Holy Idea

I just found this post over at Ten Reasons, and felt it worthy to be passed along:

Fr. Hardon said it would only be eucharistic adoration that would change hearts. Fr. Corapi, I believe, has said the same thing.

Why not do an all-night eucharistic adoration on the night before the inauguration (or the Friday before) for the intention of Sen. Obama’s conversion on this crucial point? Set it up in your parishes, and if your pastor says, “Nix,” go to a neighboring pastor and then to the next one and to the next one after that.

And just as important as prayer before the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is repentance. We are about to go into exile as a nation (I am not saying that Sen. Obama’s election in and of itself is an exile), but this can only be possible because our hearts have already been in exile for a long time. We, each of us, have much to repent for in our lives, our fellow citizens have much to repent for, and as a nation we need to put on the same sort of sack cloth and ashes that our Ninevite forefathers did before us. We are Ninevites, Sodomites, and Gomorahites at heart, and God wants us, His precious children, back.

For our Protestant friends, they can simply have an all night prayer session, maybe before an open book of the Gospels, asking that the word impregnate all our hearts, especially the President-elect’s, in a new and profound way.

Prayer and fasting. Our Lord said only prayer and fasting are capable of driving out the demons that corporately afflict us. Let’s be Our Lord’s instruments for fighting them and casting out their evil.

I'm still working on my paper on St. Catherine of Siena, and of course, still reading and analyzing the prophets for Old Testament. It never ceases to amaze me how relevant are the lessons from the past, for it is only the times that change; not the nature of humanity. What was true for Ninevah is true for us today. What was true for Jerusalem in 701 BC is true for America today. Nothing has changed.

St. Catherine of Siena learned from the Eternal Father that He is "an Acceptor of Holy Desires", and indeed, we have a holy desire for the conversion of souls and and end to abortion. The fact that conversions aren't happening and that abortion hasn't ended is our own fault. It means we haven't done enough. We haven't fasted, we haven't offered enough prayer. And now we are being called not to quit, but to persevere and increase our efforts. Let us do so. For Our Heavenly Father, who is an Acceptor of Holy Desires, will recognize our sacrifices and hear our prayers, for those desires match His own.