If Christianity, living Christian values, requires anything it is true courage. It takes true courage to put yourself into the hands of God.
It takes true courage to submit yourself completely to the will of God, for you don't know what God can do with you or for you.
It takes true courage to stand up for truth and what is right when no one else is willing to do so.
It takes true courage to refuse to spread gossip, to be honest, to confront evil and shine the light on it for what it is.
It takes courage to stand in front of people and proclaim the truth without apology, ignoring the ramifications.
It takes courage to kneel and pray when everyone else is telling you to stand up and fight.
It takes courage to see the long view of things, the way that God intends them to be while everyone else is short sighted, looking only for the quick pay off and the feel good solution.
It takes courage to call something what it is without apology, resentment, or double meaning.
I haven't lived up to courage as much as I should. I feel the pressure to fit in as much as anyone and there are times when I pretend to be tougher than I am. There are times when I pretend to be someone that I am not in order to fit into the crowd. There I are times when I fall into the pattern of the tasteless joke, the unbecoming comment, the subtle digs at other people. There are times when I don't stand up to gossip, when I am afraid to confront someone when they do something wrong because I am afraid of what they may do to me.
Instead of having courage, I become angry with myself in the long run because I don't do what I need to. I become angry at people for dragging me in to a situation, even if they didn't know they were doing it. I get mad at myself for allowing myself to fall into sin. My cowardice quickly leads to anger.
If I want to overcome my anger then I need to have courage. I need to have the courage to stand up for what is right without relying on my emotions. I need to have the courage to allow the plan of God to play out without feeling that everything has to go my way.
I have to have the courage to lose control. I have to have the courage to be able to tell God that he can have my life and everything that I am, can do anything that he wants as long as he makes me holy in the end.
Think about the consequences you could bring on to yourself with that statement.
"Lord, do anything, submit me to anything you require in order that I become a saint. That I may glorify you in everything that I do, say, in all of my actions."
Do you have the courage to submit yourself to any vocation? To the true nature of your own vocation?
Do you have the courage to do the work that Christ is calling you to for the Church?
Do you have the courage to allow yourself to be pushed to your limits of what is comfortable?
Do you have the courage to worship God when no one else will?
Do you have the courage to stand up for what is right when no one else will, even if it means your popularity, your security, your very life?
Courage is not simply being brave in the dark.
Courage is allowing God to work through you so that you are able do precisely what you need to do at that given moment, no matter the odds.
Questions for Reflection:
- Name a situation in the last week when you have succumbed to a lack of courage, given in to sinful behavior or talk when you should have stood up for what was right.
- What would happen if you were able to show true courage for a day? What would change in your life?
- How does it take courage to live as a Christian? Which ways of life are the most unpopular? The most difficult to share with others when they disagree?
- Name someone in your life that you consider to have great courage. What is it about the way that they live their life that makes you believe they have great courage?
- What is the most courageous thing you have ever done? What allowed you to act in that way?
- Just for today, do not back down from what you know is right. This doesn't mean that you get self-righteous and debate with someone and argue with them, it just means that you refuse to indulge someone in sinful behavior, such as gossip, dirty jokes, etc.
- Make a concrete effort to do something on behalf of God that you have been afraid to do. Perhaps it is asking your spouse to pray with you or another person. Maybe it is asking someone to go to Church with you. Take that step.
- Do something to stand up for what is right. This may be working for a pro-life group, lobbying for the poor for better housing conditions or food, or even simply going to a coworker to fight for the reputation of another coworker that has been maligned.
- Look at the areas of your faith you have difficulty standing up for. Is it because you don't think that you know enough or that you don't have the confidence that you can live up to those teachings? Try to grow in those areas so that you can do so.
- Show courage in prayer this week. Pray in a way that you have not before because you are uncomfortable with it. If it makes it easier, do it when no one is around.
Our Father: (To be prayed in the morning)
Our Father, who art in heave, hallow'd be your name. They kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, amen.
The Angelus: (To be prayed at noon)
The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, etc.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done unto me according to your word.
Hail Mary, etc.
And the Word was made flesh.
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary, etc.
Pray for us O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let Us Pray - Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, your son, was made known by the message of an Angel, may, by his passion and cross, be brought to the glory of his resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen
Act of Entrustment to Mary #5 (Pray in the Evenings)
O Mother, you know the sufferings
and hopes of the Church and the world:
come to the aid of your children in the daily trials
which life brings to each one,
and grant that, thanks to the efforts of all,
the darkness will not prevail over the light.
To you, Dawn of Salvation, we commit
our journey through the new Millennium,
so that with you as guide
all people may know Christ,
the light of the world and its only Saviour,
who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever. Amen.
