Story by Joe Pisani
Every morning at precisely 7:18, as my daughter is driving my grandson to school, she calls me to rant about the latest atrocity on the internet, the latest infringement of our freedoms, the latest bias against Catholics, and a host of other complaints she’s cultivated from the morning news and podcasts she listens to. She often begins this little tirade with, “Did you know …?!?”
I’m inclined to agree with her. As my mother often said, “It’s a scary world out there, and getting scarier.”
She sputters about everything from the national debt, to rising crime, to the cancel culture, to bank failures, to Catholics being arrested for practicing their First Amendment rights, and naturally to politics. Sometimes I can feel my blood pressure rising in anticipation of her morning call.
I, myself, put more trust in prayer to make the world a better place, than in politics.
Now, I don’t typically listen to political podcasts. I’m more of a traditionalist, who gets his daily dose of agita and frustration by reading the morning headlines in the paper and on internet news sites.
After doing that, my first response is to crawl back in bed and hide under the covers. My second response is to do some deep breathing, and my third response is to forget the cause of my frustration and go about my day, happy go lucky or as happy go lucky as I can be.
If I were smarter, I’d start my day with a spiritual approach. I’d pray the rosary, read the Daily Office, and say my morning offering, along with my favorite devotions. That would put me in a proper frame of mind to face the world.
My wife, being more intelligent, never gets out of bed until she says her morning prayers. And whenever our daughter calls with another rant, Sandy simply says: “Listen to fewer podcasts and do more praying.”
I guess I should apply that wisdom in my life too. I should forget the headlines and pray more because it’s the only force for good that’s effective and produces lasting results.
As Catholics and citizens, I sometimes think we have ourselves too wrapped up in the hysteria of a world we can’t control, and it distracts us from our primary responsibility, which is to spread the Gospel and bring Christ to people with compassion and kindness.
Instead, we’re constantly arguing about politics, which is only a passing blip in world history. Our greater concern should be salvation history.
The true agents for change — lasting spiritual change — aren’t people in the news every day, and they’re not the “influencers” on social media, or our political leaders or the commentators on the evening news.
The true agents for change are the unheralded women and men who say the rosary before Mass, who go to Eucharistic adoration, and who pray for peace and unity in the Church, their country, and their families. These are men and women who go unrecognized and unacknowledged by society and the media.
Do you remember what Jesus said about the first being last and the last being first? And what he said about the Kingdom of God upending all the priorities the world embraces? And what he said about the meek inheriting the Earth … not the powerful? Someday it will all come to pass.
Those inconspicuous and humble souls with their beads and their novenas are holding the world together. They’re holding their families together. They’re holding their communities together … even though they’re not the ones yelling at Town Hall Meetings or clamoring over political causes. Someday we’ll owe them an enormous debt of gratitude.
I tried to explain this to my daughters, but I don’t think they get it, and I don’t think they believe that prayer is more powerful than politics.
We may not immediately see the results of our prayers, of those hours before the Blessed Sacrament, and of our simple act of kindness, but God sees everything.
Do you want to change society? Do you want unity in the church? Do you want the best for your family, your friends and your neighbors? Then, pray for them as often as you can. We live in an age when “unceasing prayer” is even more important than it was in St. Paul’s time.
My wife is right. We need fewer podcasts and more prayer. Last week, she told my daughter that instead of ranting while she’s driving my grandson to school, she should be praying the rosary with him — the way she did with our daughters. Every prayer counts. We have a lot of work to do.