Thursday May 16th: Not for Them Alone

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you.”

John 17:20-26

I was praying recently for the complete healing for my son’s injury and Jesus used this holy moment to purify the desires of my heart. A small voice whispered within, “You pray with intensity for your son whom you love so much, what about my other sons and daughters whom I too, love so much? Will you also pray for them too?”
Perhaps, God allows those close to us to suffer because when suffering touches the doorstep of our loved ones, it unbridles such a deep, desperate, honest and contrite prayer that can rekindle even the lowest embers of faith and shake mountains. When those we love suffer, it motivates us out of our comfort zones and unleashes the fierce prayer warrior within; to storm heaven above.
That was the kind of prayer Jesus prayed in today’s Gospel. Most importantly, it is also how we must bring the needs of others and not just our own before the throne of God, as intercessors of the Lamb.
Prayer: Jesus pray for us.