So I've cleared up the wrong thinking that praying for other people is useless. Now let's look at the other things you and I've thought wrong about prayer.

But wait, if you haven't read about the previous topic yet, you're free to proceed to my other post. In case you're already done reading Does Praying For Other People Really Do Anything?, let's go on to next ones I used to think wrongly about and more.

What is Prayer?

Okay this might be a little late because I didn't write a primer on prayer in the previous post but still here it goes.

_{People praying at the Adoration Chapel of St. Joseph Shrine | Screenshot source}

❌ Incorrect Thought: Prayer is only about asking anything and everything from God ALL THE TIME.

✅ The TRUTH: To pray means to communicate with God, to build a relationship with Him.

Prayer is not just asking for whatever from God everytime we pray. That's what most people know but that's only a part of prayer (supplication) and not what it fully means. Don't be like me (in my "past life") who only prayed when I needed something from the Lord. 😂

In basic catechism during my high school days, we were taught that prayer involves ACTS: Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving and Supplication. However when I grew up my personal prayers were mostly Supplication and a little bit of Thanksgiving. That's it. 😂 It's only last year that I automatically started doing the other three parts sincerely and then just a sprinkle of personal Supplication.

We can freestyle our prayers but there's also those taught to us like the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary and Glory Be, the Rosary, etc. Whichever prayer we do, it's best when we do it wholeheartedly. Even Pope Francis says prayer must come from the heart and not just empty words we say like a parrot. We have to mean what we say/pray.

Here's a priest who can explain more about prayer.

On a side note, 2024 is the Year of Prayer according to Pope Francis. How appropriate then that we are looking into the topic of prayer at this moment eh? Now let's go on to the other misconceptions. Are you ready? Here we go!

All About Prayer Intentions

Why do we pray? As mentioned above, most people pray for personal reasons only. And the reason why we pray is also our prayer intentions. For example, if we pray to ask God for healing then that's one reason why someone will pray sincerely to the Lord. Usually after stating the intention (in their mind or out loud), the person begins to pray the Lord's Prayer, the rosary, a novena, or any prayer they know.

As human beings we have a lot of needs and wants that's why our prayers are always personal rather than humanitarian or all-encompassing. The good thing is, everyone can pray for other people because all in the world need it right now. Even the souls in purgatory are longing for our prayers so why not include it as part of our prayer intentions?

When we love other people, we don't just pray for ourselves. Shouldn't we pray for others if we care for them too? Won't you feel better knowing there are others out there who don't know you and yet pray for your wellbeing? Does it also mean we can't pray for all of the things we can think of? Well, read on to know what my past lukewarm Catholic mind thought vs. my spiritually renewed Catholic thoughts.

_{A rosary with the Miraculous Medal image. | (photo source)}

❌ Incorrect Thought # 1: Only One Intention Per Prayer

✅ The TRUTH: Multiple Intentions When Praying is Allowed

I still consider myself kinda new to daily prayers so since last year I thought that you can only have one intention per prayer. Heck I even made a list of prayer intentions per day. And no I never pray just for myself anymore. 😉

For example, when I pray a rosary today it will be for the healing of the sick and/or dying, tomorrow it will be for the souls in purgatory, the next day it will be for those addicted to sexual immoralities, etc. Or when I pray the Chaplet of the Precious Blood of Jesus I offer it only for the conversion of sinners.

But before and while I'm writing this, I realized when we go to mass it is offered for multiple people. All the prayer intentions of anyone who submitted mass intentions at the church office will be included. (We can even personally tell the Lord our intentions for going to mass!) That's not just one person, imagine how many people go to mass on Sundays. One mass is offered for everyone's intentions, so why restrict our own prayers to just one intention?

Of course if we just want to pray with one intention that's fine, nothing wrong with it. Am just saying, don't forget to pray for other people too (whether dead or alive).

❌ Incorrect Thought # 2: Many Prayer Intentions Will Divide a Prayer Thus Lessening the "Benefits" Each Intention Will Get

✅ The TRUTH: All Prayer Intentions Will Be Sent to God Without Diminishing the Value of Each Other

I also wrongly thought that if I had many intentions it would divide the prayers into many parts thus each won't be getting God's full attention. Out of ignorance I had that notion but through daily prayers (rosary, etc.) and asking God about it, eventually I got the sense that such thinking is false.

Again, read what I wrote in # 1 above.

Praying for Other People

Tied up with the previous post where I answer if prayer really does anything, why should we pray for anyone other than ourselves? Here's the answer straight from a priest's mouth.

I mean, do you see what the world is like right now? Depending on your age, you may have seen what's the current state of affairs in the world now as opposed to decades ago. If you know it's getting worse everyday and that something's not right with the world then that's your cue to start praying for real.

❌ Incorrect thought: No need to pray for my enemies and evil people because they deserve to go to hell!!! 🤬

✅ The TRUTH: People who do bad things and hurt you (and/or others) deliberately (or not) need our prayers the most.

When you think bad of others and pray evil befall your enemy then you're going against God's teachings. If you curse others, you're actually cursing two people: you and your enemy.

Okay I can't blame you for thinking evil thoughts when in a conflict. It's very easy to hate others and becomes automatic at times because we're so used to doing such. I've really been there done that. It's how I slowly (or quickly) snowballed almost to the dark side. 😆 I'm not kidding. If you've read my previous posts about noisy chickens and uncouth neighbors, or what's linked to "past life" in the 'What is prayer?' section above, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

When we want our enemies to go to hell or curse people we hate and think of doing bad things to them, it means we already have a lot of pain and anger inside us. This means the devil has found an opening to prod you further to sin, sin and more sin. (And you would never notice it when it happens!)

What kinds of sin? If you constantly do a thorough examination of conscience before confession, you'd know what these are. If not (like me when I was going through such issues) then here's some of them:

1. Sin of idolatry/sorcery: Anything of the occult, New Age or witchcraft goes against the 1st Commandment of God. Also, we are creatures of the Lord and thus He is not our slave to command.
2. Sin/s of revenge and hatred/anger against others: Goes against the 5th Commandment.
3. Sin of covetousness/stealing: Goes against the 7th and/or 10th Commandment.

_source

I can write more but you should get the picture. The point is, when you hate those who hurt you and retaliate against them, you will have a lot of grave sins AND perpetuate the cycle of pain and hurt to more people. And more hurting people will hurt even more individuals and make a greater number of people sin a lot! It's a vicious cycle that God constantly hears from the entire human race!

Imagine how many billions of people cry out to the Lord every second. Can you count how many times you complain or get offended/angry/cry everyday? Multiply that to billions of people.

This is why Jesus taught the concept of turning the other cheek,^{(Matthew 5:39)} praying for our enemies and loving those who hate us. ^{(Matthew 5:44)} Hard to do especially when we sorely lack God's grace but it's a must! Hurting others instead of praying for rude/bad people will make you fall from grace (like demons fell from Heaven) along with a bigger group of people!

If we sincerely pray for those who hurt us (aside from preventing them from continued abuse plus not retaliating nor hurting them back) God can make a way! He can do unexpected wonders through our prayers! There are many proof of prayer miracles out there on the internet. Do your research and see for yourself. 😍

Praying also helps make the world a better place whether we see proof or not. We can be doubting Thomases all we want but the glory and power of God will always triumph over evil!

Hope everything here has helped clear things up in some way. I have another post about prayer coming up. Anyway, your thoughts on what you've read above are welcome in the comments.


XOXO,
@artgirl