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The Light of the World
he unites himself to the community and to the Church. The more intimately we associate ourselves
with the community, with the Church, with our parish, with our family, with the various
religious families, the more pleased God will be with us, and the more fruitful becomes our
prayer. “For where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst
of them” (Mt 18:20).
But what if we should be living at odds with our brethren? What if we are given to hatred and
are guilty of a lack of charity both in word and in action? Can our prayer then be truly a prayer
of the community, made in the name of Christ? It could hardly be so.
During the rogation processions the Church prays the Litany of the Saints. The Church
militant unites with the Church triumphant, with Mary, the Queen of all saints, with the
holy angels, with the apostles and martyrs, with the confessors and virgins. This union
provides a vast multitude of holy souls praying as one. Joining her prayer to those of the
saints, the Church cries out to the Lord, “be merciful,” “deliver us from all evil,” “we beseech
Thee, hear us.” Then she adds many prayers addressed to the Father. All these she offers to
God through her intermediary, Jesus Christ. “For where there are two or three gathered
together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” How fruitful these rogation processions
must be, for the Church is sure to be heard! “He heard my voice from His holy
temple, alleluia” (Introit).
Prayer
Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who in our affliction confide in Thy mercy,
may be ever defended by Thy protection against all adversity. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday, Rogation Day
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you”
(Gospel). This solemn promise was made by the Lord to those who pray. Confiding in this
promise, we join in the rogation procession and the Mass.
“The continual prayer of a just man availeth much. Elias was a man passible like unto us; and
with prayer he prayed that it might not rain upon the earth, and it rained not for three years
and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her
fruit” (Epistle). Thus we see how efficacious and how fruitful were the prayers of the just man
Elias. And the Lord has also promised us in the Gospel: “Ask, and it shall be given you.” How
great, then, must be the intercessory power of the Church! How great must be the power of
that prayer if all members of the Church and the saints in heaven lift their hands to the Father in
supplication! The Church prays incessantly through her priests, through her religious, through
the saints, through Mary, the most powerful of all intercessors, and through her Head, who
is Christ Jesus. Christ is with the Father; He is also in our tabernacles, “always living to make
intercession for us” (Heb 7:25). We join our prayers to those of the Church, and we have the
assurance: “Ask, and it shall be given you.” We place our trust in the intercessory power of the
Church, of which we are living members. We also place great confidence in the power of our
prayer, because of the fact that we are supported and abetted by the prayers of many holy and
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