Prayer Power

“Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.” ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr., American Author, Best known for “Life’s Little Instruction Book.” (b 1940)

Our friend was dying. There was no other way to put it. No way to see it in a positive light. Mick was dying and that was that.

It was Monday morning. Veterans Day. We sat at the conference table trying to plan our most important fundraising event of the year. But, try as we might, our thoughts kept drifting back to Mick.

He had been a constant contributor to the community. Always diligent. Always generous with his time, talent and treasure. Sadly, his fortunes had gradually deteriorated in recent years. With the sliding small business economy, Mick’s business had slumped and his house went into receivership. It was posted and locked up tight by the county sheriff, all his belongings still inside.

Then came the diagnosis: untreatable stage 4 liver cancer.

Locked out of his house, Mick had resorted to sleeping in the cramped office at the rear of his rented business space. There he stayed, waiting to die.

I turned from our now seemingly-trivial dinner meeting agenda and noticed my friend Karina starting to tear up. Karina, Jewish by birth, often teased me about our friendship. A Jew and a Catholic deacon. What an unlikely pair! And yet, we both understood and respected the depth of each other’s faith.

Sensing I was looking at her, Karina turned and met my gaze. In an instant she turned to the rest of the committee. “We need to pray,” she announced and, taking my hand, she led me out of the room to a nearby vacant office.

We sat facing each other, holding hands, palms to wrists. Quietly we took turns speaking words of prayer for Mick. Long pauses separated our words. The silence allowed us to empty our minds, filling them with God’s presence and thoughts of Mick. Time paused.

Even as the quiet engulfed us, without warning, Mindy burst into the room and held out her phone to Karina. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she stammered, “but this call is what you’re praying about.”

Karina hesitantly took the phone. “Hello?” For the next several minutes Karina spoke little, but punctuated the conversation with, “uh huh.” I would later learn that, thanks to calls made by Karina and others, a community leader was now involved. Arrangements were being made to move Mick to a care facility.

His house had been sold the day before, contents and all. But efforts were already being made to contact the new owner. (Days later, though he had every legal right to keep them, the new owner would voluntarily relinquish Mick’s documents and some of his key possessions.)

Karina said thank you and clicked off. “We need to finish praying," she said simply. We resumed our prayer vigil until finally, without looking at each other, we simultaneously said, “Amen.”

As our eyes slowly became accustomed to the light, we both breathed a sigh of relief. “Wow!” I exclaimed. “That may be the fastest response I have ever gotten to a prayer.” Karina produced an impish grin. “I’m not the least bit surprised,” she chirped with mock seriousness. “One of the Chosen People -- a female no less -- and a Catholic clergyman praying together? God had to take notice!”

We stood and stretched. “Let’s go,” she said finally. “We’ve got a dinner to plan.”

How often do we hear people say, “There is nothing else we can do. Now all we can do is pray.”? F.B. Meyer once said, "The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer." Rather than our last resort, perhaps prayer should be our first resort.

Often, when people ask, “How do we get stewardship started at our parish?” or, “How do we go about doing a better job of evangelizing?” or, “How do we deal with this problem?” they sometimes become frustrated when it is suggested that they start with prayer. For most, “prayer” seems too undefined.

What they really are asking for is a game plan, a road map, or a set of step-by-step instructions.  But the game of life has no instructions inside the box lid. In fact, most of the really important things in life, like marriage, raising children or helping a dying friend don’t come with instructions.

We must come to accept the power of prayer. We must come to believe God has entrusted us with a force which can bring the power of heaven to earth.

Start and end everything with prayer. You may be surprised by the results.   

Dear God: Remind me to pray always.

“Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.” ~Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader and freedom fighter of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. (1869-1948)

©2013 James E. Carper. All rights reserved.