Grerp is a woman who posts fairly rarely. It’s fairly clear that she and her husband, like many in the USA, have had to reconfigure, adapt and overcome the ongoing slow train wreck which is their imploding economy. But when she posts, it is generally very wise.
Like this.
I got fairly discouraged. But I kept praying. During Lent I asked if anyone needed prayer, and slowly my prayer list has gotten longer and longer. I didn’t realize before how many people in my social circle were struggling with health issues, family problems, unemployment, grief and sorrow. Praying for them made me realize how common my problems were, how this was just another thing people, even people who plan and prepare, go through and endure and try to stiffen their spine through. It’s been humbling and eye-opening.
There really isn’t anything I can do right now for Christians being murdered in the Middle East, except pray for them. But I can pray for them. And the act of prayer connects me to them and to all the other people who pray and have prayed. Some people say that prayer is worthless, that time and money is more important to give. But I’ve found that, by praying, I am more aware and concerned about the people around me. I check in on them more and am moved to be more personally generous. If I pray for the Israelis and Palestinians, I conceptualize them as people with needs. I know that when people tell me they are praying for me, I feel loved and cared about.
While I’m thinking about my Catholic friends and enemies, the most crunchy Catholic in my link list (which includes a few very crunchy catholics) was asked about the future of the church. And he said something, again, that is very wise and I agree with.
I have a basic trust. In the end, the Holy Ghost will not allow the Church to be destroyed, and He will drive Her back to sanity. But seriously, that’s it, and the assurance is no more than that.
I do, obviously, not believe that the Holy Ghost endorses every madness happening within the Church. If I had thought that way, I would have supported the Arians when Pope Liberius of Pope Honorius supported them, and I would have believed that there is no Particular Judgment before the Universal Judgment because Pope John XXII (evidently, in this logic, hand-picked by the Holy Ghost and therefore wanting the heresy) was fully persuaded of it until, apparently, the day before he died.
In the end, we who are lay have a great power. We can pray. Even if they ban us from blogging, we can pray.
