apriori_2008 December

reposted by special request

“Pray, my dear children. Pray!”

During the Mass for Healing on Friday December 5th, our Chaplain Father Mike, spoke in his homily of the hopelessness people are feeling during these troubled times and especially during this time of year, not necessarily for themselves but for family members and close friends who have not been called to conversion or have somehow along the way lost their faith. His solution, “When there seems as if there is nothing you can do, you can always pray!”
As simple as it sounds, how difficult it is. “I don’t know how to pray.” “I don’t have time to pray.” “I don’t know what to pray for.” We’ve all said this to ourselves at one time or another or have heard someone else with the same lament.
Yet it really is simple, and true and POWERFUL!
Simple. When the children of Medjugorje asked the Blessed Mother what it was she was asking of them Our Lady said, “Pray my dear children. Pray!” They asked her how do we pray and Mary said simply to say the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.
Powerful. St. Faustina asked, “Jesus, I beg you by the inconceivable power of Your Mercy, that all the souls who will die today escape the fire of hell, even if they have been the greatest sinners....because Your mercy is inconceivable, the Angels will not be surprised at this.” (Jesus pressed me to His Heart and said...) ‘My beloved daughter, you have come to know well the depths of My mercy. I will do what you ask,...’(873)
For that same reason the Blessed Virgin continues to ask for prayer and fasting: "You have forgotten that with prayer and fasting you can ward off wars, suspend natural laws."
What do we pray for? We should pray for ourselves, our family, relatives, friends and neighbors, the Pope, bishops, priests and religious, government leaders, lawmakers, judges and public officials, the sick and the dying, sinners, unbelievers, the suffering souls in purgatory, and even for our enemies. It would almost seem a better question is, “What don’t we pray for?
As a very young person I was told that a day not offered up was wasted and I was taught this simple prayer, “Dear God, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day.” That together with an “Angel of God” with my breakfast cereal pretty much had me covered for the rest of the day. Later I learned there are 7 types of prayer: blessing, adoration petition asking forgiveness, intercession and thanksgiving, everyone of which interestingly enough is found in the prayer Jesus taught us, the “Our Father.”
It is, however, possible for a child to lose sight of the gift of faith, of prayer, of love, along the way. But having learned how to pray in his childhood with his family, that person can once again open himself to prayer & to communion with God. For this reason it is incumbent on us as Knights to pray often, pray together and teach our families to pray. It is our right and it is our responsibility.