Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Brian’s Reflection: Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008


To have courage for whatever comes in life
- everything lies in that.


- Theresa of Avila, on her feast day


The opposite of this is fear. And I am always struck by the number of times in the Gospel that Jesus shows up somewhere and says, “Fear not.” Angels do too.

The word “courage” has its roots in the Latin word for heart, cor. Remember the Cowardly Lion?? He gets a medal marked “Courage” – and the lion is often a symbol for Christ ….. remember Aslan?

Having Courage means that you might be afraid ….. there are lots of things that produce fear in us! ….. but you act anyway. You Take Heart.

Life is full of challenging stuff that comes our way, some just annoying, some deeply serious. We can either live in fear, in avoidance ….. which almost always leads to victimhood and misery. Or, we can make the decision to take things Head On. Deal with them. I have to admit that I’m a pretty good Avoider. Alas! But I’m getting a little better at Courage.

It’s better. Especially if you take all the help you can get.

Brian+

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