What can be easier than to say I will pray for you? Then quickly say a short prayer lifting the intentions for the person lest we forget then feel guilty about it later; and be done with it once and for all. Well let me be first to admit this is what I started out doing till I started growing in faith and pondering my Lord’s will in everything. So then where is the love behind this very act of praying for someone? Where and what is the kind of faith that lies within us? How then will we ever begin to pray for our enemies let alone love them?
Intercessory prayer is not simply mouthing prayers for someone or on behalf of someone for specific intentions. It is praying with all our heart and mind so as to touch the heart of the Lord our God by our faith, love steadfastness and determination. To plead with Him to come and touch the lives of whom we offer our prayers for. To seek earnestly that His grace, love and mercy will be upon them. Therefore when we pray this way it can take days, weeks, months, even years! And so our prayer list increases over time. By praying thus we unite ourselves and share in the sufferings, the hopes and dreams of those we pray for. And so when our prayers for them are answered, we too can truly rejoice. Even then when our prayers are answered not quite in the way we had hoped, still peace will reign in our hearts. For we know that the Lord our God only desires the best for all of us.
Let us then pray for one another reverently, fervently with all our heart. And may our almighty and ever living God bless us, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now and forever. Amen
First reading
1 Timothy 2:1-8 ·
Pray for everyone to God, who wants everyone to be saved
My advice is that, first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone – petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do this is right, and will please God our saviour: he wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth. For there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and mankind, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all. He is the evidence of this, sent at the appointed time, and I have been named a herald and apostle of it and – I am telling the truth and no lie – a teacher of the faith and the truth to the pagans.
In every place, then, I want the men to lift their hands up reverently in prayer, with no anger or argument.
Gospel
Luke 7:1-10
Give the word, and my servant will be healed
When Jesus had come to the end of all he wanted the people to hear, he went into Capernaum. A centurion there had a servant, a favourite of his, who was sick and near death. Having heard about Jesus he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus they pleaded earnestly with him. ‘He deserves this of you’ they said ‘because he is friendly towards our people; in fact, he is the one who built the synagogue.’ So Jesus went with them, and was not very far from the house when the centurion sent word to him by some friends: ‘Sir,’ he said ‘do not put yourself to trouble; because I am not worthy to have you under my roof; and for this same reason I did not presume to come to you myself; but give the word and let my servant be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard these words he was astonished at him and, turning round, said to the crowd following him, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found faith like this.’ And when the messengers got back to the house they found the servant in perfect health.
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