Monday’s presidential inauguration may edge the Los Angeles wildfires off the top of my news feed. Momentarily, at least.
About that, and results of the election: I’m not political.
I haven’t and won’t frantically declare one candidate or party as America’s Only Hope, or hysterically denounce another as That Which Will Destroy Our Fair Nation. Maybe that’s why I’m not giddy over the election results. Or plunged into the depths of despair.
I do, however, give a rip about what happens in my country and in my world.
I have precious little control over national and world events, but there’s something I can do: pray.
A Prayer for Healing, Help, and Guidance
I added a few prayers to my daily routine last month, including this one:
God of all nations,
Father of the human family,
we give you thanks for the freedom we exercise
and the many blessings of democracy we enjoy
in these United States of America.We ask for your protection and guidance
for all who devote themselves to the common good,
working for justice and peace at home and around the world.We lift up all our duly elected leaders and public servants,
those who will serve us as president, as legislators and judges,
those in the military and law enforcement.
Heal us from our differences and unite us, O Lord,
with a common purpose, dedication, and commitment to achieve liberty and justice
in the years ahead for all people,
and especially those who are most vulnerable in our midst.Amen.
(Prayer After an Election, Prayers and Devotions, USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops))
The prayer is labeled “Prayer After an Election”. But to me it looks like one that’s appropriate for any time. Particular when, as a nation, we’re coming off a publicity bender like last year’s political pandemonium.
Judging from what I’m seeing in my news feed, this year will be more of the same.
On the ‘up’ side, decades of noticing disconnects between what partisan doomsayers and publicists say and what the rest of us live with — I don’t think this year will bring either utter disaster or the dawn of a golden age.
Why Share This Prayer?
I think praying is a good idea.
Asking for help with what I can do: that strikes me as reasonable.
Which is why I’m sharing this prayer. No pressure: but it’s short, the goals seem reasonable, and asking for “protection and guidance” sounds like a good idea.
I’ve talked about this sort of thing before:
- “Christmas: Family, Lights, and a Little Weirdness” (December 28, 2024)
- “Voting As If What I Believe Matters” (October 26, 2024)
- “Principles, Priorities, Politics: and Being Catholic” (September 21, 2024)
Often, I wish I knew more details about what these higher-ups think, say, and do. But seeing how myopic I can be whether I know those details or not, especially through our various attempts at depicting us fools through fiction, has me thinking that a fool like me knowing those details would be pointless if the belief that powers that knowing is centered on ego and such. Not a new problem, considering how we couldn’t see God for who He really is when He was here on earth, nor is it an unsolvable one, considering His just mercy transforming those who bother to let Him work as He wishes.
😀 An old saying, from one of my ancestral homelands: ‘would that the powers the giftie gi’ us, to see ourselves as others see us’. Which may or may not relate to your comments – thank you, by the way!
I do think, and hope, that my darkest imaginings are not true – and that a significant number of folks in positions of responsibility do have good intentions: that they mean well, and are trying to make this a better world. What I think of their decisions – is another topic.
And yes – letting God work – for each of us, with each of us, where each of us is in relation to the rest of us – – – that does sound like a good idea.