When Adversity Strikes (10/14/2025)

You’re in a meeting at your parish. Tensions are running high as the various sides dig in on their positions. Judgments are being slung liberally. What do you do?

Well, if you took a cue from the life of our Savior, you’d stop and pray. Jesus frequently took a break from the activities and went off to pray. If the Son of God needs time to connect with the Father Almighty in prayer, might we not benefit if we chose to turn to the LORD in moments of adversity?

There are multiple reasons for that path: The LORD has a better vantage point to see the issue clearly; the LORD knows what we are missing and can supply us with it through the Spirit; the LORD is LORD of us all and as such can be a uniter.    

The situation is one I am very familiar with because over the years as Director of Pastoral Services for a midwestern diocese, I was sent in to help parishes struggling with difficult issues most especially division. And when tensions would rise, I would frequently ask that we stop, turn to our LORD in prayer, and then, after asking for guidance and grace, start again. It always made a difference.

Sometimes, the difference flowed mainly from recognizing in the time of prayer all that we share with those with whom we are not in agreement with at the moment. Sometimes, it was receiving that for which we prayed almost instantly such as guidance and grace. Sometimes, it was simply stepping back from an angry exchange and realizing that wasn’t who we are called to be. Sometimes it was all of the above.

The LORD our Savior tells us to ask, to seek, to knock. When adversity comes into our lives, we can and should ask for the LORD’s help and guidance. When we are struggling and feeling the pains of division in community and animosity with neighbors, we should seek the LORD’s help and seek the Spirit. When we are feeling shut out and frightened, we should knock upon the door of opportunity that only the LORD can open for us.

But then again, one doesn’t have to be in midst of adversity to benefit from the blessings of prayer or to seek the resources that our LORD puts at our disposal if we only ask, if we merely seek the LORD’s loving help.

As we continue on our life’s journey in faith, filled with hope, fueled by love, let us stop early and often to turn to the LORD, to allow the LORD to re-orient us, to allow the LORD to restore us, to allow the LORD’s love to inform us, conform us, and transform us. Prayer is never a bad use of time.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.