Day 338: Intercession and Thanksgiving (2634-2638)

• It’s Day 338!!

• Hopefully we are talking about something that we all do on a regular basis

• This type of prayer goes all the way back to the beginning of time

• Fr. Mike is giving a quick mini-review of what we have covered so far in this Pillar so let’s listen…

• PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

• PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory in your name, you Father, you Son, you Holy Spirit. We lift up our voices and our hearts. We gently turn our hearts towards you, embracing every moment, embracing everything you allow to come our way. We turn our hearts to you, our minds to you, our attention to you and embrace everything that you are and everything that you have brought into our lives. Lord God, we pray for others, and we give you thanks this day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Paragraph 2364 says, “Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners. He is ‘able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.’ The Holy Spirit ‘himself intercedes for us…and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.’”

• In some mysterious way, we have a share in Jesus’ mediation with the Father

• Paragraph 2635 says, “Since Abraham, intercession-asking on behalf of another-has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God’s mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ’s, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks ‘not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,’ even to the point of praying for those who do him harm.”

• Remember the story of Abraham?

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike tell us this story again…

• He interceded on behalf of the people of Sodom and Gomorroah because he was attuned to God’s mercy

• Paragraph 2636 says, “The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship intensely. Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his ministry of preaching the Gospel but also intercedes for them. The intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: ‘for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions,’ for persecutors, for the salvation of those who reject the Gospel.”

• We should intercede on behalf of each other

• It is good to ask the saints to pray for us

• Non-Catholic Christians and others wonder why we ask the Saints to pray for us because the Bible says we should not communicate with the dead

• We Catholics do not communicate with the dead

• That would be things like necromancy, seances, etc. 

• Jesus revealed to the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees that God is the God of the living, not the dead

• All those who die in Christ, are not dead

• THEY ARE ALIVE!!

• When we pray to them and ask for their prayers on our behalf or on behalf of someone else, it is not the same thing as communicating with them

• It is not necromancy

• It is not a seance

• It is praying in the spirit of Jesus and in the name of Jesus to those who have died and now live in Jesus

• Every Christian asks for others to pray for them

• You will not find a Christian who will tell that person to go and talk to God alone

• Every Christian would say, “Of course I’ll pray for you!”

• No one in that moment ever says, “Wait! There is only ONE mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ.”

• But when we Catholics say we have a devotion to St. Anthony etc., we regularly ask saints for prayers, some non-Catholics will say that is condemned 

• It is not because we belong to the communion of saints

• The Letter to the Hebrews says, “...we are surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses…”

• This cloud of witnesses has gone before us and now live in the presence of God

• The Letter of James says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful.”

• Who is more righteous than those who have been made righteous by the grace of God and are in God’s presence at this very moment?

• The Communion of Saints intercedes on our behalf

• That is part of what brings joy to the saints in Heaven, their ability to pray for us and intercede for us 

• That should also bring joy to us in our lives

• We are called to intercede, while we are living, to pray for each other and to pray for the needs of people close to us and far away from us

• Paragraph 2637 says, “Thanksgiving characterizes the prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of salvation, Christ sets creation free from sin and death to consecrate it anew and makes it return to the Father, for his glory. The thanksgiving of the members of the Body participates in that of their Head.”

• EUCHARISTIA is Greek for THANKSGIVING

• Every event and every need can become and offering of thanksgiving

• IN ALL THINGS GIVE THANKS!!

• St. Paul says in 1 Thess 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

• If we are going through a rough time we can pray, “Thank you God for this time, this is purifying me.”

• If we are going through grief we can pray, “God, I thank you.”

• Grief can break us and break our hearts

• It changes our lives when we lose someone

• The depth of that grief matches up with the depth of our love 

• The deeper we loved, the deeper the sadness and sorrow and grief

• The more we loved, the more we feel the loss

• This is not meant to short circuit our emotions

• But in some ways, even in the midst of grief and loss, there is room for thanksgiving

• Even when I don’t have that person, I only have this sense of loss because I loved

• I only miss them because they loved me

• I only have this grief because they were such a great gift

• This can lead us to a place of thanksgiving in all circumstances

• And that is powerful

• Every event and every need can become an offering of thanksgiving

• What are you thankful in this moment?

• Can you look at your life and genuinely find God’s presence and goodness and the gift in the midst of the grief and give thanks?

• Because we know that this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us

• It is a tall order

• It is what we are called to do

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…