When I made the decision to make prayer a part of my daily activities, I found myself drawn to it by an inner yearning that made me look forward to those moments. Initially I prayed for my own needs, then for those close to me, then for those who asked me to pray for them. There emerged a noticeable pattern of how I prayed. It was by a movement of my heart in prayer, over which I had absolutely no control. I only needed to start praying and I would find myself drawn to particular groups or situations to pray for - 'the unborn', 'the departed souls', 'peace in families', 'mothers', 'priests', 'the unemployed'. One time, while I was praying the rosary, I felt drawn to pray for missionaries. When I finished, I went to my workplace and immediately did an internet search on "missionary rosary." I came across the "world mission rosary" that was inaugurated by Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen with these words, "We must pray, and not for ourselves, but for the world." Praying with this rosary became my transformation into intercessory prayer for all the peoples of the world. The joy that I found in intercession drew me to do some research work on intercession as a gift and as a ministry. That which I thought was something that is for a specific group of people turned out to be an open invite to all who are baptized Christians. I found this to be one area we can and should take up seriously our baptismal commitment as priests, prophets and kings. Thus, I decided to share my findings with all those who are probably desirous to serve in this ministry by coming up with "Standing in the Gap: an invite to minister as intercessor." Will you?
