From Weariness to Resistance

Donald Trump's election left my soul weary. My fellow Catholics played a key role in putting a man whose personal behavior and political views are anathema to Christian values into the world's most powerful office.

For those of us who know that protecting the environment, defending immigrants and making sure workers earn a living wage are not simply liberal policy positions but tangible expressions of our faith's teachings, the next four years felt daunting. I've emerged from my funk in large part because people of faith are playing a central role in a resistance movement that insists our values and democracy are more powerful than one man or a single administration.

Hope is a Christian virtue. It's not a naïve optimism. It's a clear-eyed vision that grace, human dignity and solidarity flourish when we struggle to make God's kingdom real. When despair and darkness meet the light of justice, crisis turns into opportunity.

So I'm energized when I see imams, rabbis and Christian ministers standing up against efforts to exclude refugees.

I'm hopeful when people of faith, prominent and unknown, have the backs of immigrants facing deportation.

While some politicians try to divide us, I see people coming together to insist something better is possible. Pope Francis, who reminds us that Christians build bridges, not walls, continues to inspire me and so many around the world. Just this week he became the first pope to give a TED Talk.

"The future of humankind isn't exclusively in the hands of politicians, of great leaders, of big companies," he said. "Yes, they do hold an enormous responsibility. But the future is, most of all, in the hands of those people who recognize the other as a 'you' and themselves as part of an 'us.' We all need each other."

Amen.