Leigh Ann Roman finds serenity in tumultuous times with focus on personal reform.
I am surviving this political season by focusing on personal conversion rather than politics. In our overwrought media cycle, just getting on Facebook can lead to emotional whiplash. When social media is part of your job, as it is mine, it’s impossible to shut out the noise of people trumpeting opinions based on the media they consume. It can be exhausting.
What I find most helpful during these contentious days is to remember that my primary job in the world is to become a saint. To some that sounds outlandish, but as Catholics we know that we are called to holiness first.
I am not hiding my head in the sand; rather, I am guarding my heart and mind by keeping them focused on Christ through daily morning prayer, extra Mass attendance, and increased spiritual reading. If mothers are the heart of the home, then we are also called to the peace of Christ. Keeping this peace requires effort and spiritual growth. For someone like me, an outspoken Kentucky native and former journalist, the struggle is real.
Personal conversion leads to interior freedom
As a reader of all things Catholic, both fiction and non-fiction, I am finding guidance during these last fraught days of the campaign in Father Jacques Philippe’s small book, Interior Freedom. I picked up this treasure at a book swap offered by the Women’s Guild at my parish. It’s a game-changer, full of nuggets like: “At times of struggle, we need to recall the conversion we should be concerned about is not our neighbor’s but our own” and “It does more good to seek to reform our hearts than to reform the world or the Church. Everyone will benefit.”
Thanks to this important reminder, I am holding my peace rather than stating my opinions about what others are saying or doing. In fact, I am unusually quiet these days. That is not because I’m uninterested; it’s because I’m praying for the grace to not say something I will later regret.
Meeting evil with love
Fr. Philippe says that the more holy a person is, the more that person suffers due to the evil in the world. But the true harm to us comes by our own negative internal reactions to that external evil, such as fear, worry, or resentment. He even discourages concentrating on and talking about what is wrong in society, lest we give it more strength. Instead, he encourages a focus on love, as described in Saint Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians:
It (love) is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13: 5-7)
This is not a natural reaction to life. It is a supernatural reaction, and I don’t think it’s something I can do under my own steam. Fr. Philippe says it is a gift of God, but one that is given to us more quickly the more we strive to practice the attitude of love and acceptance.
This is a lifelong endeavor for me, and it is one in which I fail regularly. But the more I practice this, the more quickly I can see my fault and pick myself back up and place myself again in God’s hands, asking Him for the grace to do for me what I cannot do for myself.
Perhaps that is why my constant prayers these days are the most simple: “Jesus, I trust in You,” and “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Ask for Interior Freedom at your local Catholic bookseller, or order online from Amazon.com or the publisher, Scepter Publishers.
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Copyright 2024 Leigh Ann Roman
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About the Author
Leigh Ann Roman
Leigh Ann Roman is a Kentucky native and Catholic convert who makes her home in Memphis, Tennessee, where she works in higher education communications. A former newspaper reporter, Leigh Ann enjoys reading and writing about the Catholic faith. She and her husband have two grown children. Follow her on Instagram @Eaglestonroman
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