Politics have been the subject these days, though I must confess that I am terribly ignorant upon this topic, and rely heavily upon my good husband for the latest news.
It isn’t that I think politics are unimportant, but it has always seemed to me, that the political state is more a result of the health of the body as a whole. In other words, if we have poor leadership, this is a symptom of an underlying disease of the society that nurtured them, and rather than concentrate on the boil, our time would be better spent determining its cause.
When I read the Old Testament, I am impressed by the recurring state of events. When the people of God turned away from Him, there were gradual symptoms of this. First the people would begin to turn to the things of the world for their pleasure … as a result their holy places would become defiled, their priests effeminate, and so it would go downhill. He would draw His people back to Himself by allowing them to be overtaken by the enemy. When they were doubled over by this oppression, they would finally fall on their knees in fervent prayer and penance, begging for His intervention. When they persevered in this, gradually they found relief, the holy places returned to being holy, and the priests turned their hearts back to God, and the enemy was routed.
So today, when I think on politics, I cannot help but go beyond the politician, and see this bigger picture. I am delighted when I hear of so many people today, talking about joining prayer groups, and signing up for holy hours, in order to pray. I think this is what Our Lady has been requesting in her apparitions for the past century and a half… trying to get us to pray and do penance so that the proper order of things will be restored.
Let us pray it will be so. But I think it is important we don’t point the finger at a bad president, or a bad priest when we pray, because they are only a result of our lack of prayer in the first place. Instead, let us pray and do penance mostly for our failure in doing this fervently all of our lives, instead of sporadically… Like a spoiled child that only behaves for a few minutes, so she can receive a lollipop. God cannot refuse a humble heart!