Oh, Jesus.  how can I remain faithful?  At times, it is so confusing.  It is difficult at times to know what to be faithful to.

Have the "rules" changed?  Or, are they not as "simple" any more?  Are we less "rigid" or "too loose"?  Are the societal norms guiding us to be more human, more loving, more self-sacrificing, or do we need to challenge them and be counter-cultural?  Can my "conscience" guide me?  How do I form my conscience today?   Do I just find some way to do what I want to anyway?

Am I supposed to be "happy"?  Always?  Is suffering bad?  Always?  How do I know when/how to choose a healthy happy life?  How do I know when/how to give my life away in generous self-sacrifice?  How do I chose to do or be anything at all?

When do I say that something someone else is doing is wrong, clearly wrong, very wrong?  When do I show mercy?  Should I never judge, never teach, never stand up for values?  What does the compassion you call me to really teach me?  How does it change me?

Dear Lord, whenever I feel the challenges of living the Good News of your love for me authentically, I'm left with an overwhelming sense that I am at sea without you.  Please renew your love in me.  Please heal me and free me, that my heart might be filled with gratitude.  Breathe your Spirit within me again, that I might be able to love as you have loved me: forgiving, patient, understanding, self-sacrificing, and free.  Confirm the graces of my baptism that I might be a servant of your own mission, for and with others.  Gather me with others who desire to celebrate your love, and call us together to our service.  Open my ears to hear the cry of the poor and guide me to provide for the hungry and thirsty, to welcome the stranger, to clothe the naked, to care for those who are ill, and visit those imprisoned. 

Then, Lord, my relationships and commitments will be in balance, and my life will have meaning and joy.  Then, my choices will be free and committed, loving and heroic, a dying to self and a witness for others.  When I turn to you in my poverty and confusion, Lord, you are there to love me and inspire me.  Then, it is easy to be faithful.