I wonder how you’re doing this week. Most of the folks I know here in the US are on edge. Of course every presidential election is heralded as “the most important of our lifetime,” but this one feels particularly weighty for setting the trajectory of our country’s policies and rhetoric. My friends and family are expressing anxiety, fear, anger, and a host of other emotions as we wait to see how the next week or so will unfold.
What resources can faith offer in tumultuous times like these? Philosopher James K. A. Smith suggests that Augustine has a lot to teach us about our place in time—and what that means for our politics. Columnist Heidi Neumark describes how stories of everyday resistance bolster her when well-founded fears loom. And in our video of the week, Jeannine Pitas talks frankly about political polarization, spiritual practices, and difficult dialogue.
“One morning, as the person assisting handed me the stack of prayers posted overnight, my eyes landed on a scrap of paper whose prayer bolted through me like electric current.”
“The Capuchin Crypt and other bone chapels certainly ask us to gaze at our mortality. But they also invite us to grapple with the mysterious, beautiful promise of resurrection.”
