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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

6A

Can you share any examples of when God has answered your prayers?

Do you make prayers of intercession very often? When do you feel moved to pray for others?

Why do you think God sometimes allows people to suffer?

What other ideas or questions strike you from this part of the film?

 

6B

How do you react when God doesn’t answer your prayers? Or when it’s an unexpected answer?

Who do you pray for the most? Have you ever felt inspired to pray for someone without knowing why?

Do you feel close to those you know who have died? How do you remember and pray for them?

What other ideas or questions strike you from this part of the film?

 

KEY IDEAS FROM THE FILM

One way of praying is to ask God for his help in our lives. This is sometimes called intercession or supplication or the prayer of petition. For most people, this comes naturally. It’s often the default form of prayer, and in fact the original meaning of the English verb “to pray” is simply “to ask”. Even if we don’t pray very often, when we have a problem or an urgent need, many of us will turn to God and cry out for his help.

Intercession is part of what it means to be a Christian. It’s at the heart of the Old Testament, where you see the Jewish people turning to God in all their needs. It’s taught by Jesus and practiced by him. It’s a central part of the life of the Church over these last two thousand years.

Just think about some passages from the New Testament. The Lord’s Prayer, given to us by Jesus, is really a list of intercessions: Hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses. (Matthew 6:9-13). Jesus says to his disciples, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Mt 7:7-8).

But if God knows everything, why do we need to tell him? Because sometimes we don’t really know what we want before we speak, or we are not sure if we really believe God can help us. Putting something into words forces us to be honest, and it helps us trust in God and in his goodness.

And if God is all powerful, what difference do our prayers make? Well it’s true: God can do anything, and he could do everything without our help. But he chooses to let us share in his work. Intercession is a spiritual work, and Jesus gives us the privilege of sharing in this work. We have a responsibility to intercede for our own needs and for the needs of others. It is one of the seven spiritual works of mercy, to pray for the living and the dead.

Why does God not always seem to answer our prayers? Why is there sometimes silence? This can be so confusing and painful.

Sometimes his timing is different: an answer comes, but it comes much later than we expected. We want it tomorrow, but sometimes it takes weeks or months or even years. Sometimes God’s answer is not what we expected. We ask for one thing and he gives us something else instead. We don’t understand it, and perhaps we don’t like it. But it is still an answer. Remember that in the Lord’s Prayer, we always pray “Thy will be done”.

If you are not used to praying prayers of intercession in this way, here are some tips.

Keep it simple. Pray for your daily needs, and for the needs of those around you. Don’t over-analyse this and worry about whether you should or shouldn’t pray for something. If you notice a need or a difficulty, in your life or someone else’s, then simply pray for God’s help; and if you think you know what a good solution would be, then pray for that too.

Be specific. If someone needs a job, ask that God will give them a job. If you have lost your keys, pray that you can find them. If someone is sick, pray that they will get better, and that God will give them his support in their suffering. This is the Lord’s Prayer again, when we say, “Give us this day our daily bread”.

Persevere, but don’t nag. What’s the difference? Nagging is a sign of impatience: you are not happy with God, and you think you know better than he does. Persistent prayer is different; it’s more peaceful and more humble. You think you know what is best, but you never lose your trust in God.

We are also called to listen to the Holy Spirit, because he sometimes inspires us to pray for unexpected things. Something might come to mind, a thought or a memory, and we feel moved to pray for someone; or we have an instinct, almost a spiritual feeling, that we should pray for an intention, even though we are not sure why.

St Paul writes in the letter to the Romans, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).

Intercession is absolutely central to the Christian life. It is not selfish, it is an act of love and service. We are praying for our own needs, and for the needs of the Church and the world. We should have confidence in Jesus. At the Last Supper he said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it” (Jn 14:13-14).