60 Second Wisdom: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?

“Everything in life requires courage. Whether it is playing football or coaching football; crossing the room to ask a woman on a date or rekindling a love that has grown cold; whether it’s your first day at school or your first day back at school after twenty years; starting a new business, battling a potentially fatal disease, getting married, struggling to overcome an addiction, or sitting humbly with your God in prayer—life requires courage. It’s a prerequisite. Courage brings us to life and makes everything else possible.

So, what are we waiting for? You only get one shot at life. What would you do if you weren’t so afraid? Whatever it is, take one small step toward it today, then take another step toward your hopes and dreams tomorrow.

Life favors the courageous. So, summon a little courage. You will be amazed what life will give you in return for a little bit of courage.

In Part Two of this series we will discuss fear and how it paralyzes us.”


Meditation of the Day – Nothing You Can See is Truly Good

“You have never begrudged the martyrs their triumph but rather trained them for it. And so I am asking you to be consistent with the lessons you teach them. Just beg for me the courage and endurance not only to speak but also to will what is right, so that I may not only be called a Christian, but prove to be one. For if I prove myself to be a Christian by martyrdom, then people will call me one, and my loyalty to Christ will be apparent when the world sees me no more. Nothing you can see is truly good. For our Lord Jesus Christ, now that he has returned to his Father, has revealed himself more clearly. Our task is not one of producing persuasive propaganda; Christianity shows its greatness when it is hated by the world.”— St. Ignatius of Antioch, p. 194

//Catholic Company//


Minute Meditation – The Need for Courage

Someone once told me he had taken up skydiving because he had no reason for not doing it except that he was afraid, and he did not want to start not doing things simply because he was afraid.  How much good is left undone and how many dreams and hopes are shattered for lack of courage? Fear can steal into our lives so subtly that we might not even recognize it at first. We may think it prudence at first, or good sense. But ultimately it shows its ugly head for what it is, a killer and a paralyzer of action and of the fulfillment that comes from doing. 

—from the book Song of the Sparrow: New Poems and Meditations by Murray Bodo, OFM

//Franciscan Media//