Why Prayer Needs Action: Responding to Social Justice as a Church
By Kelliemarie Mash
The entire country watched George Floyd lay lifeless in a Minneaoplis street on May 25th. We didn’t know this man, but his death sparked something in us. Some of us cried, some of us protested, some of us were silent, and some of us still don’t understand. We’ve heard the names of others, but that was the day many of us woke up to injustice.
As Catholics, we cherish life in all forms and that certainly extends to the lives of our black brothers and sisters in Christ. The black community has cried out for years and I think many of us wish we would have listened to the cries sooner, stepped in quicker. As injustices come to light and we begin to learn what systemic racism is and means, we are quick to ask for forgiveness and pray for the healing of people, communities, and cities.
Forgiveness has to be given before healing can take place. I think the church needs to seek out forgiveness for neglecting an entire people for too long. I cannot speak for the black community, but watching the world wake up and cry out for change is a beautiful thing. It’s also, I can imagine, a bit frustrating. I often find myself asking: Why now? Why are we just waking up to this? Why haven’t we done anything sooner? As a Church, we’ve had a gentle response since the death of George Floyd. Admittedly, I’ve been frustrated with this response. Asking for forgiveness absolutely requires a certain level of humility and meekness; those two qualities, however, do not equate to silence. Quite the opposite: the best way for the church to exercise humility and genuinely ask for forgiveness during this time is to show up. Without forgiveness we won’t reach healing.
We live among significant divisions between people, communities, and governments. George Floyd’s death and the rise in voices speaking up are cries urging our nation to value, cherish, and protect black lives. We’ve had far too much time to listen. We’ve learned truths of injustice over the past few weeks that we’ve either somehow missed or, worse, ignored for too long. Prayer has been the response of many Catholic leaders and institutions that I’ve come across. While that response is good and needed, we have to find that balance of prayer and action: the both/and.
Both prayer and action. The two are equally necessary and dependent on each other. I don’t have all the answers, and I can’t say with certainty what the Church’s role will look like in the healing process, but I hope we figure out how to exist in the both/and. I hope we pray for change and then work together to make it happen, leaving space for God to lend his hand and do his thing; within that space is where we are going to find healing.
Taking action right now is overwhelming and scary – where do we start? Saint Teresa of Calcutta once said “It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.” The actions that will make the biggest impacts are unfamiliar and out of comfort zones for most of us. That’s ok. Action, right now, might be as simple as buying an anti- racist book to educate yourself. Doing the little things, the quiet work, with love will go a long way toward healing.
However the balance of both/and may look for you (and it will look different for each of us), I think we should all take a page out of St. Augustine’s book: “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” Invite God into the mess and then take actionable steps. Lastly, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. Starting small when we don’t know where to begin is a feat, but we cannot reside in comfort. Once you’ve learned and listened, call on church leaders to be examples, have the hard conversations we like to avoid so much. Live fully in the both/and; forgiveness and healing will follow.
