Prayer
There is a long list of things the ideological left doesn't understand. Firearms are one, prayer is clearly another.
I’m not the best person or the best Christian and I will be the first to admit it.
But I pray – and realizing how much I fail to be the person God expects me to be, that is the primary reason I do.
I pray, not for a specific intercession, but for peace – for myself and for others.
I pray because it aligns my mind and my heart with my spirit.
I pray because it clears my vision and guides me to understanding.
I pray to be shown the path I should walk.
I pray for the salvation of my soul in this world and the next.
Most of all, I pray for all of that for others as well.
Never people to let their ignorance get in the way of a hot take on television or social media, the gun-ignorant left went out after on the Annunciation Catholic school shooting to display that they still know absolutely nothing about the thing they want so desperately to ban – which is amazing after several decades of opportunities to learn.
But guns are not the only weak spot for the libs, religion is most certainly another area where the less they say, the better.
Several, like Circle Back Psaki and Gav the Grifter Newsom, immediately commented by attacking prayer as if prayer was some sort of incantation or a spell to cast.
“I cast the Spell of Protection!” might work in a fantasy game of Dungeons and Dragons, but that isn’t the way it works in the world of believers.
Religion is not a board game.
I resent their comic book portrayal of prayer.
What amazes me is even those on the left who claim to be religious see it the same way as Jen and Gav – but I guess I shouldn’t be amazed since the media dutifully reported that Joe Biden was a “devout” Catholic who supports abortion. I guess that sort of wink and a nod religion stuff is just for the rubes in flyover country.
Where we see faith, the left sees witchcraft. What we consider supernatural, they see as magic. Where we see divinity, they see superstition.
Even those who claim to be Catholic - or identify with some other Christian or Jewish congregation - seem lightly aware of their own religion. They approach religion in a way that appears to me as self-loathing. It is almost as if identifying as “religious” is a resume enhancer – or at least a defense against their frequently awful takes.
The problem the left has in understanding prayer is that the power of prayer is often only seen through reflection, a skill the left does not possess.
Every great tool humanity has ever forged has carried two blades: the one that builds, and the one that destroys. Fire warmed the caves, cooked the first meals - and burned villages to ash. Steel plowed the fields and made the sword. And the guns both protect and in the wrong hands kills the innocent.
The fear comes from the unknowing of when it will be used by those wrong hands and feeling powerless to do anything about it.
But here’s the piece I think many overlook: A Gun doesn't want. It doesn’t scheme. It reflects, amplifies, accelerates. In the wrong hands, yes it magnifies harm. In the right hands, it magnifies not only protection but also sustaining life. A Gun itself is not the villain or the savior; the human heart holding the reins decides that.
Religion and our prayers to God provide for a righteous heart, which is further strengthen with each prayer we make. To this end, I believe the many who have left their religious roots, have stopped in their beliefs of the merciful God, our Father, our Creator, have had a heart left unfulfilled, left adrift and rudderless and therefore can be guided by whichever way the wind is blowing. Unfortunately, that is not always in the righteous direction.
May our merciful God take those two murdered children into his loving arms and give them everlasting peace. Amen.
I think most secular folks think of prayer as just “asking for stuff.” Prayer also includes adoration, contrition and thanksgiving which the secular folks probably are unaware of. As for “asking for stuff” some of this “stuff” includes requests for non-material blessings, such as consolation (for those bereaved or children or other loved ones) as well as requests for wisdom, insight or discernment.