To persevere with Christ is the focus of the Gospel. Though the foundations of the earth may shake, the Church stands because of her faithful perseverance to Christ. As members of his Body, the Church, we are liable to be shaken as well by thoughts, words, and actions that transpire in our world and in our lives. However, we will stand strong as a Church if we faithfully stand with Christ.

I think this entire election season has shaken every single American. It’s been brutal. This week too I’ve noticed a lot of various reactions to the election results. Some people are enthusiastic about Trump’s election to be president. Some are cautiously optimistic and are waiting to see what his presidency will bring. Others are disappointed that a man with an immoral reputation will act as the visible head of our country. And still others are frightened, saddened, or downright angry concerning his election. These reactions and others are all over the board, but they have shaken us to our core. This has been an emotionally charged week for America.

Now, I believe Americans have a lot to discuss and unpack with one another over the next few weeks as this emotional intensity settles, and that will be good. A truthful, respectful dialogue with one another can sharpen our own thinking, intensify our love for our neighbor with whom we enter into conversation, and move us together with our neighbor towards the fullness of truth. However, in today’s homily I want to focus on the emotional intensity we feel and show how bringing Christ into our emotional life helps us heal from our wounds and work as a Church towards peace & unity. Simply said, I want to teach you how to pray with your emotions.

While I am using the intensity of our reactions to the election as an example of what to bring to our prayerful dialogue with Jesus, please know that this way of praying lies open for every thought, feeling, and desire we experience. These thoughts, feelings, and desires form the very substance of our prayer. We pray about the thoughts that keep entering our mind, about the intense emotions we feel, and about the strong movements of our desire. To live in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ means to offer all these to him in a prayerful time of silence. I am indebted to the Institute for Priestly Formation for the following model of prayer, which is summed up by the acronym: ARRR (Acknowledge, Relate, Receive, Respond).

The first step in this silence to simply acknowledge your emotions. Become aware of what you are feeling. What is tugging at your heart? The point is not to judge yourself positively or negatively for your feelings, but to recognize and name the feeling you experience. So many times when we go to pray, we have not made this first step and we have no idea what we are praying for. St. John Vianney says it well, “How often we come to church with no idea of what to do or what to ask for. And yet, whenever we go to any human being, we know well enough why we go" (Office of Readings from Feast of St. John Vianney, August 4). We know what we are going to say when speaking to another person. Are we aware of what we need to say to God?

After you become aware of that feeling, relate it to Jesus. Sometimes we think that our feelings aren’t important to God, or that God already knows so why bother telling him, or that telling him won’t change anything. All of these approaches are false! God cares deeply about what we, his children, are experiencing in our hearts! As any parent knows, when their child asks them, “Mom! Dad! Did you see me make that catch?” the appropriate response is not, “Of course I saw. I’m right here. Why did you even bother telling me?” Instead, parents say, “Yes, I did. Great job! I bet that felt good!” God is our loving Father who invites us, his children, to share everything with him. He will not reject anything we offer him because he loves us. By sharing with God something that he already knows, we allow him to attend to that part of our life we bring to him. God eagerly awaits us to become aware and share our life with him.

After you have shared a part of your life with God, receive in silence as God shares his life with you. Silence provides the medium for God to communicate with you. Whether you have just offered your hurt, joy, fear, delight, anger, or disgust to God, listen and receive the new awareness he wishes to give you. Receiving from God means allowing him to love you in this moment. Our loving Father says to us, “Thank you for sharing with me. I love you and am here for you.”

Finally, after listening and receiving God’s love, we respond to his love. Receiving God’s love gives joy. It liberates us from false ways of thinking, feelings of self-pity, and selfish desires. It gives us the mind of Christ. It heals us of emotional wounds. It places a new desire into our hearts. Our response is a change of heart and mind, a new attitude and approach to what we so intensely felt, and above all a growth in charity towards others. It may call us to conversion in revealing to us the sobering thought that things are not as good as we thought, or the hopeful thought that things are not as bad as we think. We may have a new openness to love those who persecute us. We know we have truly prayed in this way when our thoughts, feelings, and desires no longer control us, when we are no longer enslaved to them. Giving them to Jesus renews us and gives us perseverance in receiving the new life he brings.

We live in a feel-good culture that compartmentalizes feelings into 'good' and 'bad,' which stifles ‘bad’ feelings and manufactures ‘good’ feelings. But praying to God with our emotions prevents us from burying bad feelings or feigning feeling happy. Our emotions are neutral, and sharing them with God points us in the direction of how to act with them. When you feel anger, you do not need to lash out bitterly, but share the intensity with the Lord. When you feel happy, you do not need to keep it to yourself, but tell Jesus about this emotion. Maybe there is someone he wants you to share it with. 

In the aftermath of a brutal election season, or dealing with the loss of a loved one, or experiencing delight in the good things that life offers, bring all of your thoughts, feelings, and desires before the throne of God. Allow God the chance to form you anew as you pray with your emotions.