Politicians: Kneel More, and Better!

I recently read this phrase by Mother Teresa of Calcutta which, like everything she said, is full of great wisdom: she was convinced that politicians spend too little time on their knees, and that they would do their job much better if they did. Well, if Mother Teresa were alive I would tell her: Mother Teresa, I honestly think the politicians in the world who spend the most time on their knees are the Venezuelans, because they have families and children, and I’m sure that every day they must entrust them to God and the Blessed Virgin so that they are not killed on the street corner or kidnapped, and so that they are protected from the sad hatred that exists in our country. And they also spend time on their knees asking God for rain so that we don’t run out of water and electricity; for the rain to stop because of the floods and the people left homeless; for the Metro not to break down today; for any relative of theirs coming to Caracas not to fall into an enormous pothole or get stuck in a traffic jam of six hours or more; for food prices to stop rising, and so on. Every politician or official, whoever they may be, who may be reading these lines knows this is true. Or are you not flesh-and-blood human beings who suffer, day after day, the countless problems in this country?

But notice that Mother Teresa is very specific in what she says: they would do their job much better if they did. Do you only kneel to ask God and the Virgin to protect you from all evil? Have you stopped to think about how much time you spend on your knees asking God to enlighten you and surround you with capable people, so that you can solve the thousands of problems affecting ALL Venezuelans, yourselves included? How much time do you spend on your knees thanking God for this incredible opportunity to hold authority because, as Jesus Christ said, “all authority is given from above” (cf. Jn 19:11)? How much time do you spend on your knees asking God to help you, because without Him you are nothing? How much time on your knees thanking God that you live in the best country in the world, with incredible human and natural resources, which God has entrusted to you to manage as well as possible? How much time on your knees asking God always to help you defend the values of the Venezuelan family, because you know it is the foundation of society? How much time on your knees asking God’s forgiveness for the many mistakes you have made, and asking for light on how to put them right? How much time on your knees praying for your prisoners and asking God to let you forgive them, or do some of you not know how much a prisoner, and his family, suffer when he is behind bars? How much time on your knees saying to God: My God, I want to do this well; I want to use this power given to me from above to work for the good of ALL Venezuelans? And above all saying to him: Lord, teach me to love them all, to respect them all! Teach me to work together, in peace, for our children and our grandchildren!

Well, Mother Teresa, I ask you, who fortunately visited our beloved Venezuela, to intercede for all Venezuelans, and especially for all our authorities, so that we may all spend more time on our knees and live in peace, and so that, as the children of God we are, we may work together as brothers and sisters to solve, competently, the thousands of problems that overwhelm us.

All that remains is to tell our politicians and authorities that time in this life is very short, and only God knows the hour when He will call us into his presence. And that day He will not ask us: How much power did you bring with you? but rather: What did you do with all the power I gave you from above? Did you use it to do good to everyone and to sow peace and justice in that wonderful country? Or did you use it to do whatever you pleased, believing you could do things without My help and that of others? What will you answer Jesus Christ when he sits down with you on the “sofa” at the entrance to heaven to ask you to account for the power he gave you from above?

And remember that God does not care how badly you have done until now. What He wants is for you to kneel for a long while, to weep a great deal if necessary, and to ask his forgiveness for the things you have done wrong. But He also wants you to get up immediately, set pride aside, seek out competent people (Venezuela has plenty of them), forgive all “your enemies” from the heart, and begin to build a better Venezuela, before Him and before each and every Venezuelan (among whom are, first of all, your own children and grandchildren).