Pray to God for the living and the dead: the seventh Work of Mercy

The Works of Mercy through the eyes of a biblical scholar

We are near the conclusion of the first week of in-depth study meetings on the Works of Mercy.

The days, organized and promoted by spazio + spadoni, see the participation of many friends, consecrated and lay persons, coming from Italy, Albania, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Benin, and Kenya. We analyze the last spiritual work with the help of biblical scholar Carlo Miglietta.

The seventh spiritual Work of Mercy is “to pray to God for the living and the dead”.

The biblical scholar points out that whoever performs this work is similar to:

• Jesus, who went up “on the mountain by himself to pray” (Mt 14:23; cf. 26:36; Lk 22:32; Jn 14:16; 17:9,20; Lk 23:34), and often exhorted to prayer (Mt 9:38; Lk 22:40)… “Christ Jesus… is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Rom 8:34), “great high priest” (Heb 4:14-15).
• The Holy Spirit, who “intercedes for us with groanings that words cannot express… in accordance with God’s will” (Rom 8:26-27).
• Abraham (Gen 18:23-32; 20:7); Moses (Ex 32:11-14; 34:8-9); the Prophets (Am 7:1-6; 2 Kgs 19:4; Jer 42:2-4); Nehemiah (Neh 1:6).
• “The noble Judas…, taking up a collection… had an expiatory sacrifice offered for the dead, that they might be absolved from sin” (2 Macc 12:42-45).
• The centurion (Lk 7:3), Jairus, head of the synagogue (Lk 8:41-42), the father of the epileptic boy (Lk 9:38); the ten lepers (Lk 17:13), the blind man of Jericho (Lk 18:28), the Syrophoenician woman (Mk 7:26; cf. 1:30; 7:32; 8:22), one of the two criminals on the cross (Lk 23:42).
• Paul: “I always pray with joy for you in all my prayers” (Phil 1:3-4; cf. Col 1:3; 2 Thess 1:11).

The biblical scholar also reminds us that whoever prays listens to the Word of God

Below are some excerpts:

• “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44; cf. Lk 6:28).
• “Requests, prayers, intercessions… should be made for all people, for kings and all those in authority” (1 Tim 2:1-2).
• “Peter was kept in prison: but prayer was being made earnestly to God for him by the Church” (Acts 12:5).
• “Pray continuously with all kinds of prayers…, praying for all the Lord’s people” (Eph 6:18).
• “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin…, he should pray and God will give him life” (1 Jn 5:16).
• “Pray for us, too, that… we may proclaim the mystery of Christ” (Col 4:3; cf. Acts 8:24).
• “And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you” (2 Cor 9:14).
• “Physicians… also pray to the Lord that he would guide them successfully to alleviate sickness and heal it, so that the patient may return to life” (Sir 38:14).
• “Pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil… And the prayer offered in faith will save the sick person” (Jas 5:13-16).

The biblical scholar concludes this work with a challenging question: do we know how to be “fishers of men” (Mk 1:7), identifying those who pray for the living and the dead and announcing to them the beatitude of Mercy which declares “Blessed are the merciful” (Mt 5:7)?

Praying the Works of Mercy

spazio + spadoni, through what it has named re-Evolution, emphasizes the importance of praying unceasingly to train the body and spirit to direct one’s steps along the path of the Works of Mercy.

A path toward reciprocity to be sought not only in mutual action but by uniting to the Works of doing, the spiritual meaning that flows from advising, teaching, admonishing, comforting, forgiving, bearing patiently, and praying.

Photo by Aaron Burden su Unsplash

Source: Carlo Miglietta – The Works of Mercy