Catholic activism is alive and well, just not as the world sees it sometimes.

It’s important that we Catholics rely on prayer as the most powerful weapon at our disposal. Prayer has the power to orient faithful hearts to Christ and to turn hardened hearts toward him.

Our front-page story from Rome illustrates that goal: In the months leading up to October’s Ordinary Synod of Bishops on Marriage and the Family, a group of faithful Catholics began a novena of Eucharistic adoration for the synod fathers that takes place the first Thursday of every month, with the last month coinciding with the feast day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux — three days before the opening of the synod.

As our Rome correspondent Edward Pentin reports, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, one of the four presidents of the synod, called the novena “one of the best preparations the Church could make for the second session of the synod on the family.”

Catholics from six continents are committed to this initiative. How about you? The next opportunity is March 5.

I encourage you to join your Lenten sacrifices with the prayers offered to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament for the synod fathers, that they will uphold the truths of marriage and the family in the face of a morally ambiguous opposition.

God bless you!