Like Peter, the modern world has denied Christ.
Contemporary man is afraid of God, afraid of becoming his disciple.
He has said, “I do not want to know God.”
Robert Cardinal Sarah
(a sad little dried acorn in a very dry land / Julie Cook / 2019)
The other day I caught a lead-in title to a story by journalist Sam Sorbo
Conservatives must wade into [the] cultural fray –
yes, even making their own movies – to expand base
Meaning conservatives are more or less losing the proverbial culture war…but
the good news is that a complete loss is not yet a guarantee.
Sorbo notes that “while conservatives are leading in the battle of ideas,
they have all but surrendered the culture war.
Academia, entertainment and high- and low-culture are completely dominated by liberals.
Conservatives must enter the cultural fray if they’re going to expand their base.”
I think we might all agree that words such a conservative, morality, and Judaeo / Christian
run hand in hand while running against our ever-rising post-Christian progressive liberal world.
There is a war…and there are many of us who might agree that it seems
as if the ‘good-guys’ are losing?
If you consider yourself a Christian, a conservative, a Jew, a person of high moral principle…
then you have some sort of understanding of this “war…”
It is a war on both faith and values.
It is a war on the traditional family.
It is a war on the sanctity of marriage.
It is a war on the sanctity of life.
And thus those of you who visit cookieland know that I don’t believe in coincidence but
rather I believe in the urgings of the Holy Spirit.
There has been a word…a single word that is considered to be also an action…
That word, that action, is ‘prayer‘
I’ve noticed that the idea of prayer, or simply the word prayer,
has been a running thread recently here in the blogosphere,
as well as popping up in the things I’ve been reading and even in average conversations…
be they books or various on-line sites.
Prayer… the act of petition, asking, addressing, worshiping, praising…
a conscious practice of either or all mental, vocal or physical actions.
One of the quotes I shared the other day was a quote by St. Angela Merici.
The quote was actually more of a command.
A command she offered to others in the early 16th century…however it is a command
that is most timely and relevant these many centuries later.
St. Angela Merici, a religious educator and according to Wikipedia,
‘founded the Company of St. Ursula in 1535 in Brescia, Italy,
in which women dedicated their lives to the service of the Church through the education of girls.
From this organisation later sprang the monastic Order of Ursulines,
whose nuns established places of prayer and learning throughout Europe and,
later, worldwide, most notably in North America.
St. Angela Merici extolled her young female charges just as she extols us today to
“Pray, and get others to pray, that God not abandon His Church,
but reform it as He pleases, and as He sees best for us,
and more to His honour and glory.”
Most of you know I’m currently working my way through a powerful book by Catholic
Robert Cardinal Sarah, The Day Is Now Far Spent
It is a powerful rallying cry of the faithful—not simply the Catholic
faithful, but rather a cry for the entire global Christian faithful.
Cardinal Sarah is very candid about the ills of our current state of affairs…
ills both in and outside of the Chruch body.
The Cardinal shares that both fasting and prayer are the two crucial weapons that he
relies upon during this spiritual battle, we now find ourselves facing.
He reminds us that…
“We have abandoned prayer.
The evil of efficient activism has infiltrated everywhere.
We seek to imitate the organization of big businesses.
We forget that prayer alone is the blood that can course through the heart of the Chruch.”
And so today I echo the words I read yesterday on Kathy’s post at atimetoshare.me
“What lies below”
“I pray that God will hear the prayers of the faithful and once again intercede.
We need Him now more than ever.”
Just as I echo Fran’s comment she offered to me when I commented on her post
Showers of Blesings:
“Julie, the Spirit fills us with praise for what He is doing, though we cannot see it.
As the unseen God of all life, He works behind the scenes within the heart and spirit of man
to accomplish all His will.
We need to pray for more of His Spirit to do His work in our own hearts and lives as
He continues to work in others. Blessings for your day.
Calls for fasting.
Calls for revival.
Calls for prayer.
Calls for a Nation to fall upon her knees.
The thread keeps running.
Will we heed the call?
“Without union with God, every attempt to strengthen the Chruch and the faith will be in vain.
Without prayer, we will be clanging cymbals.
We will sink to the level of media hypesters who make a lot of noise and produce nothing but wind.
Prayer must become our innermost respiration.
It brings us face to face with God.
Unless we place our head on the heart of Christ, like Saint John, we will not have the strength
to follow him to the Cross.
If we do not take the time to listen to the heartbeats of our God,
we will abandon him, we will betray him as the apostles themselves did.”
Robert Cardinal Sarah.
cookiecrumbstoliveby 
Thank you for this. It gives my heart refreshment and hope. God hears our prayers❤️
Of course He does— 🥰sometimes it’s just
a little frustrating on our end of not always understanding 😳
“Meaning conservatives are more or less losing the proverbial culture war…but
the good news is that a complete loss is not yet a guarantee.” Cookie, as you know, the Lord is SOVEREIGN. Nothing happens outside of His rule–He is ruling now, from the right hand of the Father! Christ told Peter, “the gates of hell will not stand against it.” Stand against what? His church. But modern Christians forget, gates do not attack, they defend. The church should be attacking–prayers, destroying SJW narratives with Biblical truth, not lying down to be rolled over.
Amen Fran— your words are always such a strong and soothing balm— a big hug Fran— Julie
I meant “my curmudgeon friend”— I had just read Fran’s comment and inadvertently inserted her name in response to you— such happens when my older eyes work on this phone 🤣
Amen, Julie! I like Curm’s “gates of hell analogy.” One problem I have with much of Western Christianity (which includes a good hunk of conservatism,) we’re supposed to go right into hell and set the captives free. Those gates of hell are supposed to come tumbling down at our command. We lose the culture war when we put up walls, divide into us and them, and just look the other way as if hell is inevitable. Now of course I am speaking of worldly hell, but I suspect Jesus was, too. 🙂
that kind of goes along with what I’m writing for tomorrow—about prayer, the believer and the non-beliver and how in the end…the believer will still offer prayers for the non-believer…no walls, no divide…but simply the prayer of a unifying Salvation….
I believe in the power of fasting, as Jesus taught in Scriptures. His own fasting of 40 days following his baptism and the combination of FASTING and PRAYER which are sometimes required to dispel the darkness. Can we be disciplined enough to offer this sacrifices? Can we be this self-less? Can we suffer for the sake of receiving the grace & mercy only He can offer to heal the ills of the world? It’s indeed hard stuff! However, it is available to us, as much today as when the Disciples walked with Him. I’ve been personally fasting on bread & water every Wednesday for several years. It has enriched my prayer life. It has strengthened my hope. It has humbled my Spirit. And I know God uses it for His good. Hugs Julie for another powerfully written post!!
during Lent, especially when I was still teaching, I fasted each Wednesday—only having liquids…then at sundown, I’d prepare a soup and cornbread as my husband was emphatic he was not fasting… 😉
I still try to do the same now, and cut out red meat…of which we’ve done pretty much but given the occasional steak or hamburger on the grill.
I do like how fasting and even hunger can redirect my focus so much more so than living a regular day of meals and being on the go…
it seems to draw my consciousness elsewhere!!!