Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11th Mt. 18: 15-20 “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
- Praying together with others is a great gift! Of course, the most powerful prayer we can and do pray together is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
- “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.” (St. John Marie Vianney, Cure d’ Ars)
- That being said, we should all have a list of names that we want to place on the paten at every Mass. Fr. Ed offers His suggestions. Reflections added.
WHO SHOULD WE PRAY FOR? By Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
God is always attentive to the humble supplication of a pure and sincere heart. Jesus commanded us to pray with these words: “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt. 7:7) Therefore, obeying the command of the Lord Himself we should ask, seek, and knock, trusting that we will be heard and our prayers granted.
Prayer is an open communication with God; prayer is a conversation with Someone whom we know listens to us and loves us most ardently; prayer is communication and dialogue with a Friend; prayer is the pious lifting up of the mind and the heart to God. What air is to the lungs, so prayer is to the soul; it is essential! The great Saint Augustine expresses prayer using this poetic and rhythmic expression: “He who prays well, lives well; he who lives well, dies well; he who dies well, all is well.” In other words, the salvation of our immortal soul depends upon a fervent and dynamic prayer life.
Still, there is the burning question: who then should we pray for? Is there a certain hierarchy or a list in priority as to whom we should pray for first? The response: we can and should pray for everybody in the entire world. This for the simple reason that God created all people on the face of the earth to know Him, love Him, and serve Him in this life, so as to be happy with Him in Heaven. All were created for eternal Beatitude—meaning happiness—in heaven. Let us begin to consider these different groups of people.
A group of persons very dear to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as well as the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, would be sinners, especially those sinners whose souls are in most danger of being lost for all eternity.
Our Lady of Fatima, as well as Our Lady of Lourdes, both insisted on prayer, but most especially praying for the conversion of poor sinners. After each decade of the Rosary Our Lady of Fatima insisted that we pray: “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins; save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of your mercy.”
Therefore, so as to enrich our prayer of intercession, we will propose a list of certain sinners that we should have most close to our heart as we pray. We might use Saint Monica as a model for prayer of intercession for the conversion of sinners. Due to her prayers, her mother-in-law, her husband Patricius, and finally her wayward son, Saint Augustine—all of them were converted, and of course one became a great saint!
Whom Should We Pray For?
1. Those blind to their condition. We should lift up our prayers on high for that group of persons—and there are many, very many today—who actually deny that they have any sin whatsoever. Pope Pius XII asserted: “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” If they deny that they are sinners, how can Jesus, Savior of the world, save them? Never forget, Jesus came to save sinners!
REFLECTION: We all have blind spots in our spiritual life. Let us beg the Holy Spirit to show us our blind spots – that is, sins we commit that we justify or make excuses for. This is a prayer the Holy Spirit will not fail to answer for those who sincerely desire to know.
2. Slaves to addiction. On our list of priorities, we should definitely implore the Lord’s abundant mercy for those who are slaves to addictions, those who seem unable to break the chains of sin that are enslaving them. Addictions today are many: drugs, drink, sex, porn, gambling, buying, and many more. May Jesus attain for them the true freedom of the sons and daughters of God by helping them smash the chains of these addictions!
REFLECTION: What is our addiction, or to put it another way, what is our major capital sin? What sins are we working to overcome by practicing the opposite virtue? For deeply rooted sins, apply the Rule of Graduality. Confess the sin each time we fall, and then notice how over time we are falling in this area less and having to confess it less.
3. Despairing Souls. Another very critical category of souls to pray for is those who are despairing, those who have lost all hope. These are the souls who believe that their sins are so serious and so many, that they are beyond the pale of God’s mercy. Actually, the worst of all sins, as expressed in the Diary: Divine Mercy In My Soul by Saint Faustina Kowalska, is the failure to trust in the Infinite Mercy that flows from the loving Heart of Jesus, pierced by the lance on that first Good Friday.
REFLECTION: Have we ever despaired of God’s Mercy to forgive our sins? Looking back over our life, are there any sins we failed to confess because of shame or fear? Let us resolve to confess those sins now, and make the best confession in our life, trusting fully in Jesus’ Mercy.
4. Anger and Hatred. Another very important group of souls who make up part of our prayer of intercession are those souls who have been so beaten, wounded, pummeled and lacerated in life by others that they are filled with gaping wounds of anger and hatred that are so deep, foul, and festering that they do not even want to turn to the Divine Physician to be healed and saved. Of course we know that one of the primary missions of the Lord Jesus was to heal wounded humanity. The blind, the deaf, the mute, the lepers, and the paralytics were drawn to Jesus like a magnet, and because of their faith they were healed.
Let us pray for all those who are deeply wounded by anger and hatred, that they will turn to Jesus and be healed and renewed. Of course the best model to follow, for those who are literally blinded by anger and hatred because of those who have wounded them, is Jesus Himself as He hung on the cross. Jesus’ Body was one gaping, bleeding wound from head to foot. Yet this same Jesus taught us how to pray with mercy and forgiveness these words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” Let us pray that they turn to Jesus for healing!
REFLECTION: Are we the ones holding on to anger and resentment over past wounds? Let us beg the Lord to take this anger and resentment from us, by 1) making a good confession, and 2) by praying every day for those who hurt us. May we become wounded healers in a wounded world!
5. Those who are dying. Of primary importance we should lift our fervent and zealous prayers for this very important category: sinners who are about to die; we call them deathbed sinners! These are individuals who are living in the state of mortal sin, thereby separating themselves from God. Now, if they die in this state of unrepentant mortal sin they will lose their soul for all eternity—the worse fate that could befall any person!
What can we do? Jesus promised in the Diary of Saint Faustina that when we pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for those who are dying, then these souls in some mysterious way will be saved for all eternity. Therefore, if you are ever present at the deathbed of any person, and this could be a fallen away Catholic, Christian, Moslem, Buddhist or Hindu, agnostic or even atheist, then for the love of God and for the eternal salvation of their soul, pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. If done, Jesus promised in the Diary Divine Mercy that this person’s soul will be saved. We believe what we cannot yet see!
In conclusion, let us pray, and pray often and fervently. However, let us make it a point to pray in a very special way for sinners, recognizing that we are in that group. Our Lady of Fatima stated that many souls are lost because there is nobody to pray for them. Let us pray through the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the salvation of countless sinners. May they turn to the merciful Heart of Jesus and be saved for all eternity! And by doing so, may God grant us our own eternal salvation!
Copyright 2021 Oblates of the Virgin Mary / St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
