Don't fear death

In the morning consider for a moment the fact that you may not live to see the sunset. When the sunset comes don’t be to confident that you will see the next morning. These thoughts should not make you feel gloomy or sad, but practical. We should live our lives as if it were our last day on earth. Most of us will die suddenly and unprepared. We think that we still have plenty of time and end up wasting valuable time. Death, with all of its uncertainties, is a fact. We need to face facts and see what could be done to better our lives and our surroundings now. Thinking about death will not cause death to happen sooner, nor will it help to escape it! The key is to live in such a way that no matter when death comes, it will find us in sanctifying grace.

Patience will help us in difficult times. It will help us to think more clearly. Humility will help us admit our weaknesses and therefore be less irritable or resentful in our difficult times. Sometimes we need to live through a storm to grow stronger. Life will have hardships and suffering but if you are brave and have faith in God you will find peace in your life and in the next. Many of us pursue an imaginary happiness with money or keeping busy. When we get what we want, we suddenly see that it doesn’t bring us the joy that we had expected. So we slowly begin to search for that happiness again and again. Don’t blame the place you are in or the people around you if you don’t have peace in your soul. Begin today to make a continual effort to strengthen the self love that is needed. Look for opportunities to practice patience, don’t fear suffering or inconvenience, virtues are never gained in easy times. We learn the most in difficult times. Life can be the happiest and most rewarding in these times, if we let it.

Pray for the dead

A few years back my aunt passed away at a young age. A couple of years later I was talking with another aunt who, told me about a dream she had that her sister, my aunt appeared in her dream asking why she had not prayed for her. As she was telling me about her dream all I could think of was my dad telling me as I grew up to always remember to pray for the lost souls when praying. So, yes I believe that, we should pray for the dead. I don’t even mean just the dead that we may have known in life or even in this century, it doesn’t even matter if they were good natured or bad. I am not talking about religion or whether the dead were religious, spiritual, or nonbelievers.

Prayer can be defined as many things, some believe you must be in a house of worship to truly pray, I do not. I was raised as a Roman Catholic and have many pieces of my spiritual life invested in my faith. I do not attend church as often as I would like but, I love the connection that I feel when I am there. I believe that church is a wonderful asset for both believers and nonbelievers alike. They are places of worship, love, beauty, and a sense of community. This book is not a book about religion, but, these are my thoughts about finding ourselves and how I try to live a spiritual, loving, and happy life. I feel strongly that our walk with God, is a daily effort and that we should all strive to do better with those who, surround us.

Prayer in my opinion is sending positive messages to God, regarding the universe, or anything that we truly believe in on behalf of our loved ones, others in need, and to those who, have passed on before us. Prayer is passing on positive and meaningful thoughts with sincere conviction. We all have prayed without even knowing it, even atheists! A good example; is a guy who passes by a sick person or a homeless person and feels a sincere deep sorrow or pity for them. The thoughts going through this person’s mind may be “my God, how sad, I hope they are okay.” Through those simple thoughts a positive message was extended for that person, therefore, there was a prayer being sent out for the betterment of someone else’s life. We all have different belief systems and we live in a very diverse world, especially today!

Growing up I found praying repetitive and exhausting, I admit it took me a really long time to remember the prayers being taught in Sunday school. I now love to pray at night before I go to sleep, even if it is just a brief prayer. Most nights my prayers consist of a lot of thanking God, for the good in my life and asking for me to live with the Light of Love. When it comes to praying for the dead however, one thing is for sure they have lost the earthly ability to pray for themselves. “The Purgatorian Manual” says “one who, is infinitely holy, not yet worthy to take possession of my dwelling - a place in heaven, is the greatest sorrow of the suffering soul.” If we no longer have the ability to pray for ourselves after death, what was the “Purgatorian Manual” saying? We need to be sincere in our prayers and not just repeating words that, have no meaning to you, this would defeat the purpose of praying which, is to send positive energies into the universe and heaven. I truly believe, that our beliefs have a lot to do with where we are and where we are going. It doesn’t matter if you pray to God, Ala, or another higher power, or whatever name you have for your belief, what matters is that, you have a belief in something which, will make your life truly meaningful.

Charity

Language is a funny thing. We can have a room filled with five people and the same word may have a different meaning to each of us! When you hear the word charity, what is it that you think of? Did you think of an organization, the fireman standing on the road with a boot, or did you think of your daily life? Charity is helping each other in our lives selflessly, it means in some form we will sacrifice because we love unconditionally. A person of charity is patient in many circumstances which would arouse others to be angry or disgusted. We need to refuse to become impatient with others, even when they have wronged us! Revenge and anger are not signs of strength but, are signs of insecurity and weakness. Kindness brings confidence and encouragement to those who are afraid. Others will never hesitate to ask for help because they will know that a person who is kind will not willingly refuse. Someone who is charitable never envies those who have more earthly goods, more success, or even more talents. He is more content with the love that he possesses. A charitable person will always be considerate and fair in every aspect of his or her life, because he or she is not over-eager for personal gain or appearing to be better than anyone else. One whose heart is filled with charity refuses to judge others rashly. Instead, prefers to believe in the good of others, even when wronged. I have learned this valuable lesson in the past few days, as I was name called by a loved one who judged me without asking about the particular circumstances. The virtue of charity makes us so honest that we can admit the truth, even when it points out our limitations and defects. It is a challenge in our daily lives to try to live with unconditional love but when we are wronged the offense is painful, but not as bad as the harm done to ones self. I have learned that when we are wronged by others it is only temporary but, when we are bitter and hold grudges we are only causing ourselves to be in that very same prison that the one who wronged us is in. Letting go of any bitter thoughts of revenge, settling the score, or anger will free ourselves from that dirty prison cell that is offered by the confused person who wronged us and in turn will help us to feel much better. Charity makes us humble enough to face all facts, even disagreeable ones.