COMPASSIONATE PRAYER

 

WHAT CAN WE LEARN ABOUT COMPASSION AND PRAYER?

 

Compassionate prayer on behalf of others is central to the Bible.  Abraham intercedes for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and thereby saves them from God's anger  (Gen. 18:32).  When the Israelites break the covenant of Mt. Sinai by worshiping the golden calf, it is only the intercession of Moses that prevents their destruction (Exod. 32: 11-14)...

 

As  disciples of the compassionate Lord who took upon himself the condition of a slave and suffered death for our sake, there are no boundaries to our prayers.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed this with powerful simplicity when he wrote that to pray for others is to give them "the same right we have received, namely, to stand before Christ and share in his mercy."

 

When we come before God with the needs of the world, then the healing love of God which touches us touches all those whom we bring before him with the same power.  This experience of God's healing love can become so real, so immediate, that at times we can even sense God's healing grace in the lives of others., although they may be far away physically, mentally, or spiritually.

 

Thus compassionate prayer does not encourage us to flee from people and their concrete problems into a self-serving individualism.   By deepening our awareness of our common suffering, it draws us all closer together in the healing presence of God.  It reaches out not only to those whom we love and admire, but also to those whom we consider our enemies.

 

Prayer cannot exist together with hostile feelings.   The fruit of prayer is always love.   In prayer, even the unprincipled dictator and the vicious torturer can no longer remain the objects of our fear, hatred, and revenge, because when we pray, we stand at the center of the great mystery of divine compassion.

 

 

(reflection is by Fr. Henri Nouwen and appears in his work:  "Anchored in God through Prayer")