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Praying for the Sick

What do we mean by praying for the sick? I suspect answers to that question would range from, "I'm praying for someone to get better (which may or may not require what is, humanly speaking, a miracle) to "I'm not really sure, but I believe it matters". Personally, I have no problem with either answer, although when, for example, we are asked to pray for someone who is very old, has a terminal disease and is in great pain, I am less inclined to ask for a miracle of physical healing than for the grace of peace and a good death when God wills. Is that a cop out? Possibly, but then, I think that when we are praying for the sick that is precisely what we are doing: praying for those who are too ill to pray themselves, rather than praying for any specific good for them.

Just recently I have myself experienced how difficult it is to pray when pain and sleeplessness upset the normal order of things (and in my case we are not talking about something terminal, at least I hope we're not!). It has been a great comfort to know that others have been praying, that every Hour of the Divine Office has concluded with a prayer for "absent brethren". But I believe in the power of prayer. Someone who doesn't, or is afraid that prayer might change things, might be resentful (has anyone asked Christopher Hitchens how he feels about all those Christians who are praying for him?). Should that stop us praying? Does our respect for others mean that we should not pray for someone who does not want to be prayed for?

On the evidence of yesterday's Mass readings, the answer should be a resounding "no". As Christians we have a duty of prayer, however hostile the law or public opinion may be. Abraham's intercession for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18.20-32) is a type of the kind of intercessory prayer in which we engage. When Abraham bargained with God on behalf of others, did he really believe that ten just men would be found, or was he just trying to turn God's anger away from the city by wearing him down? In other words, was Abraham taking on himself the duty of prayer which the citizens of Sodom had shrugged off?

Today is the feast of SS Joachim and Anne, parents of Our Lady and hence grandparents of Jesus. It is a day for thanking God for grandparents but also a day for thinking about how we pray for the elderly. Old age often brings sickness, loneliness, money worries and other cares which get in the way of prayer. We who can must pray for them and leave the results to God, for he knows best. Sodom was not spared, but if it had been perhaps Abraham would not have become our Father in Faith and we would not have had that Son of Abraham who is also the Son of God.