1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30 / Mark 7:1-13
One of the recent occasions when the Church came together to pray for a specific intention was on the 7th September 2013.
Pope Francis issued a call to the Church for an evening of prayer and fasting for a peaceful resolution to the Syrian crisis.
About 100,000 people prayed with the Pope at St. Peter's square, joined by the universal Church.
A military strike on Syria was already planned and was expected to take place. But after that evening of prayer, the tension eased and there were negotiations for peace and the destruction of the chemical weapons.
Certainly we must believe that when we are united as the Church for pray for an urgent need, God will certainly heed our prayer and grant us our petitions.
As it is now, so it was then, when King Solomon made this prayer in the 1st reading: Hear the entreaty of your servant and of Israel your people as they pray in this place. From heaven where your dwelling is, hear and as you hear, forgive.
And as it was then, so it is now, as the Church continues to pray to pray for the needs of the world and also the needs of the Church.
Today is World Day of the Sick. We remember the sick in the hospitals and at home, as well as those those afflicted by some kind of illness and are looking for a cure.
Sickness has the power to erode faith and hope and the sick need our prayers because when in pain, all efforts to pray is almost evaporated.
Today we unite our prayers for the sick and may our prayer also lead us to minister to the sick and support them in their time of need.
May God hear our prayers and grant the sick the strength to bear their illness and the faith to witness to Christ in their sufferings.