Cardinal Robert Sarah has my vote!  Of course, I have no status to vote for our next pope, but if I did….  What I can do, however, is pray.  And I can strive to grow in prayer, and in the Interior Life of Grace, and in enduring faithfulness to Holy Truth.

And also I can proclaim in the tiny voice of this Blog to the People of God, that we all need to pray fully, not merely with words or wishes or shallow wants, but in holy faith emptying ourselves of all loves of this passing world!  We must “make space” for Him.  We must “have a room” in our hearts for Him alone in His fullness, in the center of our hearts, in the center of our lives, with lives lived in complete devotion to Him!  In the sacrifice of deepest prayer, let us offer ourselves heart and mind and soul and strength to God Who Is Truth: “Let it be to me,” now and forevermore, “according to Your Word.”

“She has chosen the better part….”

Cardinal Sarah, in a recent address (note 1), offers 5 key points of focus for the Catholic faithful, proper intentions of our hearts worthy of and fruitful in the troubling days that we face.  These five areas of concern reveal debts, actually:  We owe our Creator.  We owe Him lives of worship in spirit and truth. (note 2)   The five he listed are these; the comments are mine:

1. The Word of God.  Yes we today especially must make our home in His saving and holy Word.2. Prayer.  His Word – both His Word Jesus Christ, and His Word Holy Scripture – reveal God in Truth.  St. John Vianney wrote, “Prayer is nothing else than union with God.” (note 3)3. The Interior Life – Within we find who we really are.  There, in the “room of self-knowledge,” in silence and solitude and stillness, the holy moment of Encounter lives.4. Silence – We must find, and recover, and embrace Truth in the purity of quiet.5. Inner Struggle – Day after day, more and more boldly, evil screams at us in murderous rage.  They hated Him; they will and do hate us.  But the evil must not find place in us!  Greater is He who lives within, than those who hate, who lie, who kill, consume and destroy.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the Church…. (Col 1:24)

Our proper response to the darkness and evil of these days, I believe, is a life of holiness. (note 4)  Every faithful soul on earth, I believe, in union with the multitude of souls in holiness both living on earth and in heaven, is important and significant, participating in the Life and Passion of Christ our Lord.  Every holy person is an unquenchable light in the darkness – every one a bright star, in the blackness of night, each one a testimony and a promise of the immense glory of the sun – the Son – coming in the dawn!  Each spark of God’s life in the body of humanity is standing against death, the progeny of satan – it is a witness of immortal love, and glory, and joy.  Each faithful soul, each child of the Blessed Mother, testifies to the hope placed within each of us in Baptism, of the Triune God’s plan from the beginning: a humanity imaging the Creator before the whole universe of His creation, striking speechless every evil spirit in rebellion. God’s Holy Truth stands victorious.

Notes:

“Cardinal Sarah Offers Ways to Deal With ‘Crisis of Faith’ in the World”, National Catholic RegisterJohn 4:23-24 –  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truthSt. John Vianney,  Little Catechism, Ch. 8 On Prayer.The Ordinary Path to Holiness, R. Thomas Richard.  I wrote this book to try to present, to contemporary Catholics, the profound and beautiful spirituality taught to His Church by the Holy Spirit, guiding so many holy saints into communion with our Lord in love, in His eternal truth. There is a path – a process – of growing in and into holiness.  The saints and the Spirit confirm: it is of God.  And we can follow it: it is a path left for us to follow, if we will.