The call to be steady and constant as intercessors for one another in life is the shared call to all the Christian faithful.  

 

As people who are Christians, we all share a certain responsibility to be prayerful in our lives.  It’s not just that we should only be mindful that we need to be constant as people of prayer, but that in and through our prayer for the community, we are also interceding for others, even for those who we may not be physically close to in life.  We are reminded of this each time we bring ourselves to a celebration of the Eucharist at Mass, and the presider will bring this to our minds as our shared responsibility as people of a community who share the same faith.  We don’t have to look very far for such reminders.  

 

Just opening up a Roman Missal, which is the thick book that the Ordained Clergy uses at Mass and leaf through the pages of the Proper of Saints we will see plenty of evidence that the Church of Rome asks us to seek the intercessions of the many saints who have been canonized as part of their precious journey in life as the disciples of the Lord Jesus.  At the Mass for the memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels on 2 October, the words of the Prayer over the Offerings has the presider at the Mass praying that a we venerate the holy Angels, that God will grant that under the angels’ constant protection, we may be delivered from present dangers and brought happily to life eternal.  This shows that even right now here and in this life as we live it, we need the constant intercessions of the holy Angels in heaven.  And on 4 October, which is the memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi, the presider prays the introductory Collect, which says that by walking in Francis’ footsteps, that we may follow God’s Son and through joyful charity, come to be united with the Heavenly Father when our lives end.  On 7 October, as we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, the words of the Collect at Mass hears the Presider pray a heartfelt prayer that as we are present at the Mass, that God will pour his grace into our hearts and that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Jesus’ Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of Jesus’ Resurrection.

 

These are not just a few examples of saints interceding for us while they are enjoying the heavenly embrace God gives them in heaven.  It means that heaven’s purpose is to make our lives here on earth meaningful and productive.  Moreover, it reminds us that if this is the shared call for those who have attained their heavenly reward, it tells us that our lives here need to be lived with the awareness that the intercessory aspect of our lives isn’t only something that we do later after we die, but that here and now is the time to practice it our sedulously and with love.

 

I know that many people pray for themselves, but this dimension of prayer should not be limited to praying for ourselves and our betterment.  There are plenty of reasons why the world needs more and more people interceding for them in all their aspects of life.  Right now, the COVID situation in the world is very expansive and the numbers are increasing as the days go by.  Yes, more and more people are getting vaccinated to protect themselves from the virus, but the rising numbers of those being vaccinated doesn’t seem to mitigate the spread of the virus in so many lands.  The Catholic Church has many Divine Mercy intercessory groups who get together (on ZOOM or in other ways) to pray for the many masses of people who are succumbing to the COVID virus.  It is just part of the way of life as Catholics, and it is something the world is desperately in need of.

 

What are we doing with our lives as we live more and more outside of the offices in life?  This is a valuable question that we need to ask ourselves each day.  Some people readily complain that our lives lived this way is something incredibly boring, but staying at home is a way of preventing the virus from getting to us.  Now while we are at home, there is plenty of opportunities to enter into prayer and to make of our lives something that benefits the many others who cannot find life meaningful outside of bringing themselves to places where there are other human beings.  If we were to pick up a set of rosary beads, we can use the time after a lunch or dinner to pray the entire five mystery of the decades and seek Mary’s intercession for the world.  This is discipleship in practice and all it takes is tender love of others who we may not be aware are experiencing life being low and melancholic.  When we do this, we are interceding for others in life.  And know this, that there are many others who are at the same time praying and interceding for us as well.

 

I know this for sure because I have been in contact with many friends and parishioners of mine from my priestly assignments who tell me often that they have been praying constantly for me in my recovery from the unfortunate accident that happened to me at the late part of May this year.  I am still in need of their generous prayers, and if you who are reading this happens to be one of them, please know that you have my heartfelt thanks for being my important intercessor in life.  I know that I cannot go through this upcoming surgery with confidence if nobody has prayed for me and for my surgeons’ deft skills. 

 

So please don’t stop interceding for the many who stand to benefit from your generosity in your prayer time.  Each day has many pockets of time where we can offer up our prayers to join the many who find life tough and perhaps even a chore.  God would want us to follow the lives of the many saints who have been canonized so that we can hold the world’s struggles as we live out our Christian lives with love and dedication.