Thursday, October 27,
2016
There are so many people I want
to pray for that if I tried to name them all by name I would never get to the
end of the list—and, of course, that doesn’t include groups of people I
want to pray for, such as refugees, people in war-torn nations, victims of
bullying and other kinds of abuse, children without enough to eat, expectant
mothers, alcoholics and any who suffer from any kind of addiction, health care
professionals, lonely people, destitute people, depressed people, those who are
searching for work, slaves (remember that there are more slaves in the world—and
that includes this country—than at any other time in history, we are told), all
the countless people needing conversion, forgiveness and reconciliation, people
of other faiths including non-Christian faiths, atheists, those so hurt by the
Church that they have given up on faith and on God, those considering religious
vocations, the students at the college here, victims of bigotry and racism,
perpetrators of bigotry and racism, parents who have lost children, clergy of
all faiths, educators, children without recourse to education, and many other
categories too numerous to name.
And when I pray for these
people, I never give way to that type of pride which would cause me to presume
to tell God what do to about all these things; I simply carry them in my mind
and in my heart and hold them up to prayer. It is also important never to
imagine that I myself am in a superior condition or state of mind just because
I am praying for these people. This, by the way, is a common temptation, so
beware of it when you go to pray.
Anyway, there is so, so much to pray
for, and I must confess that sometimes I am neglectful and sometimes I am so
preoccupied with my own needs (which are petty compared to the needs of most of
the people in the world) that I get things way out of perspective.
I am grateful that I am a monk,
because if nothing else, that means that I am in church several times a day
praying the psalms, and the psalms hold up in prayer every human condition and
emotion and need, and so by praying the Divine Office (also known as the “Liturgy
of the Hours,”) I am in my own small way praying for many who possibly cannot
pray for themselves.
Anyway, there is so much to pray
for, and as I have said, sometimes I drop the ball. So I am asking you to help
me by praying for all these people and groups, and by all means, add a few
categories of your own.
Thank you.
God bless you!
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