Missional prayer is aligning our desires with, coming into communal agreement with, and purposefully interceding for the Holy Spirit’s work in transforming the hearts of people in our parish and neighbourhood.
That definition is just a fancy way of saying that we should be praying consciously and intentionally that:
1. We will be able to discover together what it is that God wants for our parish community.
2. That we will bring this vision to God in our prayers and ask God to give us the gifts that we need to achieve that vision.
Missional Prayer Faces Outward:
As we grow in our personal discipleship, as we fall ever more deeper in love with the God who loved us into being, our hearts turn increasingly towards others. We want others to know Christ, and to experience the transformation we have experienced.
Missional Prayer Flows from Love:
When our love for others is strong, it enables us to do things we would not ordinarily do for others. Whatever personal cost there may be, in the face of love it is nothing. Strong love compels strong prayer. It is the prayer of Jesus to his Father at night, forgoing sleep in order to dialogue with the One who loved him and who loved the ones he loved.
Missional Prayer is Directional:
Missional prayer involves intentional intercession. A parish like ours, embarking on a journey of renewal begins to have a direction it did not have before. It is a direction inspired by God, a vision for the future that drives our present. When we discern the direction in which the Holy Spirit is leading our parish, prayer also has a direction.
Missional Prayer is Apostolic Labouring:
In Galatians 4: 19, St Paul describes labouring, contending prayer. This is the prayer of those who have agreed to work with Christ and for Christ for the redemption of the world. It is allowing ourselves to be weighed down by spiritually by the burden of those who have not accepted Christ and those who are not living out their commitment to Christ. It means praying for them, that they will enter into a relationship with him. This is the spiritual work that takes place prior to a person being born into new life in Christ. It is truly the labour pains of birthing new disciples, and we its midwives.
What might this look like in our parish?
Firstly, we need to model and normalise prayer. We have been baptised and have been given the authority to pray for one another. We should do it in our meetings and gatherings here at church and at home. Some parishes even establish a prayer ministry where who want to be prayed for, for whatever reason, can receive this ministry after mass. Other parishes establish programs like ALPHA where people gather weekly for a 3 month period of information, discussion and prayer.
Other forms of prayer are also popular, such as eucharistic adoration. This is something already available in our parish. Prayer-walking is less esoteric than it sounds, and consists of walking the parish boundaries, noticing whatever it is the Holy Spirit lifts up for us to notice, and praying for that. Fasting is also a powerful symbol of our desire for God, as we repeat the words “My soul longs for you like a dry weary land without water.”
Additionally, during the course of this year I will be offering a “School of Prayer,” where we focus on lexio divina, lexio visio, Imaginative contemplation, centering prayer, and the examination of consciousness.
