I just want to use this pastor’s keyboard to thank everyone at both St. Peter Claver and St. Cecilia who volunteered to spend an hour with Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament for 24 hours on Election Day and the day after (November 3-4) as we prayed for God’s will in the election process and our acceptance of His will. Some of you even spent two hours and one college student spent 4 1/2 hours! I know that the Lord was able to not only bless you during these times of intense prayer, but also many among your family and friends as well as the nation as a whole. This is one of my favorite quotes:
“Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer. Than this world dreams of: Wherefore, let thy voice, Rise like a fountain for me night and day.” – Alfred Tennyson, Idylls of the King
As I’m writing this, we still don’t know who the next President is, but God does! And that is all we need to know. Not only does He know, but He is already at work for our good regardless of who is elected. This should be the primary reason we should not give into rejoicing and expecting too much nor to fear and being hopeless because our hope, trust, and confidence is more in Him than in any political figure.
So, let us pray for our President (assuming that by now we have one) and pray for whoever it will be. He will need our prayers and, regardless of whether we are happy about the results or not, we are going to need him to bring this country together and lead it, and he will need the help of the Lord to accomplish it as well as the help of all good Christian people to participate in the political process, to advocate for the good, and to fight against the bad .
These have not been easy days, and maybe all of our nerves are a little shot, yet, knowing that the Lord is with us and for us, we can truly move forward now with more peace and joy. Pray for the peace of the Lord to fill your hearts and minds and spread it to those who you encounter at work, school, church, and especially at home. God has work for all of us in His vineyard, and it never ends with an election of any political leader; it is a new beginning, and we are all meant to be active.
May the Lord bless our president, new or continuing. May He help him to govern our country well with respect for all life from conception to natural death, and may the good Lord bless him with faith, love and the humility necessary to become a better man, better Christian, and better leader than he has ever been to help our country have a more perfect union and a more generous spirit. Amen!
Your brother and father in Christ,
Fr. Scott