The need to intercede....

Today’s mass reading: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/011312.cfm (at the bottom of the page) is a beautiful example of intercessory prayer.  I thought that the CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) did a better job of explaining what intercessory prayer is than I could, so I added excerpts below.  This Gospel reading from Mark 2:1-12, "Jesus heals a paralytic"; tells the story of how four men lowered a paralytic man through a roof to Jesus who was preaching to many people (so many that these four men, after there travels, could not even get in the building, so they persevered and climbed the roof for this loved paralytic); it reminds us all of our duty as Christians when we are strong and able to help others, this man could not walk himself but relied on others to bring Him to Christ.  In intercessory prayer, we can pray for those in purgatory who need our prayers, we can pray and ask the Lord to help our lost friend or hurt sibling.  We ourselves cannot heal, we cannot fix problems in other’s lives although many times I’m sure we wish we could.  We have to trust Jesus, trust the Father that He will hear our prayers and help those we see in need of His Love, healing, and mercy.

Sometimes we are the paralytic; not strong like the four strong men, but the weak helpless paralytic on the mat.  There are times we are so weak and lost that we need the helping hand of friends, loved ones, to “carry us to Christ”.  I am very thankful for the handful of people I know by name, and the many who I have never seen whose prayers help me to follow Christ, who point me in the right direction, and call on Christ to lift me up when I fall.  If we feel like the wounded paralytic, we can pray and ask for God to send us souls to help us “pick up our Mat and walk”, He will not fail you:

“True and pure love that comes from God is in the soul and ensures that one recognizes one’s own shortcomings and the divine goodness….such love brings the soul to Christ, and it understands with certainty that in Him no deception can be found or can exist.  No particle of worldly love can be mingled with this love.”  Bl. Angela of Folgino; ‘The book of visions and instructions’

III. PRAYER OF INTERCESSION (CCC)
2634 Intercession is a prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially sinners.¹¹² He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."¹¹³ The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."¹¹⁴
2635 Since Abraham, intercession - asking on behalf of another has been characteristic of a heart attuned to God's mercy. In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks "not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others," even to the point of praying for those who do him harm.¹¹⁵
2636 The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship intensely.¹¹⁶ Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a share in his ministry of preaching the Gospel¹¹⁷ but also intercedes for them.¹¹⁸ The intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: "for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions," for persecutors, for the salvation of those who reject the Gospel.¹¹⁹