Can I Pray With You?

I’ve heard it said that “the family that prays together, stays together.”  There is a lot of data on successful marriages to support that.  I’ve reflected on that in the past, considering my marriage failure and the fact that we never prayed together.  I believe that instruction on the importance of praying together is now part of marriage prep classes at most Catholic parishes, and it is a good thing. 

Today I listened to ACTSXXIX podcast #165, in which Fr. Riccardo and his assistant Mary discussed the value of praying together.  I recall how when Fr. Riccardo was pastor at a nearby parish, he had people turn to someone next to them before mass, and ask them what they wished prayers for.  “Hi, my name is “---“, is there something I can pray for at this mass for you?”  Of course, that would be a good thing to ask before any religious gathering.  The point Fr. Riccardo was emphasizing was that prayer is conversation with God, and it is good for any group to schedule a regular talk with God.  He gave some good examples of office people doing that during the day.

The take-away point is that very often, when we are in some distress, we will ask others: “Can you pray for me?”  But right then is the time to pray not for me, but “with me” for the problem that concerns me.  In that 3-way conversation we can talk about the problem to God and each other.  Friendly talks like that build friendships, and we can have no better friend than God.

I recall the Scriptures where it is said “where two or more are gathered in My Name …” or that we are to “carry one another’s burdens.”  Praying with our friends should become a normal thing.  It is what the early Christians did.  Perhaps the falling away from the faith of many of our young people is because they don’t know God as a friend. Prayer is not natural for them, but it should be.  Our Christian faith is not a bunch of rules and boring Sunday gatherings, it is a way of living with our friends.  I’ve mentioned before how the word ‘religion’ did not come into existence until the mid-second century.  Until then, if you were called Jewish or Christian, it described the way you lived.  And part of that life was how you prayed, together.