Trapped in Ourselves

It's that time of the semester when we are praying that we can hang on for a few more days - just get through the final papers and exams and then have a breather. It's hard to find time for sleep, exercise, or perhaps just hanging out with friends. It's that end of the semester push.

When we find ourselves overwhelmed by all there is to do, it's easy for us to get trapped inside ourselves. We are the center of it all. Everything else gets pushed aside so that we can get it all done. Yet, as Christians we are called to be focused on the world, on others. One sure way to get through these coming days without too much pain is to take the focus off all our own worries and fears and stress, and put some of that focus on others.

There is a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi that will be a good thing to pray each day in the coming couple weeks.

Lord, make me an instrument of they peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.