Becoming Prayer Warriors

A little over a month ago, I received an email from a missionary at Benedictine College in Kansas. Their students had proposed a "Fast for Freedom", inviting college students and missionaries across the country to fast and pray in the month before today's election. So, along with my teammates Nicole and Rosalin, I joined in this fast: a personal fast from chocolate.

Growing up Catholic, I am used to giving up things for Lent (which is 40 days) so I didn't think 31 days would be all that bad. Wow was I wrong! Saying no to chocolate was super hard, but I did so in the hopes that my sacrifice would help our country make some good choices today. That is a great thing about Catholicism, the idea of "offering it up" as a way of uniting our sacrifices to that of Jesus.

The students here at UMD also saw the need to pray and fast. From 7pm last night until today's 5:30pm Mass, we had an (almost) 24 hour prayer vigil at Newman, with ongoing Adoration. What a beautiful witness to see these students give up precious time to spend an hour with our Lord and ask Him to watch over our country, and especially the protection of marriage here in Minnesota. Many of them also chose a fast today. Two girls actually endured headaches due to their sacrifice of coffee. What an awesome sacrifice!

As I sat in the Chapel waiting for Mass to begin tonight, I could feel the power of all these prayers and sacrifices. There was this feeling of prayerful expectation, just doing all we could after casting our own votes: praying and waiting. Because we believe in a God who listens to our prayers and answers them. And we should never doubt the power of those prayers.

I don't know how the election will turn out. And I'm writing this post before I do because either way, I believe that the young people of today's Church are truly discovering the power of their faith. And that they will be vigilant prayer warriors to ensure that their right to worship God is always protected. Regardless of tonight's results, this election and the threats that the faithful of the Church face have only made us stronger. Jesus Himself said, "take courage, I have conquered the world." (John 16:33) And so, we keep fighting, recognizing that the One we follow into this battle has assured us of our victory, provided we fight for Him.