Pause+Pray

You are not God. That might sound obvious, but it’s also a relief. You’re not responsible for holding the whole world together—just to show up with love and faithfulness in the part you’ve been given.

While incidents of violence range in scope and size, they all leave damage and suffering in their wake. Such violence stands in sharp contrast to the beauty of life that God created.

Most of us know someone who we think was very faithful, and yet that person has died. In our eyes, they have seen death—quite literally.

The prophet Habakkuk names what so many of us feel when prayers go unanswered or when injustice drags on. But God’s answer is tender and clear: the vision still has its time.

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God that things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). While others rightly have authority over many things, this must always be exercised in accordance with God’s divine law.

Legend has it that, in 1226, the bells of St. Stephen in Assisi began to clang spontaneously as Francis took his final breath.