It is that time of the year again during which almost everyone is trying to blame someone for something.  At the present time many of us think that the best people to blame are those in government.  No matter what the problem is in our own personal lives, we believe that government deserves the first criticism. 

Some people in government we voted into office.  We believed that these people were the right persons for the job.  Now, we wish that we didn’t vote for them or said anything good about them.

If we prayed to God before the election for discernment for the right person that God wanted, why do we express regrets and stop praying?

Do we take time out of the day to pray or offer sacrifice for our public officials?  Do we ask God to guide and lead them, or are we too busy and don’t believe that the government is in need of our prayers and sacrifices?  How can those elected grow and serve well, if they are not nourished; only God can nourish them. 

We have all become complacent; we think that there is nothing that my little voice, my one vote, my one prayer can accomplish.  What can I do?  What can I do?  The answer always comes up: NOTHING.  What can one person do? 

How many people did it take to eliminate prayer from schools, bibles from the classroom, and the big one….to legalize abortion?  The answer to the above question – ONE, UNO!  I will tell you this, however: they worked at it, and they worked hard.  Can the same thing be said about us? 

So, before we start to complain about our government, let’s pray first.  Don’t just say a prayer for the government and feel that is enough.  No!  I am asking that we first prepare ourselves before we pray.  Look at the Our Father that Jesus gave us.  It is not just a prayer, but an outline on how to pray.  Again, this takes some work.  Are we prepared to do a little work?  So let us work it, work it, work it!  Then, our efforts at real prayer will have the effect of bringing about positive results in our government. 

(Steve Cooper is a member of the Community of Gods’ Love Prayer Group at St. Kieran Church in Shelby Township,and a member of the DCCR Assembly.)

The NOW Word emerges from the prophetic words spoken at prayer meetings.  When these words are spoken, everyone says, “Wonderful! Beautiful!”  When the meetings are over, however, does anyone remember what God has said to us, as a group or as individuals?  When God speaks to us, and those words touch us, we should take them to prayer and ask, “God, what do you mean?” or “How do these words affect me?”  Remember, God uses our language, but sometimes those words might mean something different to God.  That is why we have to ask Him what the word might truly be. 

When the DCCR Assembly receives these words and discerns them together, the meaning then becomes present to the entire local Catholic Community.  God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, speaks these words to all of us. 

Every six months a new NOW Word comes out.  There are people who say, “Ah, I heard that before; there is nothing new in the NOW Word.  I thought it was to be something new, but it’s not.”  Don’t they realize that the Word is the same because no one really listened to the Word the previous eight times.  God cannot give us something new unless we listen and obey what He has said before. 

Each of us should have at least three copies of the NOW Word, one on our prayer table, one in our bible, and perhaps one in the bathroom.  It is not just a bunch of words put together to sound nice, it is a way of life.  God is CALLING           us to be or do something.  Look at the PROCLAMATION.  He is telling us who He is and what He has done for us.  In the PROMISE, God is swearing by Himself what He is going to do for us.  In the DIRECTIVES, He is telling us what He wants us to do and how we should do it. 

Some of the words are not milk and honey, always leaving a sweet taste on our tongues.  Rather, they are like bitter herbs that don’t sit too well in our mouths.  There are times that the NOW Word makes us look at our relationship with God and others.  Are these relationships growing or just standing still?  Do we want something more or are we content with what we have?