Welcome back to Chamis Popery. I'm Joe Heschmire. And in the aftermath of 19 school

children being shot, two of them fatally. While they attended a school mass at Annunciation,

Catholic Church, in Minneapolis, there were outpourings of grief all over. President Trump

and Vice President Vance both announced they were monitoring the situation and called for prayers

for the victims. But other public figures used this moment to denounce

those offering their thoughts and prayers. That is all they are offering. Thoughts and prayers just

aren't enough here right now. Because these kids were actually praying. At the end of the day,

thoughts and prayers have led us to having more of these deaths, more of these shootings.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, but also keep us in the thoughts for action.

There are two ways of understanding those words. One is that they're saying enough with the

thoughts and prayers because they regard prayer is useless. But the other interpretation,

hopefully, is that they just mean that prayer by itself was no substitute for

the other things we ought to be doing as well. After all, St. John warns that he who does not love

his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. More specifically, if anyone

has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him,

how does God's love abide in him? In John's words, we're called to love, not in word or speech, but indeed and in truth. So if God has placed somebody in your life for you to take care of, it is not enough for you to just say, I'll pray for you. St. James warns us that if you see a brother's sister in need of food and clothing,

and you respond, go in peace, be warmed and filled, that does nothing. Your faith by itself is dead.

It needs works. In this case, it needs the works of caring for the people whom God is placed in your

life. Failing to do this is literally damnable. As the Second Vatican Council warns, you can't use heaven as an

excuse not to do the things you're meant to do here on earth. The Christian who neglects his temporal

duties, neglects his duties towards his neighbor and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation.

So it is perfectly valid for people to ask whether the president of the

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