The Power Of Prayer....The Power Of Faith

I am a Roman Catholic and, while I would not call myself "devout", I'm a regular "church-goer" and I'm fairly serious about my faith. For one thing, I do pray a lot.

Last week, I had a "revelation" of sorts about the power of prayer, and yesterday, one regarding the impact that one person's faith can have on another, and I feel the need to share these things. I hope you vast legions (lol) of readers won't mind, but, it is my blog.

I was saying a prayer seeking help regarding a couple of particularly thorny legal problems. As I did so, I wondered to myself why God would answer my prayers when it appeared that he did not answer those of others who apparently suffered from problems which were bigger than mine. I also thought that my prayers were rather selfish and that God probably had better things to do than deal with my petty issues.

Later, it occurred to me that maybe my prayers were being answered because I did, in fact, pray. Perhaps those others I mused about did not believe in God, or, if they believed, simply did not pray. I also thought that perhaps prayer is not selfish, but rather an acknowledgement that I need help and that God's power is greater than anything I could muster on my own.

In any event, I intend to keep on praying. My prayers to our Heavenly Father, Jesus, Mary and the Saints, helped me overcome the worst of my issues. Some may doubt that there was a connection, or even that God really exists. Some people say that truly intelligent people don't believe in God; that such faith is no different than the Greek's worship of the Olympians. I go with the philosopher who said you should believe in what you hope for. I cannot think of a more hopeless world than one without God. I choose to believe and I choose to pray.

My faith was further rewarded on Saturday when my family and I went to St. Helen's Church for the 4:00 mass, instead of our usual 5:00 mass at Holy Ghost Church. Because it was Halloween, we wanted to get home before the trick or treaters started to arrive.

The celebrant, Father Alou, is a foreign born priest. For whatever reason, he exuded faith to a degree exhibited by only one other priest in my experience. I must say that I have not been so moved in church since Fr. Alex Bradshaw left Holy Ghost.

Its difficult to explain, but Fr. Alou spoke about his faith (my faith) in a way that made me believe it was the most precious thing in the world. His spirituality was of a kind you do not normally see. My regular priest, Fr. Tom Nellis is a fine man and, he too, is spiritual. But his spirituality is contemplative rather than dynamic.

Fr. Bradshaw's passion and faith brought me back to the church. Fr. Alou had the same kind of effect. I even noticed that my 12 year old son paid attention during the entire mass. I left St. Helen's feeling like I was part of a community of which being a member was something very special. This man truly found his calling.

In the end, I find it hard to believe that someone could be so moved, and moving, by a premise (faith in God) that is nothing but superstition. As I said above, I choose to believe.