“When you don’t know what to do keep going to meetings…” Peter Maurin

We should be praying fervently for the leaders of the world who will be meeting for the G8 and G 20 meetings in Canada. I am not one of those Nay Sayers who are condemning the upcoming G8 and G 20 meetings as a billion dollar photo op.

Peter Maurin - a co founder with Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement – “When you don’t know what to do keep going to meetings. That’s where the Holy Spirit came – at a meeting”, Maurin stated

When the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church began their meeting in Rome in October 1962 many people yawned. We now know of that meeting as the Second Vatican Council. The church - and the world because of a new relationship between church and world - has not been the same since.

I heard the same things before Vatican II that I hear now with the upcoming G8 and G 20 meetings. This is a waste of money and a photo op, bishops coming together to rubber stamp what the Vatican Officials have already determined would be the results of the General Council.

When the final session of Vatican II ended in 1966 no one was yawning.

When the bishops gathered - against all odds since the Vatican committees had spent years insuring that the agenda would be pre determined and risk free - something amazing happened.

The bishops threw out the safe and predictable script prepared by the Vatican officials. They refused to rubber stamp what was laid in front of them. The Holy Spirit took over and a renewed Roman Catholic Church was the result.

All this to say I am not one of those nay Sayers who are condemning the upcoming G8 and G 20 meetings as a billion dollar photo op.

That is also to say that we should be praying fervently to God to send the Holy Spirit upon this meeting.

The Spirit of God has promised to “renew the face of the earth”.

God does not bypass the human channels in order the accomplish God’s vision. God uses human beings to bring about the reign of God.

Sure, it may not create a new world order by August 2010. I do believe it can be a vehicle God chooses to “Renew the face of the earth.”

A final note I read today - June 21, 2010 Benjamin Disraeli, the British Prime Minister once said, "History is made by those who show up".