint Charbel. As a monthly anchor, it gives a spiritual life a fixed point that the calendar cannot erode.

Rhythm, not intensity: the Maronite way of nearness

Ask a Maronite monk how to grow closer to God and he will not hand you a feeling. He will hand you a schedule. For sixteen centuries the monasteries of the Lebanese mountains have taught that nearness to God is built the way a stone terrace is built, one small faithful act laid on another, season after season.

Saint Charbel Makhlouf is the tradition's proof. He performed no dramatic feats of devotion that a biographer could point to. He simply kept a rhythm, every day, for fifty years, and the rhythm made him a saint whose tomb still draws pilgrims of every faith.

The Rhythm of Annaya

Charbel's day at the monastery of Annaya was almost embarrassingly plain. He rose in the dark for the night office, worked the vineyards and fields with his hands, kept silence, and ate one simple meal a day.

The center of the day was the liturgy. He celebrated Mass close to midday, and the monks who lived with him noticed why: it let him spend the whole morning preparing and the whole afternoon giving thanks. One hour of worship organized all the others around it.

Notice what is missing. No marathon devotions, no spiritual heroics, no chasing of experiences. The Maronite answer to growing closer to God is rhythm, not intensity, and a rhythm is something an ordinary person can keep.

A Simple Daily Rule for Ordinary Life

You are not a hermit, and the tradition does not ask you to live like one. It asks you to scale the monastery down until it fits inside your day. Three practices, none longer than a few minutes, are enough to begin.

A morning offering. Before the phone, before the coffee, one minute to hand the day over. The full text is below, and our collection of morning prayers offers several forms of it.

One psalm at midday. The psalms were the daily bread of the Syriac monks, chanted at fixed hours in the rhythm of prayer that shaped the whole Maronite day. One psalm, read slowly over lunch or on a commute, keeps the thread of the morning unbroken.

An evening examen. Before sleep, three questions: where was God in this day, what am I thankful for, what do I hand over before I rest. Two minutes, honestly kept, will teach you more about your own soul than a shelf of books.

The 22nd of the Month

Daily rhythm needs a monthly anchor, and the Maronite tradition has a beautiful one. After Saint Charbel appeared to Nohad El Shami and healed her on the 22nd of January 1993, he asked that the 22nd of each month be kept as a day of prayer.

Maronite churches around the world now fill on that date, from Beirut to Sydney to São Paulo. Keeping the 22nd of the month gives your spiritual life a fixed point: a Mass, a confession, a candle, a deliberate return, twelve times a year, no matter what the other days looked like.

For the diaspora, scattered from Sydney to Detroit to Mexico City, the date does something more. It ties a household in a foreign suburb to the same hour of prayer being kept in Annaya and Bekaa Kafra, and children raised far from Lebanon learn the rhythm of their grandparents without a single lecture. A date on the calendar turns out to be a bridge home.

The Sacraments

No private practice replaces the sacraments, because nearness to God is not something we generate. It is something we receive. The Eucharist is the closest to God anyone comes on this earth, and Charbel's entire day was arranged around that hour.

Confession belongs beside it, and not as a punishment. In the Maronite understanding it is medicine, the quiet clearing of everything that has silted up between you and God. Once a month, perhaps on the 22nd, is a rhythm many devotees keep.

If You Have Been Away for Years

Perhaps you have not prayed since childhood, or since a funeral, or since you left Lebanon or the parish of your grandparents. The tradition has seen this a thousand times and it does not scold. The prodigal son was met on the road while he was still far off, and his father was running.

Start smaller than you think you should. One morning offering. One Mass where you sit at the back and simply listen to the ancient words. The faith you are returning to has been keeping your place, and the sayings gathered among Saint Charbel's quotes return again and again to this patience of God, who does not tire of waiting.

Prayers for Growing Closer to God

A Morning Offering

The classic daily offering, prayed on waking. It takes less than a minute and it changes the ownership of the day.

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart. Receive them, and receive me, and keep me near you from this morning until the night. Amen.

A Prayer for Nearness to God

Adapted from the devotional tradition surrounding Saint Charbel, this prayer asks for the one thing the hermit of Annaya possessed.

Lord God, you drew your servant Charbel so close to you that his whole life became a single prayer. Draw me too. I do not ask for visions or for feelings, only for nearness: to want you in the morning, to remember you at midday, to rest in you at night. Through the prayers of Saint Charbel, make my ordinary days a road that leads to you. Amen.

Psalm 63, the Psalm of Thirst

The psalm the monks prayed at first light, and a complete school of desire in four lines. Pray it slowly, once, and let it name what you actually want.

O God, you are my God, at dawn I seek you. My soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you, like a dry and weary land without water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, to see your power and your glory, for your love is better than life.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I start growing closer to God?

Start with rhythm, not intensity. A morning offering when you wake, one psalm during the day, and a brief look back over the day each evening will carry you further than an occasional heroic hour. Add the sacraments, especially Mass and confession, and let the habit do its slow work.

What did Saint Charbel say about knowing God?

Charbel left almost no writings; his teaching was his life. The words attributed to him in the Maronite tradition insist that prayer is the atmosphere of a life, not one activity among others, and that a heart kept pure and quiet becomes the place where God's light shines. His twenty-three years of silence at Annaya said the same thing without a word.

Can I grow closer to God if I have been away from church for years?

Yes, and more easily than you fear. The tradition is built on returns; the prodigal son was met on the road, not interrogated at the gate. Begin with one small prayer a day and one Mass, even at the back, and let the rest grow from there.

How long should I pray each day?

Long enough to be real, short enough to be repeatable, which for most people means ten to fifteen minutes across the day. The monastic rule teaches that a small measure kept daily forms the soul more deeply than a great measure kept occasionally. Grow the habit first, then the time.

What is the 22nd of the month devotion to Saint Charbel?

After Saint Charbel healed Nohad El Shami on the 22nd of January 1993, he asked that the 22nd of each month be kept as a day of prayer. Maronite churches worldwide now celebrate Mass on that date, and it serves as a monthly anchor of confession, Communion, and devotion.