Will You Pray for Me?

“Will you pray for me?” “Please keep my daughter in your prayers.” “Stir the leaders of nations and towns, militaries and courts, to respond to your teachings. Let your call for justice reach all people and bring deliverance where there is oppression.” “Protect fragile ecosystems, send favorable weather, supply food and water to nourish creatures, and raise us up to care for all you have created. During this time of droughts and floods throughout the world, we pray for those who are hungry and starving. Inspire us to support those who work with hunger programs.” These are just a few of the prayer requests and petitions I’ve heard recently.
Prayer can ask God to do something particular for us, to keep us safe, to heal us. But, our prayers can also be requests for our own interior change.
St. Francis asks God to “enlighten the darkness” of his heart. A prayer calling for justice reminds us to be just. A prayer for a clean environment asks us to take care of creation. A prayer for peace urges us to be peacemakers. Prayer connects us to others and to all of creation. It focuses us on being mindful of those around us. When we offer thanksgiving for others, our gratitude promotes relationships and connections. We are reminded that we are dependent upon each other. Our focus becomes more global rather than inward. We can be the answer to the prayer that someone else offered up. We can be the answer to our own requests that God create a caring community.
Prayer helps us to know what God intends for us. Blessed Angela wrote to one of her Sisters, “Wait very quietly and perform peacefully what the Lord asks of you at this precise moment. We find peace and happiness only by adhering to the will of God…. The interior life does not consist in extraordinary states and revelations but in the identification of our will with the will of God.” I pray for wisdom and guidance from God. I pray for others. You are in my prayers. Those prayers keep me mindful of how I respond to each resident, family member, and staff member.
Peace and Good to you!