Prayer AND Action

In the wake of San Bernadino, when the ire of the certain groups has trended towards "prayer-shaming" in order to express frustration with lawmakers' inaction to take more concrete steps in reducing the threat of gun violence, what we need is the wisdom of Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 - 543/7).

The current state of affairs is that liberals, who mostly identify as non-religious, are fed up with conservative lawmakers, who are mostly religious, taking to social media in order to offer their "prayers" for the victims of the latest mass shooting rather than passing legislation to curb access to guns. The Atlantic did a good job of characterizing these frustrations.

I don't want to get into the politics of the debate because those politics run much too deep for me to consider. Rather, in the wake of this polarization and dichotomy between prayer and action, we, as Christians, must not lose sight of the fact that our prayer and action inform each other. We learn this from Benedict of Nursia. In his Rule, Benedict writes, "Ora, lege, et labora": "You need to pray, read, and work." It is not uncommon to see "work" interpreted as "action."

There is no preference for one over the other. There is no excuse for praying and not acting, and reflecting on our actions in prayer is beneficial.

We may find it blasphemous to think that prayer is not enough. Doesn't Scripture speak of prayer's effectiveness?

Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. (Mark 11:24) 

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9)

The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17)

But let's not forget that in the life of Jesus there was both prayer and action. The balance between the two brought them into perfect harmony. Consider that we find Jesus in the Gospels spending the night in prayer immediately preceding the most significant moments in his ministry: his baptism, choosing the Twelve Apostles, and not least in the Garden of Gesthemane. Jesus, sharing our humanity, made the time both to experience and draw strength from his communion with God, and all that followed, consciously or unconsciously, became an expression of his prayer.

This is the model that all of us are called to follow.

And so, as we consider the tragedy that has befallen not just the community of San Bernadino but the whole world; as we experience the pain and the loss and the grieving with them; as we grow ever more weary of our world of violence; let's follow the example demonstrated by Jesus and written clearly by Benedict of Nursia: prayer AND action.