The ministry of prayer. . .

Without agreeing that the saints may be addressed directly in our prayers, we joyfully acclaim that the saints pray for us.  They pray for the Church, the people of God whom God has called, gathered, and enlightened through the waters of baptism and into whom He has spoken His Word by the Spirit.  They pray for those not yet of the faith, in whom God is even now at work through the means of His Word to prepare and bring their hearts to faith.  They pray for the world, for God to deliver the world from violence, disaster, and distress -- even as they pray for the new heavens and new earth of God's promise.  They pray for those way is marked by affliction, pain, suffering, and loss.  They pray for the outcome of the faith, for the dawn of the eternal day when no more will the division between heaven and earth divide the people of God.  They pray for what we pray for and for whom we pray.  The saints do not have to have special knowledge or insight or connection to us to know the state of the world, the burden of the flesh, and the enemies of the faithful.  They were among us and lived under the veil of the flesh and, though delivered now, they yearn for those living to be brought through to Christ's victory and eternal presence.

The saints also pray for those who do not pray.  Let me say it again.  They pray for those who do not pray.  They learned it from the ministry of intercession in which the Church prays for those who do not pray.  It is one of the most comforting aspects of the ministry of prayer.  Whether they have forgotten to pray, distracted by the troubles and cares of this world, or they are hesitant to pray, because their faith is weak, the Church on earth and the Church in heaven prays for those who do not pray.  Whether they have not learned to pray and their hearts not yet the dwelling place of the Spirit or they disdain prayer altogether, the Church on earth and the Church in heaven prays for those who do not pray.  It is wonderful when the saints of God combine in offering prayer and petition to the Lord with one heart and one voice, but it is even more wonderful when the saints of God pray where no prayers ascend, where a people have been too lost in the temptations and distractions of the day to pray, and when they have not yet learned the joy and confidence to pray.

When the prayers of the faithful ascend on Sunday morning and in the various other liturgies of the week, the people of God pray for those who are praying, for those who have requested our prayers, for the anonymous and unknown in their needs and burdens, and for those who do not pray.  It is the blessed fruit of the ministry of prayer that our voices ascend not simply for ourselves or for those we know or for the most urgent needs of men but also for those who do not pray and cannot pray.  Do not ever forget this wonderful gift and blessing of the ministry of intercession which our Lord has called us to do in His name and on behalf of His people and the world for which He died.  Let us pray. . .