getting help in decision making

1. Only a quiet mind can think efficiently. Find a quiet place, sit down and compose yourself.

2. Repeat three times, "With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory." (Psalm 73:24)

3. Imagine God's advice passing into your mind. If you must have that advice today, you will get it. If you do not need it until next week, you will have it then, if you believe that you will, and if you keep calm and continue to pray and think.

4. Ask yourself, "What would Jesus do in this decision?" He would do the right thing, would he not? Right now, ask God to take all wrong and error out of your heart.

5. Do not hurry. Allow your problem to simmer in the mind. Never force a decision.

6. Thank God for giving you the right answer, for He is giving it to you. Thank Him for the great happiness that is in your heart.

7. Having received your answer, trust it. Take it with faith and thanksgiving. If you have sought God's counsel and prayed earnestly, your answer will come up as a clear, bright light burning in the mind. Trust it. God will see you through.

- ? -

Stay with me, Lord..

..for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.

..because I am weak and I need Your strength. I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus!

..for You are my life.. for You are my light.

..so that I hear Your voice and follow You.

..for I desire to love You very much, and always be in Your company.

..for as poor as my soul is, I wish it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love.

Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.

Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for. Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit.

With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity.

Amen.

- excerpt from Saint Padre Pio's A Prayer After Communion -

ano ba ang meron?

May kalabuan at maraming kasakitan ang pwedeng idulot ng pagtatanong at paghahanap sa tunay na meron.

Kailangang matindi ang pagnanasang maunawaan ang meron at may taglay na sapat na pasensya ang isang tao.

Dahil sa kahirapan at kasakitan, maraming tao ang tumitigil na lamang at binibigyan ng hangganan ang kanilang pagmemeron. Paraan ito ng tao para huwag na lamang palalimin pa ang kanyang nalalaman, at huwag na rin masaktan sa proseso.

Ngunit sa mismong kahirapan, lalo namang napapatindi ang sarap ng tagumpay na maaaring maramdaman ng mga taong sa wakas ay nakakaunawa na sa meron.

Kailangang isipin din natin na hindi lang ang kasagutan sa ating mga tanong ang may kahulugan.  Ang pagtahak natin sa landas patungong meron ay malaki din ang ibinabahagi sa pagpapalawak ng ating mga isipan at mga kaalaman ukol sa kung ano ang dapat nating gawin sa buhay.

Sa totoo, hindi tayo maaaring makarating sa punto kung saan alam na natin ang buong meron. Pero hindi tayo pwedeng tumigil sa pagmemeron dahil ito ang nagbibigay kahulugan sa ating pag-iral.

- 2000-11-27: ph102 (lagliva) -

i invite you

I want to know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,
for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your
own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,
without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own,
if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us
to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations
of being human.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true
to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it's not pretty,
every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

I want to know if you can get up,
after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised
to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire 
with me and not shrink back.

I want to know what sustains you,
from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

- excerpts from Oriah Mountain Dreamer's The Invitation -