Praying

By Fr. Tom Zelinski, OFM Cap.

As I was sitting and praying this morning, the thought occurred to me that there are probably millions of people doing the same thing: sitting, kneeling, walking, maybe praying while running. It is good to remember all the goodness in the world.

These days, as we are so conscious of the war in Ukraine, we are also made aware of the tremendous humanitarian response from much of the world. People are reaching out with money and all kinds of material aid to the people who are hurting so much. We wish all that goodness would also stop the fighting, but that is coming from another direction, from intentions that seem downright evil or a kind of insanity.

And so the people suffer. We get a notice almost every day from the Capuchin friars in Ukraine and Russia who are doing what they can to help people. Amid all the suffering, there is inspiring goodness.

Again, my beginning thought. Let us all keep praying, keep doing our part to bring some goodness and peace into the world of so much chaos. We’ve had the message of Jesus for over 2000 years. Some of humanity has not paid attention to him, and so there have been “wars and rumors of wars” down all the centuries. Let us pay attention to him and put into practice what we have heard over and over again. Love God. Love your neighbor. Accept mercy. Show mercy.