The Power of Prayer
I frequently receive messages, letters, and notes from those who are facing great suffering. They are mothers whose sons died, fathers fighting against addiction, youth looking for a right way, people weakened by incurable sickness, old men abandoned by those who should protect their existence. There is also the “accompanied loneliness.” Maybe, it is one of the reasons for which people expose themselves so much, as if to say, in some cases, the successful proclamation: “Hi, I am here! I also have a heart!”
A lady, that we shall call Mrs. Rosalina, is one of these suffering creatures that are craving for at least one word of comfort. I will not enter in the details of her case. But I can reveal a small suggestion that I made to her, and according to her report, it has been of great help.
Saint Benedict
I used my own experience. In times of difficulty, when there seems to be no way out of some matters, I turn to prayer and gain strength to work. I don’t recall ever regretting to follow the lemma of venerable Saint Benedict (480-547): "Ora et labora."
Geraldo de Aquino
I gave her then a prayer that I heard from late Geraldo de Aquino. I hope it will serve those who honor me with their attention, if in the daily struggle, they are passing through afflictions that sometimes can’t be revealed to the greatest friend or the most sincere confident. Nobody, religious or atheist, is free of that.
This prayer, from its name, invokes a sense that we all need: Charity (Charitas, in Latin), that improves the relationship of creatures that search in their fellows something else beyond a sack of meet or an endless source of exploration. Charity is not captive of the restricted acceptation to which some want to condemn it. It concerns the most elevated policy. It enlightens the citizen Spirit. Why loose hope? It ignites the people’s courage. The first victim of despair is the desperate.
Prayer of Caritas
God, Our Father, who is all Power and Goodness, give strength to those who go through tribulations; give light to those who seek the Truth, and fill the human heart with compassion and Charity.
God! Give the guiding star to the traveler, consolation to the afflicted, and rest to the sick.
Father! Give repentance to the guilty.
Give truth to the Spirit, guidance to the child, a father to the orphan.
Lord!
May Your Goodness extend over everything that You have created.
Mercy, Lord, to those who do not know You and hope to those who suffer.
May Your Goodness allow the consoling spirits to spread Peace, Hope, and Faith everywhere!
Oh! God! A ray, a spark of Your Love can illuminate the earth. Let us drink from the fountains of this abundant and infinite Goodness.
All tears will be dried and all pain will be lessened.
A single heart, a single thought will rise to You, as a cry of gratitude and Love. Like Moses on the mountain, we wait for You with open arms, Oh! Goodness, oh! Beauty, oh! Perfection!
We wish in some way to deserve Your mercy.
God! Give us strength, help our progress so we may rise up to You; give us pure charity and humbleness; give us faith and reason; give us the simplicity, Father, that will make our souls the mirror that will reflect Your Divine Image.
A Nobel of Medicine and Physiology speaks
Alexis Carrel
Ralph Emerson
Dr. Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), the famous author of “Man, this unknown” wrote concerning the matter that encourages the souls:
“Prayer is . . . the most powerful kind of energy that man can generate. It is a power so real as the Earth gravity. In my character as a doctor, I have seen ill people that, after having tried without result the other therapeutic means, got rid of melancholy and illness, through the serene effort of prayer. This is thus, the only power in the world that seems capable of overcoming the so called “laws of nature”. Many people see prayer only as . . . a refugee for the shy, or as a childish appeal moved by the wish for material things. To conceive it in those terms is to despise it wrongly. . . . “Nobody ever prayed, said Emerson (18013-1882) “without learning something”. . . . The deepest source of energy and perfection, at our reach, has been miserably abandoned. . . . If the power of prayer is put into action in the life of men and women, there will be trust in our yearning for a better world.”
Notice that it’s not the opinion of a “delirious mystic,” but of a respected man of Science.
One who suffers, from the cottage to the palace, certainly had the opportunity to prove that reality already.
Isn’t that so, Mrs. Rosalina?
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