I'd like to take a moment as this all unfolds, to remind everybody of a poison we've all had a double dose of: the idea that prayer is just words, or that we're too wicked and sinful for our prayers to do any good.

Don't buy it.

Whatever happens, whether or not this is "it" ... money, government, and going to Sam's Club is not going to save our bacon. Nothing will, except prayer. And we should not have to wait until the water reaches a full, violent boil before we realize we're in hot water, and have the good sense to get ourselves out of the pot.

Why do I bring this up? Because looking at history, there are an awful lot of times when it seems Catholics sit there and watch everything unravel before their eyes, and only finally at the the 11th hour, do they even THINK about whipping out their rosaries, because they've tried everything else (on their own, human power) and discovered (as usual) that nothing works. That they cannot save themselves from the crisis at hand. Then finally (to show how much faith they had in the rosary) ... when nothing else worked, and when there was nothing else they could do... FINALLY... they get down on their knees, "Um... I know it's a little late, Lord, and I should have thought of this like... YEARS ago... but... is it too late to get some help down here... maybe? Please?"

So, here we are at the 11th hour... everything's falling apart (as usual), and we're all going on about all these human solutions (government, stockpiling this and that, and what have you) ... and nothing is working (of course) . All right folks. It's rosary time, even according to the sad historical trends of treating it like a desperate last resort when nothing else (human) works.

Actually, I wonder how many Catholics out there will even take the hint in the 12th hour... (recovery after the fact?)

Of course, another pitfall for us (and I remind myself here as much as anyone else) is getting into the habit of saying the rosary with all the enthusiasm and attention with which we cook dinner or take out the trash. Are we really saying the words to our Lady, or droning to ourselves? Maybe we've got a prayer book with good pictures we can use to keep those ADD brains on task? Because something tells me, if someone came up to you and asked for help, saying it's an emergency, but talking to you like a really bad actor reading his lines... you might not be terribly inclined to help that person out.

For my part, when I get out the beads tonight, I'm going to try to remember who I'm talking to, and what I am doing, and what is at stake here, day by day, as the consequences for the way man has been living slowly (or quickly?) come home to roost. I'm going to get out pictures if necessary, and do everything in my power to take it a little more seriously.

Human nature infected by original sin will always pull us, in everything we do, down hill. We will always be getting progressively more careless, progressively more lazy, progressively more complacent. So every once in a while all of us need to give ourselves a swift kick in the pants, and remind ourselves that we can do better, and that we MUST do better. Like a machine, as we go along things get out of line and out of tune. Or like a fire... if you don't feed it, it dies. Every now and again, we do well to really stop and stir ourselves up again to do better, to be more attentive, to be more careful and constant and attentive in prayer.

Today, more than ever, perhaps we begin to see just what is going to happen to this world if people don't get serious about religion and God.  Today there are also, it would seem, fewer Catholics who are likely to offer to God proper worship, reparations or prayer.

The Rosary is the most powerful "weapon" we've got. It should be a first line of defense, not a desperate last resort. And with the condition of the world today (in general) we need to pray it with more devotion, more love and more reverence, and more consistently and faithfully than ever.

God give us the grace to do this!