Wellspring Prayer 2008

This is my prayer for you:

• That you may be blessed, graced and empowered to walk in the mystery of 2008……
  
• That you will continue to walk faithfully……
  
• That you will meet faithful people on your journey and be graced by their presence in your life…..
  
• That you may be men and women of hope
  
• That you may be optimistic about life and the world around you
  
• That you may live and move in hope in the face of the difficulties and tragedies which life brings.
  
• That “Optimism” becomes your attitude, your character, the quality of your person
  
• That you may be grounded in faith, moving in hope and living in love.

May the year 2008 be God’s wonderful gift to you and I pray that you will make it a gracious and joyful gift to all you meet on your journey…….

May God bless you and keep you safe in His love.

Fr. Gus

REFLECTION THEME - 2008

We reflected on “Walking Faithfully” as our theme throughout the year 2007. I offered you a thought on “Walking Faithfully” every day as part of our “Daily Reflections”. I now offer “Being Optimistic” as our theme of Reflection-2008. I plan to bring you a message of “Optimism” as part of our “Daily Reflection”. We want to explore and deepen our understanding of Optimism and all the virtues that emerge from and surround Optimism.

We have begun a new year. We have walked into the mystery of 2008. We face the future, not knowing what the days and months will bring us or how we will respond. Let us pray that we welcome all who come our way; that we deepen our faith to see all of life as God’s wonderful gifts; that we live and move with hope and abiding trust in “God-with-us”, in God dwelling in us amidst all our joys and sorrows; that we rise each day with desire and decision to love life, love people, love creation and love our God.

We have important challenges to face. We must live lives of faith; we must move in hope in the face of difficulties and tragedies; we must concern ourselves with loving and serving; we must work for justice and peace; we must develop real spirituality, one that is rooted in life and not mere sentimentality; we must witness to the reality of Jesus and His Gospel.

We definitely have to make our faith and our hope and our love more real for us and for the world around us. We have a life to live and a mission to fulfill.

We want to remain optimistic and cultivate an optimistic disposition as we continue our journey through the year 2008. We want to explore optimism in all its dimensions and look at the possibility of cultivating optimism as our way of living and acting. I invite all of you to walk with me on this journey of being and becoming optimistic and cultivating a positive, optimistic attitude toward life and the world around us. An optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty while a pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity! Let us welcome and respond positively to the many wonderful opportunities the Lord sends us with courage confidence, optimism and wisdom.

Optimism is a positive outlook on life. It is an attitude, a disposition toward the world as a good and positive place. An optimist generally believes that people and events are inherently good; that most situations work out in the end for the best; that things can change and become better; that people can change and become what they are created to become; that life can be meaningful and complete; that you can hold your head high even in the midst of trials and testing times; that peace and well-being of people are possibilities……

Let us begin 2008 with optimism, with a positive attitude and with hope for us and for our world.

We often burden ourselves with thoughts of past failures and mistakes or fears about the future and future problems. Let us remember that we are Christians, people of the resurrection. We are people of hope. Hope is our power in our powerlessness. We must remain optimistic!

Optimism rises from our faith in the unconditional love of God for each human being and for the universe that he created. God never gives up on us or on our world. God’s love is everlasting, steadfast, and unconditional. Optimism is not wishful thinking…..it is a confident and faithful walk into the mystery of tomorrow.

Optimism rises from knowing our God as “Emmanuel”, God-with-us, here and now. God’s presence in power, in compassion and in love is available to us in the “here and now” of each day. This is especially important for us now in our own history as we face many urgent issues and concerns in families, communities and the world.

Let us pray for each other as we begin the new year that we may be men and women of hope; that we may be optimistic about life and the world around us; that we may live and move faithfully in the face of the difficulties and tragedies which life brings; that “Optimism” becomes our attitude, our inner disposition; an essential quality of our being…

This is my prayer for you:

• That you may be blessed, graced and empowered to walk in the mystery of 2008……
• That you will continue to walk faithfully……
• That you will meet faithful people on your journey and be graced by their presence in your life…..
• That you may be men and women of hope
• That you may be optimistic about life and the world around you
• That you may live and move in hope in the face of the difficulties and tragedies which life brings.
• That “Optimism” becomes your attitude, your character, the quality of your person
• That you may be grounded in faith, moving in hope and living in love.

May the year 2008 be God’s wonderful gift to you and I pray that you will make it a gracious and joyful gift to all you meet on your journey…….

May God bless you and enable you to be optimistic

Fr. Gus Tharappel, msfs