“Just as we never grow weary of breathing, let us never grow weary of praying. Just as breathing sustains the life of the body, so prayer sustains the life of the soul.”
– Pope Leo XIV
Last week I had the amazing opportunity to attend the installation of a friend of mine as a new bishop. I arrived the night before to join a dinner for some other out-of-town guests and sat with another priest friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time. Within minutes, he shared the question and the promise I get every single week from someone: “How’s Peter? I pray for him daily.”
Five years ago yesterday in this very Monday email, I was selfish. Days after learning our then 7-year-old son had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, I pleaded for prayers. In the post “Not Today,” I confessed I had no pithy insight or cute anecdote. All I could do was beg for your prayers because I couldn’t pray, not that day.
Driving home from the installation the next day, I called now 12-year-old Peter to check-in and tell him that another incredible friend — someone he didn’t know — was still praying for him. “Five years, Dad, how are we going to celebrate?” he asked. “By saying thank you,” I said.
Five years ago, on that day, I couldn’t pray. But today, I am still praying, continuously in awe of the near-daily reminders that the Church never stops praying. Before that day, I knew intellectually that Mass was celebrated all the time. But today, I understand how that constant sacrifice offered on altars throughout the world unites us all in the sacrifice and sufferings of our own lives in a way I never did before. That day, I couldn’t imagine what life would become. But today, I couldn’t imagine our lives in faith without the journey we’ve been on — because of how the Church prays, how you pray.
As we continue in this season of longing, let us not be afraid to cry out with our needs and to cry out on behalf of others when they can’t. This week, how can we be a living reminder that the Church has never stopped and will not stop praying for every soul?
And today, from my family, five years later, to quote the familiar Christmas tune, “though it’s been said, many times, many ways,” thank you for crying out for us.
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