Crying Out for Help

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I was at one of our monthly Lay Dominican meetings where the discussion led to one of our members saying that she takes a day and commits her words and actions as an offering for the souls in purgatory.

Offering our works on behalf of another is very important.  Wrapped up in what we refer to as the Corporal Works of Mercy, the baptized are called to pray for those who have died before us.  Praying for those who have completed their life here on earth, but are awaiting final purification to reach heaven, speaks to all of us being part of the communion of saints.

I decided to take up my Dominican friend’s suggestion and have begun to start each day with a commitment to pray for someone.  Some days I have chosen to pray for unborn babies, other days for the special needs of those around me, or in these especially cold days, for the homeless and those who do not have adequate shelter.

Usually before I get out of bed in the morning, I try to identify who I will offer my day for, then, throughout the day, I try to remember to think of them and recall their needs.

The thing about praying for others is that we do not pray to try to manipulate the outcome of their situation.  We pray in confidence that God hears our prayers and we trust that he knows what is best.  He does, indeed, see the bigger picture when we often cannot.

Even if the end result causes us disappointment or grief, we do not stop praying.  Besides, praying is good for us and it reflects our belief in God, for if you do not believe in God, why are you even praying, unless to ask for help in your unbelief? (which is a good prayer)

The mere expression, the “crying out” to God, “as it was for Jesus on the Cross,” is “the deepest and most radical way of affirming our faith in his sovereign power,” according to Pope Benedict XVI, as he wrote in his encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est (On Christian Love, 38).

I often use this example:

If I am home alone and fall down the basement stairs, am I going to call out to my husband to come save me?  No, that wouldn’t make any sense, if he is not home.  It is only when I know he is in the house that I will call out in the hope that he will hear me and respond.  And, knowing that he loves me, I am confident he will come to help me.

As Pope Benedict has shown, the very “crying out” to God is an affirmation of faith.  It speaks of our confidence that he is “in the house.” 

When you think about it, if we believe in God and do not pray, we are on very shaky ground, because if crying out affirms our faith, what does our silence say?

 

I hope you will join me—especially this week—in praying for the unborn.  Let us pray for mothers everywhere, particularly those whose circumstances cause them to consider abortion.  So many out of fear or loneliness, poverty or pressure, go against their natural love for their child and fall prey to our culture’s false ideology.

Here’s an excerpt from a response I received when I wrote my congressman.  It is a sad testimony to how ingrained in this ideology our leaders have fallen:

“Women have a fundamental right to a full range of health care services, including the right to choose a safe and legal abortion. As an active participant in the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, I ensure you I will vigorously oppose any attempt the House of Representatives makes to dictate a women's health care or erode the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade. Those decisions should be made by a woman and her doctor, not politicians.”  Congressman Dan Kildee

 As I lamented his response which infuriates me to no end, I grumbled to my husband about the idea that abortion has become synonymous  with “women’s health care,” to which he aptly replied, “Sounds like convenient healthcare"

Amen.

The only way you could possibly associate abortion and health care would be to honestly acknowledge that it is unhealthy for the woman, the father of the baby, and, of course the unborn baby, whose life is in imminent danger.

God bless,

Janet Cassidy

janetcassidy.com