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Thanks for your post, Edie. I am on a journey of faith that is rock
solid in some elements and on shakey ground in other elements. The
element that is shakey for me is also the single leading cause why
people turn away from religion: their prayers are unanswered.
Let me be clear, I am approaching this issue from an academic,
theologian perspective. At this time, I do not have any burning
issues or desires about which I am praying. However, I notice there
are not many people my age in church -- in England, in France, in
Germany, in Tennessee, and I like to delve into the reasons for that.
Prayer is a major reason for that.
The prayer intentions you mentioned below are different from mine. I
prayed that Martin's friend would recover from his stroke enough to go
home. I said to God "Enough people are dying in this world today.
Let this man live a little longer (a few more years? ten more years?)
and share more experiences with Martin."
The difference between our two prayers is that you marveled at the
compassion being extended or that needed to be extended to this man.
I focused more on substantive healing, return to daily routine, return
back home. In my form of prayer, I am set up for a let down if this
neighbor dies during his current hospitalization. Yet, somehow, I
can't put my finger on any text that says this with certainty, I
believe we are called upon to pray for substantive intervention, be
let down, and pray again.
I wish Thomas Merton were alive today so that maybe a group of us
could ask him these questions and see how he would answer them.
Mike
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