prayer time

I have grown to love nighttime prayers with the children. Fidgeting has dropped to a minimum, as Anna is usually very sleepy and traipses off to her room with daddy before we really get underway. Given the chance, she will always pray for all the kids in her class at school, and you can depend on her to remember someone we haven't seen in ages. (After we'd been in England for several months, she offered up a prayer for Fr Paddy, the priest at our church in Atlanta!)

Thomas is my chief intercessor, though. I know that he must keep abreast of current events at school, because he's always ready with a prayer for whatever crisis might be happening. He prayed for the miners in Chile consistently, and even remembered to thank God for their rescue. He also always remembers in prayer those who are in situations of war or disaster: the floods in Pakistan, the earthquake in Haiti, and the perennial difficulties around Africa. I am always amazed at how aware he is of what's going on in the world, and how concerned he is about people who are in need. He doesn't forget our priests, either. Although he has learned the neat shortcut of praying for all the priests of the diocese, he remembers Fr David Burrell, who was in Durham for several months last year, and Fr Anthony Meredith, who was saying Mass at Minster Abbey during the week we visited in the summer. Because Fr David is in Uganda, Thomas has added to his prayers the rest of the priests in Africa.

Of course how many of these prayers are uttered, and in what sort of detail, depends on how tired Thomas is on any given evening. But he's always bound to remember someone I've forgotten, or to surprise me by offering a prayer for a person or situation I wouldn't dream that he had in mind. A couple of nights ago, though, he blew me away completely. 'God bless all those people who don't have anyone to pray for them', he said.

Now that's a boy with a good heart, if ever there was one. So if you were thinking that nobody was praying for you, Thomas has got you covered. God bless him, and all the children who pray for us grown-ups. We need those prayers!