A new book addresses unresolved tensions pertaining to the pope’s authority to dismiss a bishop from his diocese.
When a crisis strikes, people react in many different ways, with varying degrees of fruitfulness. Some are prone to emotional outburst, an understandable but ultimately unhelpful option. Social media has made this kind of response all the more tempting, and the mudslinging that often results is on display for all to wince at.
If impulsively sounding off—online or in person—is one of the worst ways to respond to a crisis, what is the best? Prayer, of course. In Scripture, God reminds us, “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 49:15). A committed life of prayer, especially when rooted in the liturgy, is like building on a solid foundation capable of withstanding any storm.
Divine deliverance, though assured to the earnest petitioner, is hardly automatic. More often than not, we are left to struggle in very human ways as God conforms our selves and situations to His will. Reason is a characteristic faculty of the human person and must partake in this transformation of all things in Christ. Rather than passively awaiting the renewal of mind that St. Paul mentions in his letter to the Romans, serious Christians ought to train the intellect like a muscle.
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