I felt blessed to be there, blessed to know him, and hope at his passing. When people say he is in a better place now, my boyfriend observed, how can they know? We cannot, and do not, though suspicions abound. It is in God’s mercy that we trust; it is in faith that we pray for his soul to find its eventual and eternal rest in Heaven.
At the funeral home, before the Mass, I sat next to my boyfriend’s mother. I asked her if she would like me to sit with their family or with my own. I’ll never forget the way she looked at me, and with her kind smile she said, “Oh, you should sit with us. [He] needs you. He needs you next to him. Isn’t it nice to be needed?”
Padre Pio said, “Pray, pray to the Lord with me, because the whole world needs prayer. And every day, when your heart especially feels the loneliness of life, pray. Pray to the Lord, because even God needs our prayers.”
I always wondered at that line: God needs our prayers? God needs us?
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ReplyDeleteAs to whether or not God needs our prayers, I highly doubt. Because I am a believer in the Reformed-Calvinist faith, talking about what God "needs" doesn't really compute. He's God. He doesn't need anything. We need everything. And He is the giver of everything and therefore we need Him and Him alone. Same principle applies to Christ on the cross as our only hope and source of salvation. But as Padre Pio said, the whole world does need prayer. And we need to remember that there is absolutely awesome and incredible power in prayer.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Julie! I want to hear about Deutschland!
I do not mean "need" in the sense of deprived, but rather the way one needs interaction in order to have a relationship. Prayers are a way to interact with God, and if Man and God's relationship is to be symbiotic, then God desires our prayers as much as we desire God's grace and mercy.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think we need to be careful with our words though between "need" and "desire." I think in many respects we as a culture are suffering from poor definition of common words and completely affronted by changing definitions of other words like, "Conservative" and "Liberal." Neither of these words really mean anything anymore.
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't think I am criticizing you, because I am not. Rather, I appreciate what Padre Pio said, but I think we need to be sure that our leaders are choosing their words carefully and with clarity if they are going to be the primary influences of the many congregations around the world.
I do not think you are criticizing me, and I agree with our usage of words--especially from leaders. I have been more than upset a few times when I've heard people in power speak and write poorly. You will hear no protests from me! I wave the flag for good writing and using the right words!
ReplyDeleteIn this case, however, I purposely used "need"- desire is one way need can be commonly defined, and thus, the interpretation of it in another way is unavoidable. I think the implication of different translations of words is what makes linguistics so fun and important!