2 Peter 3:18 - Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever! Amen.
Growth - It is finished. Perfection is a process, not an end.
Grace - Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. (CCC 2003)
Knowledge - Be a life-long learner.
Heb 4:1 - Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
Matt 22:37 - Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Obedience to God
Obedience
1 John 5:3 - This is love for God: to obey his commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Prayer
1 Thes 5:16 - Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain.
Bible study
Heb 4:12 - For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Self-discipline
2 Tim 1:7 - For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Pet 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Stewardship
General
James 1:17 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Spirit
1 Peter 4:10 - Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
Soul
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly,” with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming. ( 1 Thess 5:23) The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. “Spirit” signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.
Body
1 Cor 6:19 - Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Gal 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Mind
Rom 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Philippians 4:18 - Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Money
Prov 30:8 - Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither pvoerty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
Prov 13:22 - The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the just.
Leave your children with enough money that they can do anything, but not so much that they can do nothing.
Career
Matt 25:21 - His master replies, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!"
Col 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.
Relationships
Family
Eph 6:2 - Honor your father and mother -- which is the first commandment with a promise -- that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.
Wife
Eph 5:25 - Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church -- for we are members of his body. "For this reason a manwill leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking about Christ and the Church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Children
Eph 6:4 - Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up with the training and instruction of the Lord.
Friends
Prov 17:17a - A friend loves at all times
Colleagues
1 Pet 2:12 - Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Neighbors
Gal 5:14 - The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Commitment to a local parish
Heb 10:25 - Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.