Prayer is a vital activity for the family of the Church. It unites us across all generations, vocations, cultures, and paths of life. 

With the celebration of All Saints’ Day last week, as usual, the topic of saints becomes popular. Reviewing the list of American saints, as well as those on their way to sainthood — the blesseds and the venerables — many are priests or religious. It can be easy to forget that these saintly people are from families just like yours and mine. When we hear about the life of a saint, their entire life is summed up into just a few highlights. What makes these people saints is their choice to say “yes” to God’s plan for them and to rely on Him. However, during their lifetime, many people prayed for them, and many people invoked the saints of previous generations for their intercession to help them. We don’t often think that when the future saints lived on earth, they needed spiritual support and intercession from those around them.

A similar perspective can be found towards those having a vocation to the Church, either priests or religious consecrated life; they are also from families like ours. Realistically, we don’t know who God is calling and we should encourage the children within our families to consider the possibility. There are countless stories of saints who had a checkered youth that eventually sought out the religious life; just because a child doesn’t show any inclination towards God doesn’t mean He’s not calling them. Even if one doesn’t have a child, sibling, or other family member in religious life, praying for those who are, benefits the Church. If we ask a priest or religious to pray for us, we must also do the same for them. We may think that person is closer to God because of their vocation, but they are in the same need of the sacraments as we are. 

Future priests, consecrated religious, and saints are all around us and need our prayers. But how do we pray for them? While the simple standards of the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be are perfectly adequate; we can go a bit extra with a rosary or even having a Mass said with their intention. As the faithful, we are called to pray without ceasing, so even in our daily activities, we can offer up our simple tasks as prayerful intercession. Speaking of future saints, how about all those in purgatory? They are in need of our prayers, just as we are in need of theirs. They truly are much closer to God than we are. 

The Church is one big family in faith and prayer is the communication that transcends time and space. We are all called to holiness, we are all called to pray. Let us join together to support each other on our journey to becoming saints, living onwards in the presence of God.