I was disturbed by the latest act of political violence in our country, the attack targeting the president that took place last month in Washington, D.C. We thank God this attack was stopped by security and law enforcement.
It is sad to think that in this Jubilee Year for our country, the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence, our nation is more divided and polarized than I’ve ever seen it in my lifetime.
I find myself thinking a lot these days about a line from St. Augustine that I have quoted often over the years: “Bad times! Troublesome times! This is what people are saying. Let our lives be good, and the times will be good. We make our times. Such as we are, such are the times.”
This is good for us to remember. Our lives matter. We may not be powerful or influential in worldly terms, but we each have a role to play in God’s plan. How we live, the example we set, what we say and do, our priorities — they make a difference.
In our liturgical readings during the Easter season, we follow the growth of the early Church as St. Luke records it in the Acts of the Apostles.
The apostles are the leading characters, but the ordinary members of the Church are never far away; their work is to live their faith and pray for God’s purposes to be accomplished.
The first Christians devoted themselves to prayer, the apostles’ teaching, and following Jesus’ command to celebrate the breaking of the bread.
They believed in the power of prayer, and in the Acts of the Apostles we see their prayer shaking buildings and bringing down the Spirit in tongues of fire.
A striking example is when St. Peter gets arrested. Acts tells us simply: “Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayer by the Church was fervently being made to God on his behalf.”
Prayer is the work of the Church. Then and now. By our prayer we “make our times,” as St. Augustine says.
Now, as it was in those early days of the Church, we devote ourselves to prayer in the company of Mary the Mother of Jesus.
May is Mary’s month and the rosary is Mary’s prayer.
We need this prayer again now, we need to renew our faith in its power to change our hearts, in this moment of tense divisions in our society,
The rosary is a school of the heart, a pilgrim’s prayer. It gives us the rhythm for life’s journey, the beads marking steps along the path we walk in faith, drawing us ever deeper into the mystery of our life in Jesus Christ.
Each decade starts with the prayer that Jesus taught us, the prayer that opens our hearts to our Father’s loving will for our lives. The mysteries that pass before us are all scenes that Mary herself witnessed in the life of her Son.
With her, we follow the Child born from her womb through the joys of family life, through his mission of bringing the light of God’s love into the world, through the sorrows of his passion and death, and the glory of his resurrection and promise of new life.
As we ponder the mysteries of Christ’s life, often our mind wanders to the concerns of our own lives — our cares become prayers for our families and friends, our work and our world — and then we drift back again to considering the Gospel scenes.
The repetition of the Hail Marys in the rosary is like a litany of love. “I love you” isn’t something we say only once to the ones we love. So every Hail Mary we repeat in the rosary is like an “I love you” that we are saying to Jesus and to Mary.
As we contemplate the mysteries of Jesus’ life through his mother’s eyes, day by day, we are being changed more and more into his likeness.
And like the prayer that Jesus taught us, the rosary opens our eyes to see the world as our Father sees it and it opens our eyes to our responsibility for his plan of redemption.
Praying the rosary as children of God, we grow to see that life is not about us, but about doing our Father’s will and serving our brothers and sisters.
Prayer is our mission in the Church, and prayer is what the world urgently needs in these troubled times. So let us renew our devotion to Mary and her prayer this month.
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
And let us ask our Blessed Mother to help us as we strive every day to make our lives good and to do our part so that our times may be good.
