When we encounter the suffering of others, often we want to do something for them. We want to send them a great big care package with a billion little thoughtful gifts, a nice hand-written note, flowers, chocolate, etc. We want to stop by the car wreck on the road, get the person home safe and sound with a nice Chipotle burrito bowl, and start up a phone call with the insurance company so they can process what just happened. Or, we want to help a friend with dinner, cleaning the house, and watching the kids for the weeks she’s on bedrest with her autoimmune illness.
But oftentimes, most of the time, we can’t. Maybe we can drop off a meal for the friend. Maybe we can stop and make sure the person is okay, but then, truly, we need to carry on for the 8 AM meeting we’re already running late for. And, maybe we can send some flowers. But sometimes we can’t even do that. $70 to have flowers delivered to someone is just not something we can always afford. Why is it that with slumped shoulders and a disheartened spirit, we sigh deeply and think to ourselves, “All I can do is pray…”
It Doesn’t Matter
There are three main lies we listen to that make us dissatisfied with the aid we can offer, being merely ‘ prayer’. The first lie the deceiver slips in to discourage us from the action of prayer is that prayer is insignificant. It’s not going to do anything. However, if we get curious about that lie, unpack it even a little bit, we can easily call his bluff.
If prayer does not do anything, why in the world did God pull the whole stint with Abraham interceding for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? If prayer does not accomplish anything, why did God listen to Moses’ pleas for the people after they returned to the golden calf? Also, if prayer does not do anything, why does our Lord urge His disciples to pray throughout the Gospels in various ways – to pray with faith, to pray with persistence, to pray for our enemies, to pray against temptations? Where is our faith? He is not some God who likes to watch us dance like a monkey for no reason. No, if we look closely at Scripture, we can easily debunk the lie that prayer is ineffective.
It’s Not Enough
The second lie is often an accusation of a lack of generosity on our part. “You really should be able to take the day off work, drive four hours to see your friend, buy her lunch, and drive four hours home because her cat died.” Well, if it really is an accusation, and not a challenge from our Lord for greater love (which we should properly discern), we must again rely on our faith to see the gift that prayer truly is. When we pray, we answer the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to help work for the redemption of the human race. Sure, He could do the same thing without our prayers. But the reality is that He makes many things in this world contingent on our ‘yes’. Just as He did Mary’s.
Can we possibly be more generous than when we are being generous with God’s call? Furthermore, prayer and sacrifice, united to the prayer and sacrifice of Jesus, have infinite merit, plain and simple. It doesn’t get any better than that– especially prayers united to the Mass. To think that our cookies may be more generous than the Heart of Jesus, generous to all who turn to Him, is a great failure to weigh the realities of our world. Most people in the world can and would do the dishes for a sick mom. Over 70% of people in the world don’t have the faith to pray for her, though.
They Won’t Know
The last lie we are often tempted to believe, stopping us from loving the world through prayer, is that the person we are praying for won’t know about it. They won’t know that we care that we are praying for them, that they are indeed being cared for. Well, if there is any vanity hiding in that temptation, we can just go ahead and squash that right down. If we are only helping people so that they know that we helped them, all the better that they won’t know in this life. Your Father knows, and that should be enough. Purification central!
However, and here’s where today’s Gospel comes in. Our Lord promises, “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.” (Luke 12:2-3). Though contextually this seems to be a warning against pharisaical practices or even hope for those who suffer quiet injustices, it can also be an ardent encouragement for those who sigh, ‘All I can do is pray’!
Oh, take heart weary soul, who is overwhelmed by the littleness of her own prayers! Not one rosary, not one sacrifice. Not one holy invocation of the name of Jesus will ever be forgotten in the Book of Life. The roads of grace you pave for others by your prayers will echo through all eternity. When all is said and done, the Father will crown you with hundreds upon thousands upon millions of sparkling jewels. Crown you for all the love you have given through prayer. They may not know now, but one day they will know. And you will rejoice together for the wonderful way our Lord brought you together. If by nothing else, than a wee 10-second prayer.
Cast Away
So, the next time you feel helpless in the face of supporting someone else, or even in the face of your own crosses, and you feel the temptation to sink into the self-pity of ‘the only thing I can do is pray’, cast those lies that are behind that despair into the furnace of His Heart. “Strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight the paths for your feet” (Hebrews 12:12-13) until you find yourself at the adoration chapel. On your knees at your bedside. Or even just uttering one Hail Mary for that ambulance that just blared its way by. After all, in the words of St. John Vianney, “One Hail Mary makes all hell tremble.”
