By Carol Glatz
Pope Francis has called for a global prayer marathon for the entire month of May, praying for the end to the pandemic.
“The initiative will involve in a special way all shrines in the world” in promoting the initiative so that individuals, families, and communities all take part in reciting the rosary, “to pray for the end of the pandemic”, said the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization in a press release on 21 April.
“It is the heartfelt desire of the Holy Father that the month of May be dedicated to a prayer marathon dedicated to the theme, ‘from the entire Church an unceasing prayer rises to God’,” it stated.
The theme refers to the miraculous event recounted in the Acts of the Apostles (12:1-12) when all the Church prayed for Peter, who was imprisoned until God sent an angel to free him, illustrating how the Christian community comes together to pray in the face of danger and how the Lord listens and performs an unexpected miracle.
Each day in May 2021, there will be a livestream from one of 30 chosen Marian shrines or sanctuaries to guide the prayer at 6pm Rome time (12pm EDT) on all Vatican media platforms.
The Pontiff will open the monthlong prayer on 1 May and conclude it on 31 May.
Each day of the month has a different prayer intention related to the pandemic. For instance, the 17 May intention is “for all world leaders and for all heads of international organisations”. That prayer will be celebrated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
The following day, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, prayers will be for all doctors and nurses. The 23 May prayer intention at the Quebec shrine, Notre Dame du Cap, is for law enforcement, military personnel, and firefighters.
Because prayer is a dialogue with God, people should not dismiss or be embarrassed by saying their prayers out loud or in a whisper, Pope Francis said.
“Vocal prayer is an essential element of the Christian life”, and when Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, it was with a vocal prayer, the “Our Father”, the Pontiff said April 21 during his weekly general audience.
Continuing his series of talks on prayer, Pope Francis reflected on the importance of speaking the words of prayers out loud rather than seeing prayer just as a mental exercise or form of meditation.
Too often, people think reciting a prayer is something only children or the uneducated do, but it is the way Jesus taught his followers to pray, he continued.
“The words we speak take us by the hand. At times they restore flavour, they awaken even the sleepiest of hearts,” they reawaken forgotten feelings and they “lead us by the hand toward experiencing God.”
People should be humble when seeing the elderly who unfailingly show their fidelity to the duty of prayer and who are “often the great intercessors of parishes”, he added.
“They are the oaks that from year to year spread their branches to offer shade to the greatest number of people,” he said. And even though they, too, must have faced moments of darkness and emptiness, they remain faithful to vocal prayer.
“It is like an anchor, one can hold onto the rope and remain faithful, come what may.”
“The words of a prayer get us safely through a dark valley, direct us toward green meadows rich in water and enable us to feast in front of the eyes of an enemy,” as Psalm 23 teaches, he concluded.
The English-language list of shrines and prayer intentions can be found at https://bit.ly/3gMANYS