WHY ARE YOU AFRAID?

Too many people do not really live.

They remain trapped in their own past, forever turning over their mind events of the past, the wrong decisions made, the wrong turns taken, the “might-have-been” of twenty, thirty, maybe fifty years.

Others are trapped in the anxiety about the future. While they forget that the only day we have to live is today, the present, with all its hours and minutes for being, loving, doing, growing, giving thanks, helping, sharing, believing, reaching out to others.

In the Our Father we pray: “Give us this day our daily bread” . There is wisdom here, asking only for the needs of the present. The same wisdom is even more vividly expressed in the Hail Mary. 

There are only two moments of life that we are sure of, the present moment and the moment of death. 

We ask Mary to pray for us at these two moments. To say this prayer and mean it is to live intensely in the present, free from worry about the past or fear of the future.

A young lady lay dying in hospital. The fatal cancer caused her intense pain. A priest saw her five days before she died. She was at peace with herself, with God, with death that she saw approaching. Though still in the prime of life, there was no complaint, not a trace of self-pity, as her days on earth was fast coming to an end. 

“I thank God for the years I have lived”, she said. “The only prayer that I can say now is “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for me a sinner now and at the hour of my death”. She saw that for her the moment of death and the “now” would soon be one. And so she lived her last days believing, trusting, loving, praying intensely as she had done all her life.

If it is a tragedy to die young; it is a far greater tragedy to pass many years on earth without living at all.

Don’t allow the gift of today to be devoured by regrets for yesterday or fears of tomorrow.

God is aware of all that you worry about he has waited and is still waiting for you to call on him irrespective of how hard it is because of the troubles of your past and fear of the future. He knows the hurt you feel, the weight and guilt that you carry. Allow him to forgive these guilts and heal the pain of the past. 

Continue to Trust in God and let your life begin today as you walk in freedom without any fear, guilt and pain of the past. 

God will Forgive, Heal and walk with your every step of the way.. Remain Blessed.

[With Excerpts from 'The High Noon of God' by Peter Byrne, C.Ss.R.]

THE PRAYER OF A HUMBLE SOUL.

 Never will I pray for the material things of the world. I am not calling to a servant to bring me good. I am not ordering an innkeeper to provide me with room. Never will I seek delivery of gold, love, good health, petty victories, fame, success, or happiness. Only for guidance will I pray, that I may be shown the way to acquire these things, and my prayer will always be answered.  
The guidance I seek may come, or the guidance I seek may not come, but are not both of these an answer? If a child seeks bread from his father and it is not forthcoming has not the father answered?  

I will pray for guidance, and I will pray in this manner –  

Oh creator of all things, help me. For this day I go out into the world naked and alone, and without your hand to guide me I will wander far from the path which leads to success and happiness.
  •I ask not for gold or garments or even opportunities equal to my ability; instead, guide me so that I may acquire ability equal to my opportunities.  
• You have taught the lion and the eagle how to hunt and prosper with teeth and claw. Teach me how to hunt with words and prosper with love so that I may be a lion among men and an eagle in the market place.  
• Help me to remain humble through obstacles and failures; yet hide not from mine eyes the prize that will come with victory.  
• Assign me tasks to which others have failed; yet guide me to pluck the seeds of success from their failures. Confront me with fears that will temper my spirit; yet endow me with courage to laugh at my misgivings.  
• Spare me sufficient days to reach my goals; yet help me to live this day as though it be my last.  
• Guide me in my words that they may bear fruit; yet silence me from gossip that none be maligned.  
• Discipline me in the habit of trying and trying again; yet show me the way to make use of the law of averages. Favor me with alertness to recognize opportunity; yet endow me with patience which will concentrate my strength.  
• Bathe me in good habits that the bad ones may drown; yet grant me compassion for weakness in others. Suffer me to know that all things shall pass; yet help me to count my blessings today.  
• Expose me to hate so it not be a stranger; yet fill my cup with love to turn strangers into friends.  
• But all these things be only if thy will. I am a small and a lonely grape  clutching the vine yet though hast made me different from all others. Verily, there must be a special place for me. Help me. Show me the way.  
• Let me become all you planned for me when my seed was planted and selected by you to sprout in the vineyard of the world.  
Help this humble man.
Guide me, God

An excerpt from 'the Greatest Salesman in the world' (by Og Mandino)