Prayer can change the world

Monday in the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle I

1 Tim 2,1-8; Lk 7, 1-10.

Last night I returned home and found a message from a friend of mine which simply said, "Please pray for me. I promise to pray for you too." The power of prayer cannot be taken lightly. Saint Padre Pio, the Italian Capuchin monk whom I am sure that you are all familiar with because of his reputation as a holy confessor, mystic and stigmatist used to say that prayer is a force that moves the world because it spreads the smile and the blessing of God over every feeling of tiredness and weakness.

We do not pray enough because we do not believe enough. In today's Gospel however we have an unlikely hero: the centurion, who pagan shows his faith in Jesus by interceding for his slave. The Centurion believed what Padre Pio believed, that is, that prayer can change the world. Prayer is therefore not just something we do in order to find some peace of heart or a means of devotion re receive something from God. If we were to pray only for that reason, we would be rather selfish. Rather, payer is an act of mercy because through our prayer we show our care for others and bring them to Jesus, entrusting these persons to our heavenly Father.

Incidentally, this is also what St Paul summons us to do in the first reading: to make it our mission to pray. Interestingly he also tells us whom to pray for: kings and all those in authority, and the reason too: that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. Praying for those in authority is indeed a mission in itself. Indeed, how often do we complain about persons in authority be it state and civil authority (schools, hospitals, law courts etc), or church authority (the entire hierarchy of the church)! Yet, do we ever pray for them to accomplish their authority with faithfulness to God and to the weakest and most downtrodden in our society? If the decisions of the word depend on those with authority, and if we can really pray for those in authority then prayer can really change the world!

But I would say that the Centurion intercedes for his slave before Jesus not only because he has a deep faith in Jesus - despite being a pagan. He intercedes also because he loves and respects his slave - he almost admires his loyalty towards him and wants to pay back his respect by interceding for him. This man in authority becomes a slave of his slave. He seeks out Jesus so that his slave may have his health restored. Therefore here, too, prayer changed the world of the slave, because from a world which meant illness, pain and death, thanks to his Master's prayer, the world now means good health and new life.

Our prayers too can mean a whole new world for so many people who are suffering not only because of ill health, but also because they are victims of modern forms of slavery, because their rights are being trampled upon, or because they are being discriminated against on the basis of ethnic group.

May God's words today fill us with the determination to pray and to intercede for each other, especially for those who need our prayers most, and may we do so with much faith and driven by respect and love for each other. May our prayers truly change the world.