I recently had the privilege of going to one of the most important pilgrimage centers for Christians in India – Velankanni
It’s believed that any prayer that you ask Mother Mary to intercede will definitely bear fruit.
And hence I didn’t hesitate to ask my close friends about any prayer request that they might have and this is what I found
1. Some people could not word what they want. They talked about vague, generic things
2. Others simply didn’t have a prayer request at all ! Of course it could be because they didn’t want their personal issues / problems to be revealed to people around them
I asked several people before I went to the church and just 2 people had a clear cut prayer request. And that was something which was totally unexpected.
Moreover, since I knew them personally, I felt they had several other major challenges going on in their life which they ignored or chose not to tell me.
Time and again, I’ve found that people unable to come up with what they want in their lives. I’ve also found that people in the lower strata of the society, especially people struggling financially, find it too easy when confronted with a situation like this, might answer this question much more easily . On the contrary, a rich or sophisticated person wouldn’t have a prayer request at all or might request for World peace or overall happiness for people around them
This experience taught me 3 important lessons
1. If you know a person’s deepest heart’s yearning or prayer, you are much closer to them than you think
2. Not all people are humble enough to share their weakness or challenges, even with the closest people around them
3. Sometimes people have absolutely no idea about what they want in their lives : Just like how they are unclear about whom they love and what they want to pursue in their lives – thereby being unable to put their hearts, mind and soul on to anything, 100%
