“Summertime and the living is easy.”* But it’s not, is it.
I intended to write a pithy reflection of finding faithfilled things to do in the summer (see pages 10-13) or wax on about my own Catholic school memories (check out John Proos cover feature). Or echo Bishop Bradley’s words of wisdom about renewing our faith (page 4). And those are great features by the way — check them out.
But I’m not feeling very lighthearted. And the world seems a bit frightening
doesn’t it? Soon after the horrific shooting that claimed the lives of 19 innocent people, my social media feeds were flooded with everyone from celebrities to sports coaches saying “enough with your thoughts and prayers — keep ‘em to yourself.” And while I absolutely understand the frustration that fuels those
responses, well, it just makes me profoundly sad.
I mean, really? Have we lost so much hope that we’re ready to toss aside someone’s prayers like a used tissue? And while I understand that hollow, disingenuous words don’t do anything, I do know that prayers do. I’ve witnessed it. As does faith in action. Why can’t we have both? Have we really lost all faith or our tolerance for it?
I hope not. Or rather, I hope. I witness a man lovingly push his wife in a wheelchair, and I hope. I see the customer in Kohl’s hand a $5 coupon to a stranger, and I hope. People across the globe unite in prayer for our Ukrainian sisters and brothers, and I hope.
I have to. The alternative is just too bleak — the alternative being a world where we dismiss the power of prayer. As one of my favorite authors wrote so brilliantly:
We do not pray to tell God what he does not know, nor to remind him of things he has forgotten. He already cares for the things we pray about ... He has simply been wait- ing for us to care about them with him.
—Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?
One of my go-to feel-good videos I watch to bolster my spirits is the Young Peoples Chorus of New York singing “Let there be Peace on Earth” for Pope Francis during his apostolic visit to the United States. The composer, Jill Jackson-Miller, has said she wrote the song after discovering what she called the “life-saving joy of God’s peace
and unconditional love.” And I would guess she found that first in prayer.
So write that card to a friend, bake those cookies to share just because, get to know your neighbors. We’ve been going this alone for too long, thinking it’s someone else’s job to fix our messy world. Look for the good
around you (like the inspiring work of Caring Network and those that journey with moms in need — see page 22). And be inspired to multiply it.
And let peace begin with us.
But before all else, let’s keep praying for each other — God’s waiting on us
* Summertime, George Gershwin, Porgy and Bess, 1935