You Are On Your Own

It is evident that today you hear this loud and clear: people make comments that portend to say: "YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN".  You and I have to take care of our body and most importantly our soul,  more than anything else. The choice remains yours and mine - to care or neglect our body and soul or not. And since we have only ONE LIFE TO LIVE, AND ONE DEATH TO DIE, it becomes imperative that we make the best of the few seconds/hours at our disposal to take care of things that really matter. The next moment may be too late; we have no one to blame but ourselves. Blaming others will not help, rather may increase our pain of loss.

Take care not to expect anyone to take care of you - not the government,  not your family or community and unfortunately not even the Church. The responsibility is all yours; except maybe for the very young and infants. In this case, the responsibility is ours, the adults (parents/guardians) to give early guidance and direction to these young minds. Engage them in family devotions, the Holy Rosary, night prayers, family reading of the Holy Bible and quiet time, etc.  We see this exemplified by construction companies re-doing a highway, tethering young plants to avoid omnidirectional winds from deforming the young plants, yet to dip its roots into the soil. The tethers are professionally removed when the roots are sunk deep into the soil.  And now, they can stand the winds, from wherever side they come.  This is what happens with grooming a young man/lady in the faith, for instance; you do not allow the child to  grow up and make up its mind on what to believe in; such a soul may end up being mal-formed, rudderless.  Eventually, this 'boat', 'canoe' or 'ship' will end in utter disaster. 

But after you and I have done our duty/homework, laying a solid foundation of faith and practice for this young fellow; if in later life, this young man/lady  allows the external world and peer pressure to obliterate all that he/she had from the family, then he/she has the full blame. ONLY  WE DO NOT STOP LOVING AND PRAYING FOR THEM, giving good examples of care, love and patience towards them. Such good friends as Saints Monica and Augustine come immediately to mind - have recourse to their intercession. Finally, entrust everything to God and Our Blessed Mother Mary.