Praying the news

by | Jul 27, 2013 | Uncategorized

Praying the news to avert despair

Heidi Schlumpf  writes in the NCR… “My students often tell me they avoid the news because it’s too depressing. Death, destruction, discord — who needs all that negativity?”
But checking out — in essence, put­ting your fingers in your ears — doesn’t seem like the most mature, or the most Christian, response.She has  another idea: prayer.She continues… Scripture exhorts us to “pray al­ways,” and surely this includes praying in response to what’s going on in our broader world. Because prayer is so personal, there is a tendency to re­serve it only for the goings-on in our own lives. But as the world becomes a global village, with news and relation­ships spanning time zones and geo­graphic boundaries, I contend that the content of our prayer must grow, too.

Some parishes already do this more formally by bringing current events into the prayers of the faithful at Mass. The congregation may pray for those affected by war around the world, for our political leaders and for those of the parish who are sick or who have died. We can bring our own personal, but also national and international, concerns to community prayer as well.

But I also have made it a practice to bring prayer to my morning and evening perusal of the news, usually via Facebook. Using author Anne La­mott’s formula of Help, Thanks, Wow (the title of her new book), I note the news for which I want to offer prayers of petition, gratitude or praise. Some­times I do this prayer after I’ve closed my computer; other times I just pray right along as I read.

Prayers a a means to increasing motivation to work for change…

In this spirit she writes…Prayer is a way of bringing and keeping an intention in your attention, which is likely to lead to the desire and motivation to work for change, healing or growth.

Praying the news also can prevent a despair that leads to loss of hope. News consumption can become an occasion of this sin, if we’re not careful. The best way to avoid being overwhelmed and numbed by all the bad news in the world is to stay in contact with the bearer of the good news.

[Heidi Schlumpf can be found at Facebook and on Twitter, where you can like [1] and fol­low [2] her.]

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