Last week’s column explored intercessory prayer. The Paschal Mystery, the Divine Liturgy, and the lives of the saints demonstrate the centrality of intercessory prayer. Praying for the good of others is one of the fundamental missions of the Church. The Acts of the Apostles in chapter 2, verse 43, puts prayer as one of the four preoccupations of the Church along with the teaching, fellowship, and Eucharist. That particular verse will literally encircle our worship when the newly renovated cathedral in Jefferson City places it on the inner crown of the walls that encircle the nave. That Mary Immaculate understands this call to intercessory prayer is clear by our praying the Liturgy of the Hours in church before Mass and by the diligence we keep in informing others about those who need our prayers. The silent witness of the votive candles and the sponsorship of the sanctuary lamp is a reliable reminder to pray for others in the Presence of the Lord, invoking the saints’ intercession.
As I continue to promote Bishop McKnight’s vision of renewal using the three fundamentals of pastoral planning—stewardship as a way of life, the co-responsibility of the laity and the clergy for the mission of the Church, and that parishes be centers of mercy and charity—I invite everyone to consider how their personal prayer life can be one of the most effective ways to put these values into practice.
Consider stewardship that leads to charitable service.  It’s tempting to simply list prayer as one of the duties of a steward:  I am a steward and therefore I pray for others. In fact, it is the other way around. Discovering one’s call to discipleship, recognizing God’s grace, accounting for our gifts before the Lord, sharing them in gratitude with others—all these happen in the context of prayer. Prayer is our relationship with God. In prayer we discover who we are and only then are we able to understand what we are called to do as stewards of God’s grace.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta says it this way. “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do what it is I’m supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and then we change things.” Because a young woman from Albania named Agnes lived a prayerful life, she discovered her first religious vocation to be a missionary teacher. It was through prayer on her annual religious retreat that Sister Teresa heard the second great call in her life to become the servant of the poorest of the poor. 
One of our parishioners offered to me an amazing insight into prayer as he reflected on this quote:  Do our petitions and intercessions change God? “No,” he responded. “From our limited human perspective, we might see our prayer as trying to change God’s mind. And the story of Abraham’s negotiating with God over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah seems to support this. In fact, our prayers of petition and intercession give us insight into what God has already planned from all time for the good of his children.” Our prayer changes our own minds to make them more like the mind of God. Therefore intercessory prayer has an inherent contemplative dimension whereby we gain insight into the mind of God and truly know his will for us.
The other week at the deanery pastoral leadership meeting in Macon, someone pointed out that we are all still struggling to understand just what the call to co-responsibility for the mission of the Church really is. I said it was a call for the laity recognize that they have specific tasks in the mission of the Church that are proper to them. I said it was a call for the clergy to sit on their hands once in a while and let lay people flourish with their particular gifts and charisms. I wasn’t quite satisfied with my answer. It seemed too functional and less vocational.
Upon further reflection, perhaps it is prayer that can teach us most about what co-responsibility is. Think back to a time in the Church where prayer was most a task of the clergy and was least visible for the laity. If you go to the great churches of the Middle Ages in Europe, you will note the prominence of the “choir furniture” closest to the altar. It was for the clergy, and often religious, whose purpose it was to celebrate the liturgy, and who sang their prayers. The place for the laity was in the nave of the church, but there were few architectural and therefore permanent fixtures for the laity to take a designated place in the churches for hundreds of years. 
That isn’t to say that the lay faithful didn’t attend Mass or didn’t participate in prayers. Go to these same ancient churches and you will see well-worn paths in the marble where the faithful lined up for confession, at the kneelers before the rails fencing off the perimeters of the side-altar niches, the foci of devotional prayer, and the dished out hollows where the faithful genuflected by holy water stoops.
The great transformation of the Church’s worship during the last century can be seen as transforming the prayer life of the Church into one of co-responsibility. The rearrangement of church furnishings and major changes in architectural layout were meant to give greater emphasis to the role of the laity in the prayer life of the Church.
Transforming our community by transforming our prayer, that is a particular objective of the Worship Commission. One item from our meeting last Sunday was planning the rollout of a parish-wide ministry of praise, petition, and intercession. The closing down of the Legion of Mary and the Altar & Rosary Society necessarily requires of us to find a new form for the prayer ministry that these two organizations traditionally carried out in the Church. The ministry is known by several names these days such as Prayer Line, Prayer Teams, or Prayer Warriors. Even at a universal level, the Holy Father’s prayer ministry has been rebranded and expanded in recent years from the Apostleship of Prayer to becoming now known as the Pope’s Worldwide Network of Prayer. Whatever the name is, the ministry reinforces the bond between the communal, public prayer of the Church most evident in our liturgical celebrations, and individual or small group prayer and devotions throughout our daily schedule by making all our prayer more mindful and intentional. 
The Worship Commission has been tasked to organize a formal ministry of prayer for our parish. Members of this ministry will make a public commitment to this ministry, renewable on a yearly basis, and be commissioned in a public ceremony. Their commission will consist of a promise to dedicate a portion of their daily prayer for the good of individuals in need, for the good of our community, and for the needs of the whole world as directed by the ministry’s leadership or as discerned in collaboration. In October during our parish’s Catholic Stewardship Renewal of time, talent and treasure, parishioners will have an opportunity to commit to participation as ministers of prayer. In the coming weeks, all will have the opportunity to become familiar with the objectives of this ministry and discern how they will participate.
The Gospels tell us of the central role that prayer played in Christ’s life, even as he hung on the cross in death. I envision this ministry as being a true school of prayer for all of us where we come to know the Lord more and more each day and do his will here on earth.