Tag: #commitment

I am constantly amazed that it took me over forty years to really discover God, to embrace my faith, and to realize the power of prayer. Over forty years. That’s essentially half of a lifetime, assuming that I will be fortunate enough to live that long.

I often think about what I was doing for that first half of my life, how I was living, how I treated people, what my thoughts were, what I believed, what I didn’t believe, and I wonder why it took God so long to open my eyes. Then today I read about St. John of God. Today is his memorial.

In his early life St. John of God turned away from the Lord, but in his forties he received God’s mercy. The closing line of a reflection that I read about St. John of God is as follows; “He saw that in his early life he had turned away from the Lord, and, moved to receive his mercy, John began his new commitment to love others in openness to God’s love.” St. John of God is the patron saint of Booksellers, Firefighters, Heart Patients, Hospitals, Nurses, Printers, and the Sick.

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-of-god

Impressive, isn’t it? I mean here is a guy who really had no religious convictions his entire life. St. John of God, or Juan, as he was known, grew up working as a shepherd. (There is a little bit of irony there). He lead a “wild and mispent youth” and became a soldier and a mercenary. And then he had a vision. God spoke to him.

I am amazed at how God speaks to me in ways that He probably has all along but I have been too distracted to hear Him. I have been thinking quite a bit about how long it has taken me to dig more deeply into my faith and wondering why it had taken so long for that journey to begin. I mean, I was in my mid-forties when I really began my journey back to God. And then I read about St. John of God and the fact that he was in his forties when he returned to God. And he is not the only one to make this later in life revelation. There is also St. Augustine (who just happens to be one of my favorite saints), St. Mary of Egypt, St. Angela of Foligno, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and many others.

“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”

– St. Augustine of Hippo

What I am realizing through all of this is that: 1. it is never too late to begin your journey of faith, 2. it doesn’t matter what your past has been like, God is waiting for you to return to Him, 3. you have to be open to God in order to hear Him, 4. prayer is very powerful and you don’t realize how powerful until you actually start praying, 5. everything happens in God’s time, not ours.

No matter where you are on your journey of faith; maybe you haven’t even begun; just remember, it is never too late. God is waiting for you to reach out to Him, to talk to Him, and to listen to Him…whenever you are ready. And today, please pray for me and I will continue to pray for you.