Ah…this saying…my spiritual director taught it to me almost a decade ago.
Lord make them happy in this life and with You in the next.
Yet I have gone for long spans of time completely forgetting it. I fall into the bad habit of dwelling on negatives in others and having negative thoughts of others. It can be especially difficult (at least for me) if you have to be around someone who has different moral standards than you, has hurt you or who just plain irritates you.
This year I dusted this saying off from the recesses of my mind and began using it again. It has definitely helped me to break some of these habits of having negative thoughts of others. This prayer gives your mind something positive to do. It helps to break the old habit and form a new one. You are literally wishing earthly happiness for a foe and more importantly eternal happiness with our Lord in the next life.
This then leads to thoughts that, God willing, you and this person who has hurt you, continues to hurt you or just irritates you, will both spend eternity worshiping God…TOGETHER…without even a care of what seemed so important while here on earth.
The next time you find yourself in a situation where you can’t get someone off your mind who has hurt you or you just have to regularly be around them, commit this short prayer to memory and repeat it over and over.
Don’t give up. Keep saying it week after week, until you can think of the person and/or be around them without it negatively affecting you emotionally. God is good. He will bless you efforts!
