Why do you pray? That is a question that is being posed in a very forceful way as a newspaper headline shouted out after the latest tragedy in San Bernardino this past Wednesday. “God Isn’t Fixing This” was the headline. I can agree on some level because God doesn’t fix us. He has given us free will to choose good or evil, to be with Him or the walk away from Him in sin. It is the fundamental question that all men and women of good will struggle with daily in our journey of faith.
Why then do we pray? I can remember clearly the first time that I encountered a person who didn’t believe in prayer. In college a young woman I knew was going through some very difficult times and in a brief conversation with her I simply said, “I will pray for you.” It is phrase I had said many times to many people. Her response was, “I don’t need your prayers.” I was stunned and shocked and did not know what to say. I did pray for her and even now, over 20 years later, I continue to pray for her.
Why do we pray? We believe as Catholic Christians that prayer changes us and through us changes the world. As our Church teaches, “Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the kingdom revealed to “little children,” to the servants of Christ, to the poor of the Beatitudes. It is right and good to pray so that the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history, but it is just as important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday situations; all forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom.” (CCC 2660) It is in our conversation (prayer) with God that we see His will and how we are called to respond to the needs of our brothers and sisters in the world. Simply put, prayer changes our lives, as we become the compassionate and loving children created in God’s Divine image.
Prayer, for us, is the first response to all situations in life and not an afterthought. Thanking God, praising God, imploring God’s mercy and healing, desiring God’s peace and compassion are first responses that help us and drive us to be the instruments of love in a world torn by violence and sin.
Prayer leads us to action where God will not “fix us” but God will heal us if we place our lives in His hands. That is why we pray, by entrusting our lives into the greater love that brings true and lasting peace we discover God and discover true life and we move towards the greater, the holier, the true and lasting peace that is only found in Jesus Christ. Why do we pray? Because prayer does change lives. Pope Francis believes this as he continually asks for our prayers. I believe it…pray and pray with confidence that God hears and responds to heal us in love.
God Bless
Fr. Mark