Equity, diversity, bias, systemic racism, institutional oppression – Quite frankly, I don’t have the education, knowledge or experience to write intelligently about racism or any of these related concepts. Although they are all important concepts that, as Catholics, we have an obligation to learn about.
However, I want to discuss one concept that does directly apply to my life and that of many of my readers – “white privilege.”
This is a bit of a long post, so I hope you’ll stick with me.
The term “white privilege” is actually a morally neutral idea. It is simply the concept that as white people we have certain social and economic advantages that people of color do not.
Privilege, in any form, is something unearned, out of one’s control and something one did not ask for – which often makes it hard to acknowledge and accept.
It is not a condemnation, though some are using it as an insult. It is also not a tool for shaming, though many are feeling defensive when it is used toward them, as if we have done something wrong for being born white.
If I’m being honest, my gut reaction to this concept is to ignore it and to close my eyes, ears and heart. It’s not easy to admit but on some level, I’m left feeling all sorts of bad feelings – defensiveness, frustration, shame, maybe even a little anger.
But feelings of shame, anger, disquiet, and agitation are all from bad places – the evil one or our sinful nature. These emotions have to be dealt with head on with the help of God’s grace.
Of course, when we open our hearts to God, ask Him to guide us and show us how to think about a situation, and to understand how He sees things, we are in a much better place. We can ignore the ugly noise and actually LISTEN and HEAR God’s voice through it all.
When I put on the eyes of faith, I can see that, while the phrase “white privilege” may challenge us, this is a good thing.
We need to be challenged to become our best selves, to become holy. We can see this as an opportunity for growth in self-knowledge.
By tapping into the source of grace, I can also offer everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I can see that many of our black brothers and sisters are legitimately trying to enlist our help, calling out to us in their struggle.
It seems that, at least in my case, underlying all these negative feelings is a more vulnerable feeling, one that we all tend to push away – the call our of conscience.
Our consciences may be showing us a responsibility that we’ve been ignoring. Maybe we haven’t purposely been ignoring this responsibility towards our brothers and sisters. Perhaps racism wasn’t even on our radar before now because some of us don’t encounter racism regularly. But we can’t ignore this reality now, so we feel our conscience tug at us.
When we hear “white privilege,” it just reminds us of this existing suffering of the children of God and we can’t get away from it.
Through prayer I’m left contemplating the following quote from the Gospel of Luke:
“From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.”
Luke 12:48
The answer is right there in God’s Word. Everything we have is gift from the goodness and mercy of God. It is unearned, out of our control to procure it and unasked for. And that gift has responsibilities attached to it!
This verse reminds me that I have been gifted a privileged life, yet my life is not for myself and my comfort. It is for a very specific purpose according to God’s will.
Privilege brings along responsibility!
The privilege I have been gifted, requires me to execute responsibility toward my fellow pilgrims on the path to heaven – and that includes our black brothers and sisters.
So we with our white privilege should do something! But what?
A black friend of mine who works in the education system gave me a few ideas. In no particular order, she suggested: educating oneself and reading up on the topic of racism; teaching our children about black history; exposing them to black dolls and toys; telling them stories of black lives (or black saints!); supporting black owned businesses; and lastly, pray for justice, wisdom and the unearthing of racial bias.
While all of her suggestions are worth following up on, I invite you to do some research to figure our your next actionable steps. There is no one right answer here, and each of us must discern what is appropriate and fitting for our family and life situation.
Yet, I want to propose that the first thing from her list that we should ALL do is pray!
Wait…that’s not doing something! That’s the easy way out. It just makes you feel better! That’s doesn’t actually accomplish anything! Don’t say trite things like, we will pray! DO something!
I actually read many comments like this on social media from the audiences of various Catholic based accounts. And by far, more than any of the other nasty, hate-filled comments, these comments bothered me the most.
Our society seems plagued by the idea that prayer is pointless, empty, or useless. Looking to the Catechism, we read in the section entitled “The Battle of Prayer“:
“Many Christians unconsciously regard prayer as an occupation that is incompatible with all the other things they have to do…
Others overly prize production and profit; thus prayer, being unproductive, is useless…
Finally, some see prayer as a flight from the world in reaction against activism…
Finally, our battle has to confront what we experience as failure in prayer:…disappointment over not being heard according to our own will.
CCC 2726-2728
I strongly urge you to read the entire section of the Catechism on prayer. You will learn a lot! The Catechism tackles this specifically because, if someone is a Catholic (or a Christian) and says that prayer isn’t doing something, we have a big problem!
Prayer is the first ACTION to take in ALL circumstances!
Change in this world happens one heart at a time, starting with our own in ongoing conversion through prayer.
So often, we treat prayer primarily to get what we want according to our own will, not primarily to follow God’s will. We need to approach prayer with humility. We must acknowledging that we are selfish and hard-hearted, that we do not know how to pray as we ought.
The first movement of the prayer of petition is asking forgiveness…It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure prayer. A trusting humility brings us back into the light of communion between the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that “we receive from him whatever we ask.”
CCC 2631
Turning to God in prayer has given me (more times than I like to admit) the opportunity to realize when I’m being selfish, self-focused and close-minded. The more I pray, the more I realize that I don’t see things as God sees things. I can ask Him to guide my thoughts and actions, and I can begin to bring my will more in line with God’s will.
Prayer opens our hearts. It helps us to grow in love and holiness. It develops communion with God, who is Love, to allow us the ability to act out of love.
“Prayer restores man to God’s likeness and enables him to share in the power of God’s love that saves the multitude“
CCC 2572 (emphasis mine)
When our prayer is rightly ordered, when we are in a state of grace, in communion with the will of God, our prayers are efficacious. God wants us to pray for others, for our community and family, for the world. He wants us to participate in his healing and saving power through prayer, to bring His grace into the world.
So let us begin with prayer! “By prayer every baptized person works for the coming of the Kingdom” (CCC 2632). It is our privilege and our responsibility.
And if we find ourselves getting defensive when we think of our privilege, we can also turn toward Our Lady for guidance.
Our Blessed Mother was given the ultimate privilege. She was conceived without sin, through God’s grace, so that the Son of God could be born of her. She does not resent her privilege, nor defend herself against it’s implications. Rather, she offers the most beautiful response of praise to God: “The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.“
This unique privilege in the history of mankind was both a blessing and a cross. We will never have a privilege like Mary’s and we will never experience suffering like Mary’s. Yet, her experience guides us in how we should proceed in our privilege.
Let us praise the goodness of God who has given us this opportunity and responsibility. Let us ponder all these things in our hearts and be guided by the Holy Spirit. And let us take up our privilege as the cross that it also is.
Not sure what picking up that cross might be? Here’s a good place to start.
Pray More Novenas is leading a novena for racial healing. You can begin this novena on your own schedule by signing up for daily reminders from Pray More Novenas.
Or if you’d like to begin on social media today, a fellow blogger is also leading the novena on her Facebook page now through June 30th. Then, you can join me on my social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram) beginning on July 1! Please think about joining us and uniting our hearts in prayer! It is a first step on the road to healing and redemption.
