And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Job 42:10
I pray with a couple intercessory prayer groups each week. We pray for many things. Peace in the World, for our Priests, for our Parish, for Healing in families, and the conversion of sinners. With one of the groups we pray for specific individuals and intentions and healing that may be needed.
I know a lot of you out there are also praying daily. Many of you may have been praying for something for a long long time being patient and persevering in prayer. I just wanted to write this post to encourage you because of a moment I had in prayer the other day; because sometimes it feels like we have been praying and praying, and yet nothing happens. One thing I do know for sure is that we need to make sure the prayers are aligned with the will of God. God desires our sanctification, which often involves suffering. We can offer this suffering and unite it to his cross. God wants his children to be saved.
So I was driving to work the other morning talking to God. I was thanking Him and praising Him for getting a hold of me and my heart. I was remembering how steeped in sin I had been, how miserable with panic attacks I had been, how I had relied on medication to function, and how God in His goodness set me free. But then I questioned Him and asked why Lord? Why me? A lot of people are struggling, and a lot of people pray for you to free them, so why me? I know that after Veronica’s murder I started talking to you, but hadn’t I at least tried to a little bit before that? Why did you talk so clearly to me then?
And y’all, I got the overwhelming feeling of the presence of Michael Fallon. You may remember that he was the friend who held me hostage in college who later repented and entered seminary. He had such a love for the Blessed Sacrament that an image of it was placed on his gravestone.
He passed away in 2011 a little over a year after Veronica’s murder. And here I was in the car, feeling clearly his presence, and the Lord gave me an image in my head. It was Michael, while he was in seminary, in front of the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration, praying for ME, the girl he had held hostage. He was praying for me, there with Jesus, long after I had lost contact with him.
I was so overcome I burst into tears. Though I cannot ever verify this, I know it to be true. And then I realized the greatest tragedy in the whole world are people who have no one to pray for them. And I had an even greater understanding of the Mystical Body, and the Mass, why this Corporate communal Mass of worshiping God is so important and beautiful. When we offer our own intentions in Mass, instead of mindlessly attending, amazing things happen.
Imagine for a second, if you would, that every Priest and every parish, offered Mass for the country. A Mass, free of political agenda, but with the intention of asking God for what He wants for our country and asking Him to bless it. I believe the country would look different if we did this. As it stands, only a few Priests do this – and yet their prayers with ours still have an effect and matter, but the Body is disjointed. Suddenly, I understand why Our Lady asked the children at Fatima to relay that the Pope and Bishops should consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart.
I believe this got done, but it was done the way we humans seem to do many things, not immediately, not joyfully, and not completely. It was the opposite of the way my Spiritual Director says Saints in heaven do things.
And so though we do see the conversion of Russia happening, it is messy and incomplete. And she has spread her errors starting in China and moving from there. We see once free people embrace that ideology. And our own church barters with the state, leaving faithful lost and abandoned. The effects of not listening to the way heaven asks us to do things spreads far and wide.
If we could see the entity that caused us fear when heaven asked us to do something, we would obey heaven immediately, knowing that entity only wishes our destruction and heaven wants life and life abundantly. Our communal prayer could drastically change things if we would simply listen to heaven, and pray together, joyfully, immediately and fully.
I do know and believe that Mary’s Immaculate Heart will triumph. It’s just going to be a bumpy ride because of our incomplete intercessory prayer and cooperation.
I will leave you with one more story I came across a story awhile back that drove home the point of intercessory prayer to me. It is in a book called The Amazing Secret of the Souls in Purgatory, an Interview with Maria Simma. Maria Simma was a simple country woman who prayed for the souls in purgatory.
In the book Maria relays a story of a man on a train who wouldn’t stop speaking evil of the church, of priests, and of God. Maria prayed one single prayer for this man, “Lord do not let this soul be lost.”
Years later the man appeared to her after his death. He told her he had come very close to hell, but was saved by God through HER prayer (and his final cooperation). Without her prayer this man would probably not have received the mercy of purgatory. Wow.
Do not lost heart with all the things we see going on around us. Pray, pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament, Pray with your friends, have Masses said. It will unite hearts, and bring healing. Praying together makes us a fierce force to be reckoned with.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6
Michael Patrick Fallon, pray for us. And we will pray for you.
Veil of Veronica 
I’m going to add another aspevt to this that has hit me. I live it and I see it because I’m living in Spain and well there are no kids… It one, two or none with very few with 3. Having only 1 child is actually a great tragedy on earth for yourself and for the child setting yourself and the child for loneliness. Many will have grandchildren that grow up without aunts, uncles and cousins.
I think God often places at least 1 person in each generation with the gift of faith and that person interceeds for his family.
Also, having children and teaching them the faith means that you will have intercessors for you when you pass away in your future generations.
I am reading this post at a time when I needed to read it. I have been praying for my niece who just migrated to California late last year and is now re-posting posts on her social media account that she probably doesn’t really and fully understand. I also have been praying for my brother who is living by himself, unemployed, and far from where I am right now. I hope you can add them to your prayers as I think they need all the intercessory prayers they can get. My prayer/rosary life has been on and off and this post helped renew the urgency for it. Thank you!
I will pray. God Bless you.
Oh, thank you!
M+ Prayed.
He will soon find a job.
Fr Chuck
Thank you so much for this beautiful post! All of your posts are so inspiring. I’m so sorry about Veronica. I, too, am suffering with anxiety as a result of financial problems. Surrendering and Trust are my constant prayer. Thank you for speaking about Russia spreading her errors …it’s very important! “Lord don’t this soul be lost.”How Amazing! Maria Simma. It has really moved me! Intercessory prayer is everything! You are in my prayers. May the Good Lord bless you always!
God Bless you
Thank you! God bless you!
Thank you so much for this article. Please pray for my son Kevin and my family that their souls may not be lost.
I will definitely pray. God Bless you.
Please pray for my son’s marriage to be restored and that he will not leave his wife. Also for my daughter’s problems and for my application for change of status to be approved.
I will pray.
Stella, a very powerful prayer to pray for your sons marriage: ” I pray for the Blessed Mothers plans to be realized in my son, his marriage, and his life”. The Blessed Mothers plans are God’s will, always, so it is a prayer that will be realized. We have to accept the way God chooses to restore however. Some things must fall before they can be rebuilt. God Bless you and your family.
Thank you for this. Some days I find it hard to pray. I need my health back, a job and trust in God. I should know better, but it’s hard. God bless you and everyone who reads your work.
Thank you. God Bless you too. I will pray for you.
Please pray for the conversion of my three daughters.
I will
I tonight how more and more my prayer to walk as closely with Christ that I had been given my prayer I have a lot of physical emotional pain that sometime I cry out please help me God I try when at home not to take anything for physical and definable not for emotional pain I am writing my story with the help of the Holy Sprite I ask for help in doing it with grace and Dignity I recently saw the movie unplanned which has crushed me and feel
Like I am destroyed I dream and see myself as a fetus that is being aborted in the movie and moving like it as I have been writing my book I tell of how I was not wanted by my
Father and my mother would look at me with disgust as my father would make her have her tubes tied or she would never see her other three kids and wouldn’t be allowed to bring me home and the way I was treated it’s only my the grace of GOD AND RELINING ON HIM DID I TURN OUT WITH LOVE AND COMPASSION IN MY HEART AND ACTION TOWARD PARENTS AND OTHERS THANK YOU FATHER FOR ALLOWING ME TO SUFFER FOR YOUR glory and souls that need help I know I am far from being the person I feel like I should be I ask if you can pray for me and myself as a fetus that had to know she wasn’t wanted that me
As a fetus can heal and feel
Like an incomplete ABORTION In Jesus Name I Pray
I will pray for you. God Bless you.
Please pray for my mother who has a major surgery tomorrow due to liver cirrhosis and is in very critical stage and pain.
Praying
Power of prayer to save a soul…in everyday life…several years ago I got a strong urge to pray for an older friend of my husband’s, “Beav”, who had physical challenges due to a back injury and Parkinson’s, and who had lost a son in an auto accident, blaming the driver and angry at the loss of his son. I kept seeing an image of a man in a recliner, darkness around him. One time I was praying for him in the Spirit, and imagined going to his house with a bucket full of Light. He was in his recliner, heavy metal shackles and chains around his heart and chest. I wiped the Light over and over the iron, which slowly broke and fell off. I imagined him smiling and us going outside to see his horses. A few weeks later, he died and we went to his funeral and gathering afterward. Nothing was sent about his spiritual situation, although one son was Christian and talked to me how he had prayed for his dad’s conversion but never saw any results. When we were getting ready to leave, I went outside to get our pickup and drove up to the house. As I parked, I completely and clearly heard his voice say “Thank you, Cinderella” (his nickname for me)…I quickly smiled and said “You’re welcome, Beav”…it was such a special moment, I believe somehow my intercessory prayers helped him to forgive and let go of resentments before he died.
That’s beautiful
God is good! When my dad died after a definitive battle for his soul, I began to doubt one day and wondered if he really made it. I got home and checked my caller ID as usual, and it said “Wallace b living”. His name was Wallace. God is so merciful and loving.
That’s so cool. God Bless you.