Today is the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, my most beloved heavenly friend. This post combines some of her wisdom with my own thoughts about the last presidential election. I thought it might be appropriate to re-visit it today. Blessings to everyone on this beautiful Feast of the great Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, OCD.
It has been reported that 50 percent of Catholics overall, and 42 percent of Catholics who regularly attend Mass voted to re-elect the current president. I was astounded by the latter number in particular. How can this be?
It is sad but true that many good people simply accept abortion as a “necessary evil,” one which they would not choose to participate in, but which they accept as an option for others. This same attitude of relativism is driving the tolerance and even approval of so-called same sex “marriage.” I know some of these people. They attend Mass, but ignore much of the Church’s teaching on social issues. The Church is, after all, “extreme in these matters…and hopelessly out of date….” As am I.
Over the past few days, I have been wondering, “What can I do Lord? How can I make a difference?”
Then I read Evening Prayer for today, and the power of God was pulsing through every line of Psalm 46:
God is for us a refuge and strength,
a helper close at hand, in time of distress,
so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,
though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea;
even though its waters rage and foam,
even though the mountains be shaken by its waves.
And I was uplifted. God is with us. Of course He is! He always is…..
Then in the Reading which followed the Psalms, I found the future….so far removed from our world engulfed by sin and darkness. I saw the future which God desires for each one of His children:
I saw a new Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God, beautiful as a bride prepared to meet her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne cry out: “This is God’s dwelling among men. He shall dwell with them and they shall be his people and he shall be their God who is always with them.” I saw no temple in the city. The Lord, God the Almighty, is its temple — he and the Lamb. But nothing profane shall enter it, nor anyone who is a liar or has done a detestable act. Only those shall enter whose names are inscribed in the book of the living kept by the Lamb. (Revelation 21: 2-3, 22, 27)
One day, I hope to dwell in this holy place with all of my brothers and sisters.
And God brought to mind what I could do. I thought of the Angel of Peace, who appeared to the children of Fatima. I remembered the prayers that He taught them, and I particularly remembered the brief intercessory prayer, so simple, so perfect:
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee! I beg pardon for all those that do not believe, do not adore, do not trust and do not love Thee.
This prayer from Heaven was entrusted to the innocent souls of little children. But, we can all pray it, sinners though we may be. We can pray for those who may be far from God, and not even aware of it, or worse, not even care.
But God is so Good and so Merciful, and Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has won for us an Infinite Treasury of Graces from which our prayers may draw down pardon, light, a change of hearts…even miracles.
In the words of the “greatest Saint of modern times,”
The Almighty has given them (the saints) as fulcrum: HIMSELF ALONE; as lever: PRAYER which burns with the fire of love. And it is in this way they have lifted the world; it is in this way that the saints still militant lift it, and that, until the end of time, the saints to come will lift it.” Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of ST. Therese of Lisieux (3rd edition, by John Clarke, O.C.D.), p. 258.
LORD, send us Your Holy Spirit, that our prayers may “burn with the fire of love,” so that like St. Therese, we may lift the world up to You, so that one day all people will believe in, adore, trust and love You.
“Be still and know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme on the earth!” (Psalm 46)
(All Scripture verses are from the Liturgy of the Hours, Evening Prayer II, Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran)
I Want to See God 