When does life actually begin? Now!

This is Day 4 of Father Kentenich's 9 Days of Prayer for Young People booklet. I am on this track of reading all my devotionals/pamphlets which I got from SYDNEY.... this is just 1 of them. Typing this out now coz it just relates to me so well now. NOW.

NOW!

Sometimes life simply carries me away. I squander the time, today this, tomorrow that.
Miscalculating, totally chaotic, just plain stressed.

When does life actually begin – my life? Now!

Father Kentenich didn’t play games. Right away in his first talk on October 27, 1912, he challenged the students by suggesting to them a clear goal for their common task: “Under the protection of Mary, we want to learn to educate ourselves to become firm, free, priestly personalities.”

It was important to him that the boys started at once to live as new persons – not sometime later, perhaps when the conditions were more favourable – but today! (The rules of the boarding school were very strict and allowed only minimal free reign). Begin today to be a Christian who loves God-given freedom and also uses it in order to realize great goals. Take life in hand responsibly here and now. And how is that done? Very simply: “You learn to walk by walking, to love by loving…” I will become a free person when I practice making independent, free decisions – every day, every hour. With this program Father Kentenich touched the core of a young person.

He could not change the exterior conditions in the boarding school, but he helped change the inner attitude: I do not allow myself to be lived, but I live – now!

Even the smallest everyday decision that I consciously make strengthens my personality and allows me to blossom. A wrong decision is better than no decision at all, because every decision releases energies and connects me with the best in me.

“And after we make a decision, we follow through with that to which we said yes.” J. Kentenich

I become the person I really am.

The closeness of Mary, Mother of God, the woman who freely decided for God, ensures greater determination and consistency.

Father in heaven, help me live my life, to become a person who rejoices in making decisions. Don’t let me wait for the favourable moment, the great change in my life, but use the moment that is offered to me to shape my life. Grant me the experience that Father Kentenich and his students had in the covenant with Mary: A new and great life is beginning as I try to give you joy here and now. Amen.

A concrete point for the day:
Specifically in daily life:
- Training for daily decision making: Conquer myself in one concrete point and choose the better!
- I do not say yes if I actually want to say no. And I don’t allow myself to feel guilty.
- Before making a decision: reflect – pray – wait a little – then decide for that to which my heart draws me