To neglect ones own ability to laugh is the greatest form of Blasphemy for to laugh is to pray.

Theres a traditional Kenyan prayer From the cowardice that dares not deal with new truth from the laziness that is content with half-truth from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth Good Lord deliver me.

Since both the departed saints and we ourselves are in Christ we share with them in the communion of saints. They are still our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we celebrate the Eucharist they are there with us along with the angels and archangels. Why then should we not pray for and with them The reason the Reformers and their successors did their best to outlaw praying for the dead was because that had been so bound up with the notion of purgatory and the need to get people out of it as soon as possible. Once we rule out purgatory I see no reason why we should not pray for and with the dead and every reason why we should - not that they will get out of purgatory but that they will be refreshed and filled with Gods joy and peace. Love passes into prayer we still love them why not hold them in that love before God

But the Esquire passage I found most poignant and revealing was this one Mister Rogers visit to a teenage boy severely afflicted with cerebral palsy and terrible anger. One of the boys few consolations in life Junod wrote was watching Mister Rogers Neighborhood. At first the boy was made very nervous by the thought that Mister Rogers was visiting him. He was so nervous in fact that when Mister Rogers did visit he got mad at himself and began hating himself and hitting himself and his mother had to take him to another room and talk to him. Mister Rogers didnt leave though. He wanted something from the boy and Mister Rogers never leaves when he wants something from somebody. He just waited patiently and when the boy came back Mister Rogers talked to him and then he made his request. He said I would like you to do something for me. Would you do something for me On his computer the boy answered yes of course he would do anything for Mister Rogers so then Mister Rogers said I would like you to pray for me. Will you pray for me And now the boy didnt know how to respond. He was thunderstruck... because nobody had ever asked him for something like that ever. The boy had always been prayed for. The boy had always been the object of prayer and now he was being asked to pray for Mister Rogers and although at first he didnt know how to do it he said he would he said hed try and ever since then he keeps Mister Rogers in his prayers and doesnt talk about wanting to die anymore because he figures if Mister Rogers likes him that must mean that God likes him too.As for Mister Rogers himself... he doesnt look at the story the same way the boy did or I did. In fact when Mister Rogers first told me the story I complimented him on being smart - for knowing that asking the boy for his prayers would make the boy feel better about himself - and Mister Rogers responded by looking at me first with puzzlement and then with surprise. Oh heavens no Tom I didnt ask him for his prayers for him I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I wanted his intercession.

Gods side is determined not by geography but by those who do His will. If Germans English Japanese and Americans prayed right they would all be praying for the same intention Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. And what is that Will The reign of Justice and Charity in the hearts of men. Through a prayerful contemplation of war we will see not soldiers of different nations in combat but one great family quarreling fighting wounding and all in need of the peace and charity of Christ which we hope to obtain by our supplications.

The only trouble is that in the spiritual life there are no tricks and no shortcuts. Those who imagine that they can discover spiritual gimmicks and put them to work for themselves usually ignore Gods will and his grace.

Public prayers of are of little value unless they are founded on or followed up by private praying.

Prayer will never do our work for us what it will do is to strengthen us for work which must be done.

Our devotions are not measured by the clock but time is of the essence. The ability to wait and stay and press belongs essentially to our intercourse with God.

True prayer is only another name for the love of God. Its excellence does not consist in the multitude of our words for our Father knoweth what things we have need of before we ask Him. The true prayer is that of the heart and the heart prays only for what it desires. To pray then is to desire -- but to desire what God would have us desire. He who asks what he does not from the bottom of his heart desire is mistaken in thinking that he prays.