Some Catholics get upset when traditional matters, especially ultimate traditional matters, are messed around with. So the rest of this post comes with a content advisory.
One of the things I’d like to do in 2013 is pray for people, especially those who have asked me to pray for them. That prayer doesn’t always fit into my lectio.
On the left, this is how I’ve prayed for people when I’m on retreat: placing their names on a post-it in the back of my Psalter.
These days, I’ve been inspired to add their name to an altered ending of a prayer:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for N, now and all the days of her/his life.
A few friends are struggling with significant illnesses, even life-threatening. It struck as slightly creepy to ask the intercession now and at the hour of death. A more seemly way to pray was to pray for their lives.
So when it comes to mind to offer up a prayer for someone in particular, it seems easy to go back to the second prayer I uttered as a child. I suppose if I wanted to pray the rosary with particular people for intentions, I could pray for ten, or even fifty people.
Bah! I’m just happy to remember to pray for one person this day, this minute.
