Being the founder and facilitator of an online network of intercessory pray-ers has had an unexpected perk—in addition to the privilege of praying for others. The prayer network, and the daily requests of those who carry the cross of Christ, has the unique ability to keep me grounded in gratitude, not only when it is my time to ask for prayers.
For more than 20 years, reading and responding to the prayer requests of others has encouraged me to refresh the happiness page of life at those times when I allow the ordinary challenges of being human to become extraordinary problems draining me of joy.
The prayer requests are often heartbreaking. On any given day I may receive requests to pray for families whose children are suffering from cancer, or who have lost an infant or toddler to illness or accidents. Others may be grieving for loved ones who are missing or who have committed suicide. Vibrant, healthy people are struck down in the prime of life by freak accidents or debilitating illness, while others have lost their jobs, their life savings, and their homes, perhaps living in a shelter or relying on the generosity of family or friends.
Then there are those families that are struck again and again with one tragedy after another. For them, especially, my heart breaks. At the same time, I am humbled by their continued strength and perseverance, something I have often lost in less trying times.
Most touching are the notes of gratitude our pray-ers receive, even from those who have lost the ones for whom we are praying, sharing that our prayers have been a source of comfort and peace for family and friends, and even the deceased who often seemed strengthened in the face of their illness.
One person, in particular, a good friend, will always be an inspiration to me. In the space of two months, she lost her husband, her mom and dad, and her brother. As I watched her move from one funeral Mass to the next, and in the months following, I marveled at her ability to carry on—and to smile whenever I saw her. I asked her how she was handling so much and she simply said, “If I didn’t have my faith, I wouldn’t have anything.”
Famed English poet and playwright, John Dryden once wrote, “We first make our habits, then our habits make us.” It seems my friend’s faith has enabled her to make a habit of happiness, and that's the kind of habit that's worth cultivating.
In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis encourages us in our outreach to others through intercessory prayer, explaining it as a form of prayer that moves us to the good of others; prayers filled with people, as in the manner of St. Paul. “This attitude becomes a prayer of gratitude to God for others. … It is constant thankfulness … it is a spiritual gaze born of deep faith that acknowledges what God is doing in the lives of others. At the same time, it is the gratitude which flows from a heart attentive to others.”
Mary Regina Morrell is a Catholic journalist, author, and syndicated columnist who has served the dioceses of Metuchen and Trenton, New Jersey, and RENEW International in the areas of catechesis and communication.