The power of prayer

Paiva Netto

Mrs. Rosalina, Dr. Carrel and the Power of Prayer

José de Paiva Netto President of LGW

I frequently receive messages, letters, and notes from those who are facing great suffering. They are mothers whose sons died, fathers fighting against addiction, youth looking for a right way, people weakened by incurable sickness, old men abandoned by those who should protect their existence. There is also the “accompanied loneliness”. Maybe, it is one of the reasons for which people expose themselves so much, as if to say, in some cases, the successful proclamation: “Hi, I am here! I also have a heart!”

A lady, that we shall call Mrs. Rosalina, is one of these suffering creatures that are craving for at least one word of comfort. I will not enter in the details of her case. But I can reveal a small suggestion that I made to her, and according to her report, it has been of great help.

I used my own experience. In times of difficulty, when there seems to be no way out of some matters, I turn to prayer and gain strength to work. I don’t recall ever regretting to follow the lemma of venerable São Bento: Ora et labora.

I gave her then a prayer that I heard from missed Geraldo de Aquino. I hope it will serve those who honor me with their attention, if in the daily struggle, they are passing through afflictions that sometimes can’t be revealed to the greatest friend or the most sincere confident. Nobody, religious or atheist, is free of that.

This prayer, from its name, invokes a sense that we all need: Charity (Charitas, in Latin), that improves the relationship of creatures that search in their fellows something else beyond a sack of meet or an endless source of exploration. Charity is not captive of the restricted acceptation to which some want to condemn it. It concerns the most elevated policy. It enlightens the citizen Spirit. Why loose hope? It ignites the people’s courage. The first victim of despair is the desperate.

Charitas Prayer

“God, Our Father, who is the Power and Goodness, give strength to those who suffer, give light to those who search the truth, place in the heart of Man compassion and charity. God! give the traveler the guiding star, to the afflicted consolation, rest to the sick. Induce the guilty to repentance. Give the Spirit the truth, the child a guide, to the orphan a father. Lord! May Your Goodness extend over everything that you created. Mercy, Lord, to those that don’t know You, hope for those who suffer. May Your Goodness allow the consoling spirits pour everywhere peace, hope and faith! Oh! God! a ray, a spark of Your Love can illuminate the earth, let us drink in the fountain of this fecund and endless Goodness. All the tears will dry, all the pains will calm down. Only one heart and only one thought will go up to You, as a cry of gratitude and Love. As Moses on the mountain, we wait You with open arms, Oh! Goodness, Oh! Beauty, oh! Perfection!. We want, somehow, to deserve Your mercy. God! Give us strength, help our progress so we can get to You, give us pure charity and humbleness; give us faith and reason; give us simplicity, Father, that will make our souls the mirror where Your Divine Image will be reflected.”

A Nobel of Medicine and Physiology speaks

Dr. Alexis Carrel (1873-1944), the famous author of “Man, this unknown” wrote concerning the matter that encourages the souls:

“Prayer is (...) the most powerful kind of energy that man can generate. It is a power so real as the Earth gravity. In my character as a doctor, I have seen ill people that, after having tried without result the other therapeutic means, got rid of melancholy and illness, through the serene effort of prayer. This is thus, the only power in the world that seems capable of overcoming the so called “laws of nature”. Many people see prayer only as (...) a refugee for the shy, or as a childish appeal moved by the wish for material things. To conceive it in those terms is to despise it wrongly. (...) “Nobody ever prayed, said Emerson (18013-1882) “without learning something”. (...) The deepest source of energy and perfection, at our reach, has been miserably abandoned. (...) If the power of prayer is put into action in the life of men and women, there will be trust in our yearning for a better world.”

Notice that it’s not the opinion of a “delirious mystic”, but of a respected man of Science.

One who suffers, from the cottage to the palace, certainly had the opportunity to prove that reality already.

Isn’t that so, Mrs. Rosalina?

Look: In difficult times, when there seems to be no way out of some matters, I turn to prayer and gain strength to work. And I have not yet regretted to follow the motto from the venerable São Bento: Ora et labora.