The context in which we find ourselves \u2013 heart-wrenching scenes from Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, West Africa, Ferguson, MO, etc. \u2013 has led me, once again, to ponder how our communal praying and our lived lives in this world intersect. \u00a0One of the \u201cliturgical lacunae\u201d I have worried about for a while now is that we seldom, if ever, take seriously Jesus\u2019s command to pray for our enemies (Mt 5:44).<\/p>\n
A prayer text I was sent during the last Triduum brought this home for me forcefully. \u00a0The prayer was a solemn intercession that a priest, who is both friend and colleague, had felt compelled to insert into the Good Friday intercessions, in obedience to Jesus\u2019 command. The prayer intention was for \u201cenemies of all that is good\u201d and went something like this:\u00a0Let us also pray for all those who refuse to love and be reconciled, those who inflict violence and sow enmity, those who destroy peace and profit from war, those who shed blood and disregard human rights. <\/em>The prayer itself then essentially asked for the grace of conversion for these enemies, for the strength to turn away from evil and toward the good.<\/p>\n I wish we would add such a prayer to our Sunday intercessions.\u00a0 I know one of the persons I would hold in prayer: the young hooded British man who beheaded the photojournalist James Foley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wish we would add such a prayer to our Sunday intercessions. I know one of the persons I would hold in prayer: the young hooded British man who beheaded the photojournalist James Foley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17,187],"tags":[1784,2813,61],"class_list":["post-27142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-social-justice","tag-general-intercessions","tag-james-foley","tag-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n