As we prepare for the great Feast of Pentecost, we encounter again the Apostles retreating to the Upper Room in order to pray and wait for the coming of the Advocate, promised by Jesus. We listened to Jesus last words to them ‘I am with you always, until the end of the world.

It is important for us to understand how we pray as intercessors and for whom we pray. Prayer is firstly a conversation with the Holy Trinity. It is also an opportunity to be an intermediary for someone we know or love. Often times we can find ourselves praying for our own immediate concerns, problems in our families or bad situations in which we find ourselves.

But what of the world? Who remembers the lost and the alienated, the homeless or the confused around the world? Who remembers those who have lost their faith?

We do. We are with the disciples now in prayer in the Upper Room. We are praying for all lost sheep, together we remember them for they too, one day will remember us.

The Reader’s Digest section, Points to Ponder ran this story: “An elderly woman was weeping noticeably while standing alone at Washington’s Vietnam War Memorial. Moved by the sight, a young man walked over to the old woman, put his hand in hers, and said “one of your sons, ma’am?” The old woman said softly, “Not one of my sons, all of them!””

This same spirit must move us to pray with Christ in the communion of the saints! We are a part of a vast human family who rely on each other in Christ to be holy.

 

Not one but all.