Intercessory Prayer

Homily for Saturday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

Thomas a Kempis is the author of one of the great spiritual classics entitled “The Imitation of Christ.” It is second to the Bible as the most widely read spiritual text.  Its popularity was immediate, and after the first printed edition in 1471-72, it was printed in 745 editions before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book had been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ at the time.

I will readily admit that it is not the easiest to read, but I would also claim that it is very worthwhile the effort and time. It is the kind of spiritual reading that must be done in small increments in order for anyone to come to an appreciation of the wisdom it seeks to impart. At various times in my life, I have turned to it, but the first time that I really came to appreciate it was when I was the associate novice master for Sacred Heart Province. It was my responsibility to teach the novices the various kinds of prayer that are an intimate part of the life of any consecrated religious.

When it came time to share my experience of intercessory prayer, I remembered a powerful quotation from this spiritual classic. While I don’t remember the exact words, it comes down to this. Our prayer does nothing to change God or God’s will. The only thing that we can change through our intercessory prayer is ourselves. This is a hard and difficult proposition to realize, especially for those who spend a great deal of time asking God to intercede for our special intentions. The widow in today’s Gospel parable teaches us to pray persistently and consistently. She is asking the corrupt judge for justice. It is a classic intercessory prayer.

Jesus himself teaches us the reality about which Thomas a Kempis writes. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asks the Father to take away the cup of suffering which he is about to experience. However, at the end of his request, he utters those important words: “Not my will but yours be done.” If we are unable to change God’s will, what is the purpose of intercessory prayer. It comes down to this rather simple explanation – our intercessory prayers change us so that we, like Jesus, are able to accept what God has in store for us. The more persistently we pray, the more we will come to acceptance of God’s will in our life.

Like so many of the parables, this parable has an open-ended conclusion that is voiced through a question, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Our persistence in prayer, particularly in our intercessory prayer, is the way that we express our faith in our all-provident God. Even within the Eucharist, the Church’s great prayer of thanksgiving, we conclude the Liturgy of the Word by voicing our intercessory prayers. It is just one way in which we express our faith in God’s love and concern for us.