God so richly blessed me and I am painfully aware of it. It is painful because I know he can take it all away tomorrow: I lose my job, my family suffers a tragedy, or the peace and contentment I now know will be thrown into turmoil because of some uncontrollable event.
A part of me is ready to suffer for God. The other part is concerned about what it will do to my better half, my beloved wife. What would my tribulations for the love of God do to my daughters? As my Heavenly Father loves me, so I love them and I want to keep them from harm. Their souls are my responsibility – that’s what it means to be a husband and father. If they don’t make it to Heaven, then I would have failed them in some way.
Dear Lord, as I endeavor to be closer to Your Most Holy Trinity, I pray… help me learn how to bring them along. What’s the point of happiness in Heaven if my wife and children are not with me? My calling is not the monastery, but the cauldron of marriage where the souls of my wife, children and I boil in the holy soup of your Love.
… help me resist the temptation to journey in this road alone. The family is the basic building block of Your Creation, not the individual.
… help me identify my faults as a husband and father, so that I’m not blinded by my sins when I try to help my family. I don’t want to give the devil an edge in this battle for my family.
… help me with humility. It is your glory, God, if I can help my family become more virtuous. It is not my work, but my cooperation with the promptings to the Holy Spirit.
… help me clear my soul so that I can be aware of the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
I humbly ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.