What to do

It is the feeling of helplessness that is so bothersome.  The older I become, the more I realize just how powerless I am and how little I know.  As an idealistic youth and young man, the world was black and white.  What the pastor said in his weekly sermons were true and defensible. But now, as I have reached middle age, life is much more complex, every incomprehensible at times.  Sure, there is black and white, but the gray area in the middle continues to grow.  Circumstances change everything.
What then are we to do, when we are essentially powerless to really make any difference in the world around us?  Governments are corrupt, sex drives everything, people have become objects to be used and thrown away.  Abortion is common, abuse is common, euthanasia is common, neglect of reality and a focus on the temporal rules the day.
As I've mentioned in a previous post, the physical world around us, that everyone focuses on, to the neglect of the other 90% of reality, is painful to live in.  There is so much wrong, so much messed up, so much going the complete wrong direction, that I have to ask, "What to do?"
We cannot become fatalists, for we truly believe that prayer makes a difference.  We cannot simply stop caring, for we have loved ones that need us and that we need.  As Jesus said, "the poor you will always have with you."  So we have to get used to the idea of the persistent nature of evil and suffering.  As long as we are on this side of the final judgment, life is suffering.
The only answer I can offer, the only answer the church has to offer, is that of prayer and repentance. We pray for those in need and we strive after holiness, repenting as we go.

A controversial comparison

A probably controversial comparison came to mind yesterday.  Something was said, I believe it was in a homily by my priest, regarding the apostle Paul.  For some reason i thought of Paul, when he was on trial before the ruler Festus and Festus made a comment about "Paul's much learning driving him mad." (Acts 26:24)  Clearly, Festus was not referring to Paul as a madman/lunatic, for Paul was speaking clearly, articulately and somewhat convincingly.  It may actually be difficult to know exactly to what Festus was referring, but it was his impression that Paul was losing contact with what most would consider normalcy and normal understanding of things.
This next led me to think of Jesus' words to his disciples, warning them that the world would hate them because of Jesus.  I believe there may be a small connection between how the world will perceive the way that a believer thinks, in comparison to a "regular" person.
The second person that then came to mind, in regards to being considered insane, was Alistair Crowley, the famous British occultist from the mid 1900's.  This man, clearly, was on the opposite end of the spectrum, from the Apostle Paul.  Crowley certainly had his share of learning, but his was not an education in godliness and love, but rather literally, the opposite.  Crowley spent his inherited fortune and literal lifetime inventing and discovering every form of magic and perversion known to man.  In the end, Crowley became a babbling madman, literally.  The later audio recordings of him reveal a literal blithering idiot, completely incoherent.
So what is the difference? Paul was called a madman, due to his cogent, coherent, moving intelligence, even though it was contrary to "normal" thought.  Crowley was considered a madman because he literally appeared to be insane.  Literally incoherent and irrational.
This is a good example of love of God and love of neighbor moving one man to life and beauty, while the pursuit of lust, power and debauchery led another man to insanity.
I'm not exactly sure what the value of this thought experiment is, but it came together in a somewhat intriguing fashion.  I'd love to hear your comments/thoughts.