{"id":22652,"date":"2012-06-07T09:46:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-07T14:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?p=22652"},"modified":"2017-04-26T15:53:52","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T20:53:52","slug":"fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/","title":{"rendered":"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer …"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026 to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY!<\/p>\n

Dear God, sometimes I get so frustrated with your church.<\/p>\n

I know that I\u2019m not alone.\u00a0 So many people who love your church feel frustrated with the Body of Christ on earth.\u00a0 Priests and deacons, and brothers and sisters, can feel frustrated, too.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll bet that even bishops and popes feel frustrated.\u00a0 We grow worried and concerned and bothered and angry and sometimes scandalized because your divine institution, our home, is filled with human beings who are sinful.\u00a0 Just like me.<\/p>\n

But I get frustrated most of all when I feel that there are things that need to be changed and I don\u2019t have the power to change them.<\/p>\n

So I need your help, God.<\/p>\n

Help me to\u00a0remember that Jesus promised that he would be with us until the end of time, and that your church is always guided by the Holy Spirit, even if it\u2019s hard for me to see.\u00a0 Sometimes change happens suddenly, and the Spirit astonishes us, but often in the church it happens slowly.\u00a0 In your time, not mine.\u00a0 Help me know that the seeds that I plant with love in the ground of your church will one day bloom.\u00a0 So give me patience.<\/p>\n

Help me to\u00a0understand that there was never a time when there were not arguments or disputes within your church.\u00a0 Arguments go all the way back to Peter and Paul debating one another.\u00a0 And there was never a time when there wasn\u2019t sin among the members of your church.\u00a0 That kind of sin goes back to Peter denying Jesus during\u00a0his Passion. Why would today\u2019s church be any different than it was for people who knew Jesus on earth?\u00a0 Give me wisdom.<\/p>\n

Help me to trust in the Resurrection.\u00a0 The Risen Christ reminds us that there is always the hope of something new.\u00a0 Death is never the last word for us.\u00a0 Neither is despair.\u00a0 And help me remember that when the Risen Christ appeared to his disciples, he bore the wounds of his Crucifixion.\u00a0 Like Christ, the church is always wounded, but always a carrier of grace. Give me hope.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest of Fr. Jim\u2019s prayer HERE<\/a><\/strong>!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026 to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY! Dear God, sometimes I get so frustrated with your church. I know that I\u2019m not alone.\u00a0 So many people who love your church feel frustrated with the Body of Christ on earth.\u00a0 Priests and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2957,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[673],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church"],"yoast_head":"\nFr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer ...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"... to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY! Dear God, sometimes I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"... to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY! Dear God, sometimes I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vox Nova\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-07T14:46:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-26T20:53:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Gordon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Gordon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer ...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-07T14:46:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-26T20:53:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/62ba0ae419b9688d635668b941c00b85\"},\"description\":\"... to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY! Dear God, sometimes I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer …\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/\",\"name\":\"Vox Nova\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/62ba0ae419b9688d635668b941c00b85\",\"name\":\"Mark Gordon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e3d59cd11a73b0ef5bb1e7a1446c361?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e3d59cd11a73b0ef5bb1e7a1446c361?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Gordon\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/author\/pathtree\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer ...","description":"... to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY! Dear God, sometimes I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer ...","og_description":"... to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY! Dear God, sometimes I","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/","og_site_name":"Vox Nova","article_published_time":"2012-06-07T14:46:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-04-26T20:53:52+00:00","author":"Mark Gordon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Gordon","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/","name":"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer ...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-07T14:46:09+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-26T20:53:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/62ba0ae419b9688d635668b941c00b85"},"description":"... to the question: How should we think about and react to confounding and discouraging developments in our Catholic family? PRAY! Dear God, sometimes I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/2012\/06\/07\/fr-james-martin-sj-has-the-answer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fr. James Martin, SJ, Has the Answer …"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/","name":"Vox Nova","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/62ba0ae419b9688d635668b941c00b85","name":"Mark Gordon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e3d59cd11a73b0ef5bb1e7a1446c361?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e3d59cd11a73b0ef5bb1e7a1446c361?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Mark Gordon"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/author\/pathtree\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/voxnova\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}