Do you pray for the church?

There are two ways we can look at this question. First, if we consider the transcendent church, meaning the church that is beyond human institution, one might say why would I pray for the church. It is of God and beyond the need for our prayers. I think that is correct in some way. That leads us to the second way to look at this question, the church as a human institution but one that relies on God to guide it. This is the church we hear about in the news. It is the church we encounter in the world. We pray it is always intimately connected to the transcendent church.

Why do I pose this question? Because I want to make sure you realize that we need to pray for our church everyday, pray for it to be lead by the Holy Spirit in all things.

Last week Pope Francis held a consistory creating 21 new cardinals. Of course this made the Catholic news services but it also made the secular news. Why? Because people use it to speculate on what direction the Catholic Church is headed. Perhaps the most noteworthy duty of a cardinal is to participation in the selection of a new pope. With these 21 new cardinals, Pope Francis has named almost 100 of the cardinals currently eligible to vote in the selection of a new pope. That would be the vast majority of the typical 120 cardinals who can vote. So, the news likes to look at who the new cardinals are and their theological leanings to speculate on what the next pope might be like. That has merit but when it is time to select a new pope, I will pray and trust that the Holy Spirit will be the one in charge of the selection. I don’t feel qualified to make that determination or even to speculate myself.

It is not just at the time of the selection of a new pope that we should pray for our church. We should pray everyday for the church and for all who lead it to always be lead by the Holy Spirit. There are always issues before the church. There is dissent over Catholic teaching on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. Perhaps there is something you don’t like or understand going on in the church. Remember, it is not about what we what. We need to pray that God keeps his church rooted in what He has always taught us.

There are times when people want to seize the moment to get the church to do what they want. The current example of this would be the Synod on Synodality called by Pope Francis that is about to meet. As I understand the synod, its purpose is to talk about how our Church interacts with the world. Yet, there are those who see it as an opportunity to make radical changes to church teaching. I invite to pray that this synod is lead by the Holy Spirit and accomplishes what God wants.

Our prayers should never be about getting what we want. Remember the words we pray in the Our Father, thy will be done. I encourage you to pray everyday that our Catholic Church is lead by the Holy Spirit in all things. God has a plan and his plan is perfect. I leave you with the words of Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.“

Peace,

Fr. Jeff