The Power and Need of Intercessory Prayer

In today's Gospel, Mark 7: 24-30, a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, begs Jesus to heal her daughter, who is possessed of "an unclean spirit."  Initially, Jesus dismisses her, calling her a derogatory name given to non-Jews of His time, much like, in our days, foreigners are dismissed and help is first given to U.S. citizens, not to undocumented immigrants.  The woman, however, is not put out. She insists that Jesus help her daughter. When Jesus says to her: "Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs," she retorts with "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."  She is not put off! It is like she says to Him: "Please, Lord, have some pity for humankind. My daughter deserves a healing as much as Jews do!"  Jesus is amazed at the faith of this woman and her persistence.  He heals her daughter, making her whole, freeing her of the "unclean spirit"!

Do you and I believe in the power of intercessory prayer, as did this Syrophoenician woman?  Do we have the self-confidence of this woman who is not deterred by derogatory remarks to persistent in what we believe is our responsibility to stand up for another and/or for ourselves?

We have many examples that testify to the power of intercessory prayer: persons healed at the shrines of Fatima and Lourdes, people like St. Augustine who are converted through the prayers of a mother/father, and many others miracles that have taken place throughout history.

As we reflect upon this Gospel, we might also ask ourselves:  Of what "demons" do you and I need to be freed? What healing do we need from Jesus? Are their persons in our lives in need of healing and do you and I realize how important it is to prayer for them?

Persistent Knocking, Seeking, Finding

In today’s Gospel,  Luke 11:5-13, Jesus challenges us to be persistent in our praying. He gives the example of a person who, at midnight, goes to his friend’s house asking for bread to share with one of his friends who, unexpectedly, it seems, arrived at his house at midnight.  “I have nothing to offer him,” he says.  Imagine this friend refusing to give him anything, saying “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.”  But the needy friend is persistent and keeps knocking.  Jesus suggests that it may not be the friendship that prompts the positive response but the persistence. How persistent am I when I ask God for a favor?

More confusing, perhaps, to the person who has prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing, supposedly, happened is Jesus’ next statement:  “…ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  So how does one explain this to someone whose prayers seem to go unanswered?

When I was a teenager, I prayed and prayed and prayed that my mother would not die and she did! I still do not have an answer to why God allowed a mother of six children to die of cancer when four of those children were still in grade school. I went through some very trying times, as her death was followed by other family tragedies with no one able to empathize with me, as they had not known such tragedies in their own lives.  Battling an onslaught of anxiety and panic attacks and having fallen into a deep depression during those difficult years, I learned to pray as a child—even had temper tantrums with God, expressing my anger toward Him. God confided to me that it was not He who had trouble with my anger but that I was the one who was bothered by it.  God and I grew very close, as He opened His arms and heart to me in overwhelming ways throughout the years, as I became more and more honest with Him about my feelings and what I was thinking and what I needed from Him that no one else could possibly give me. Yes, I learned to trust the Lord and rely upon Him. I would not trade that relationship with anything in the world!  God, I believed, answered my prayer as my mother intercedes for me and my siblings in ways that have produced miracles in all of our lives.