A Sunday Morning Thought to Start the Week Off Right

First thought:

Remember that the "Year of Faith" began October 11th. Did your parish announce this? Our Holy Father calls us to renew our Faith this year in a special way. I'd be interested to know whether you even hear this mentioned either in your parish bulletin or during a sermon at Mass.

But we Catholic men at work can't wait around for the grass to grow, so to speak. So beginning this new week, my thoughts turn to this Year of Faith and the theme of living our faith "without compromise." Here's a special prayer I think fits right in with all this. I really like the utter clarity and purity of the Catholic sentiment. I hope it helps you to start this week off right, most especially to live your faith without compromise:

“Teach me, my Lord, to be kind and gentle in all the events of life: in disappointments, in the thoughtlessness of others, in the insincerity of those I trusted, in the unfaithfulness of those on whom I relied. Let me put myself aside: to think of the happiness of others, to hide my little pains and heartaches so that I may be the only one to suffer from them. Teach me to profit by the suffering that comes across my path. Let me so use it that it may mellow me, not harden nor embitter me; that it may make me broad in my forgiveness, not narrow, haughty, or overbearing. May no one be less good for having come within my influence; no one less pure, less true, less kind, less noble, for having been a fellow-traveler in our journey towards Eternal Life. As I go my rounds from one distraction to another, let me whisper from time to time a word of love to Thee. May my life be lived in the supernatural, full of power for good, and strong in its purpose of sanctity.”