Is every prayer effective?

Editorial Staff

Over the last few months some of my friends and acquaintances have been ill with Covid and I must confess that this has created a lot of worry and anxiety in me. All of them have recovered without after-effects with the exception of one very good friend, a tireless organiser of the activities of our little association that takes care of disabled young people. Throughout the days of the illness among friends we organised moments of continuous prayer for his recovery but in spite of this he died. In those same days while watching a TV programme I listened to the testimony of a woman who had recovered from Covid and was thanking people who had supported her with prayers which she considered to be her true medicine. I must say that an awful thought came to my mind but I wiped it out: is it possible that God was not listening to our prayers?

L.T.

Of course not! Prayers are not “validated” because God answers them but because they increase our capacity to love and to accept. Otherwise it would no longer be prayer but magic. When we pray for somebody or to obtain something we do it with a high sense of expectation and anticipation, we expect things to change. At the same time prayer helps us to trust in God’s project of love and to continue to have the courage and fortitude to accept that God’s will is not always what we hoped for. Death puts an end to human life and is a natural moment but it does not relieve us from feeling the pain of loss. However all this does not happen because we did not pray enough or well enough. Prayers are a way to encounter those who have preceded us in eternal life. So prayer continues, just as the love for the people with whom we have shared a piece of the journey of life continues.