Last Wednesday, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, I reflected on the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation and its inseparable link to the infinite value and dignity of every human being - from conception to natural death. Today, I happened to come across an item: Pope backs “spiritual adoption of the unborn”. It resonated deeply with a practice I adopted some years ago: to choose one living person each day – known or unknown – and include that person in my morning offering, consciously uniting them to the offering of the Mass being celebrated anywhere in the world at that moment. One might even give that person a name.
That person could be a child caught in the terror of a
bombing raid in Beirut right now. It could be someone in my own neighbourhood
experiencing the depths of mental anguish or despair and at risk of self-harm.
It could be an expectant mother and her little baby somewhere in this country
at this very moment. It might even be someone living just down the street whose
suffering is hidden from us but never hidden from God.
Are such prayers heard? I believe they are. Are they
effective? I leave that entirely to God. What I do know is that the prayers of
millions - especially when joined to the most powerful prayer of all, the Holy
Mass - are effective in ways we cannot know or measure on this side of
eternity.
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