Occasions For Prayer

When one is under pressure, stressed out, impatient or upset and wants to berate, or when a family member has done something wrong or has broken something inadvertently and one is about to castigate, or when one is being yelled at and wishes to yell back, these are all occasions for prayer, along with countless other occasions that can drive us to anger.

When one is so blinded by rage that one seems to have lost control and the faculty to reason, the prayers that are helpful are prayers of the rosary.  Say the Hail Mary, for instance [1].  Start with one, then another, and another, until one can breathe calmly and feel one's blood pressure returning to normal, then imagine oneself standing firm at the entrance of one's being, as if one's being is a house with steps that lead to the front door that opens up to the insides of one's mind, body and soul, and direct these or similar words of sternness toward the Enemy that is walking up the last few steps in order to enter:  Stay away, Satan!  You are not  welcomed here.

I find this to be a good strategy to prevent explosive episodes which are always unnecessary and unproductive, which always need mending afterward.  I believe that the peace that is never broken is far more secure than the peace that was once shattered and put back together.


[1] Sometimes the wrath can be so overwhelming, so much so that the mind is entirely consumed by it, even saying the entire rosary is not enough to expel the demons within.  In that case, pick up the Bible and start reading, and meditate on the actions and words of Christ, to distract the mind so consumed to switch its focus from pure evil to pure good, so that a wedge can go into the darkness and replace it gradually but completely with light.