As I reviewed the Mass intention schedule recently at Resurrection Parish, I noticed that a Mass intention was listed as follows: Special Intention: President Donald Trump. I was overwhelmed with tears of gratitude and joy as I prepared to celebrate Mass for this intention. I do not know how this Mass Intention landed at Resurrection Parish or from where it came, but it filled me with exuberance.
As I celebrated this Mass, I really sensed that our parish community was doing something significant to support the man who has so much influence in regard to what is happening in our own country and around the world.
The following thought occurred to me. What if on a given weekend each month, every Parish in the United States and in its possessions were invited to offer a Special Intention Mass for our President. Based upon the conviction that offering Mass for a given person’s intentions is the greatest way that we can serve that person, I believe that it wouldn’t take long before we would sense the effects of our prayers in the manner in which the U.S. President exercises the office that has been presently entrusted to him. Think of the influence that President Trump, or any U.S. President has in the lives of so many people near and far. As we continue to pray for our President or for any specific person, this will influence the manner in which those for whom we pray relate to people and to the tasks that they face.
It’s hard to envision what might happen if the Catholic parishes in our land were willing to offer one Mass on a given weekend each month for the Special Intention of our President. I venture to say that we would see the effects of this endeavor in both domestic and in foreign policy. Because the President does not work in isolation, Special Intention Masses for the U.S. Congress might also be offered on a regular basis. Praying for our government leaders on a regular systematic basis does not violate any laws pertaining to the separation of Church and State, a policy that is highly valued in this country. If the Catholic faith community were to adopt this practice and persevere in it, other religious traditions, both Christian and non-Christian, might want to follow suit. When people of various religious traditions storm heaven together with prayers for the common good, things will change. Walls that divide groups of people will start to crumble.
Apart from the influence of God in the lives of people, it seems as though the world is going to the dogs and we are helpless to do anything to stop this process. Common prayer can and will reverse this spirit of negativity. Praying with others for the common good in an on-going systematic way can deepen within us the awareness that as individuals and in working with others, we can do that which makes our world a more just, loving and caring setting in which to live.
I sense that a not directly intended by-product of praying in this manner is that in the Catholic Church, there could be a significant upward spike in the number of priestly vocations that would spring up. From His side, the Lord always provides the priestly vocations that are needed in any given time to extend His redeeming work in the world. Nurturing priestly vocations falls to us. One catalyst that might enable priestly vocations to spring up from our midst is the determination on a national level to pray on a regular basis for our President, especially as we do this in our celebrations of Mass. As we witness something of the fruits of our prayers in terms of developments that occur in the life of our country and that of the world, we might have far more priestly vocations than we can presently envision or imagine.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor