What Should I Do When I Feel Helpless in Times of Crisis and Social Unrest

June 1, 2020: In the last 70+ days, my emotions and reactions have been all over the place. Most people except my husband have seen me take life in stride: calm, cool, collected.

Keeping calm has been my armor, my strength for my family, my “public face”. But underneath that calm, there’s more.

Sadness and anger over the lonely deaths of people who weren’t allowed to see their loved ones in quarantine. I will probably never not be upset about this.

Disgust about the name-calling on both sides of the discussion to wear or not to wear masks. Frustration about conflicting information.

I cried when public Masses were suspended. Rejoiced and cried again when my parish increased the availability to sit with Jesus’ Real Presence in Eucharistic Adoration.

Felt my stomach turn to hear news of black men and women murdered, angry that racism still exists. Felt sadness and outrage about injustice, the disregard for life, the violence and hatred filling our streets.

So many feelings about so many things — Anger. Despair. Confusion. Heartache. Emotional and spiritual fatigue. Wondering how is this the world I live in?! Can you relate?

Every day, questions swirl in my head. What difference can I possibly make during this unrest in 2020? I feel unqualified, inadequate to speak “publicly” about global issues like COVID-19 and social injustices like racism, because my voice is simple and inarticulate. Must I say something on social media? And if so, what and how? What is the Holy Spirit asking of me? How does He want me to engage, in a way that speaks Truth and Love?

I found an answer when I read from Acts 20:28, the first verse from daily Mass on May 27, 2020:

“Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock
of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers . . .”

Acts 20:28, NRSVCE

Thank you, Saint Paul, for speaking to me.

“Keep watch over yourselves. . . : care for myself by staying rooted in Scripture and faithful to prayer and healthy physically.

. . .and over the whole flock. . . : my family. Keep watch over my family by praying with and for them, instructing my children about Jesus’s love and commandments, raising them with a sense of responsibility to do good in small things (like their chores) and big things (standing up for people), doing what is right to uphold the dignity of each human life.

In times of uncertainty, distress, global pandemic, and people treating each other like garbage, “keep watch . . . over the whole flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers. . .“

Always, no matter what. Always. Before anything else. Guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Give my children the knowledge that they’re loved, and that Jesus calls us to love our neighbor. Ask the Lord to restore any areas of my life that are broken. Pursue holiness for myself. From that–God-willing–change trickles out to the world. From the walls of my home, to the people on my block, to the corners of my social media feed, to all the places the Holy Spirit leads.

It’s a start. Keeping watch over those nearest to me . . . and extending that care and love out to our neighbors. From there, more follows, as the circumstances demand and allow, and as the Holy Spirit leads me in my family and community. (another post to come with my reflection about the different gifts of the Spirit relating to the different ways each of us is called to respond in the world now)

” . . . my prayer for you is that truth will bring prayer in our homes, and from the foot of prayer will be that we believe that in the poor it is Christ. And we will really believe, we will begin to love. And we will love naturally, we will try to do something. First in our own home, next door neighbor in the country we live, in the whole world.” 

Saint Teresa of Calcutta,  (Nobel Peace Prize transcript)