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Why Pray for Someone in Need?

Question:

What is the purpose of praying for someone in need? Will God only attend to the needs of those who have people praying for them? If so, doesn’t that seem like a competition, in a sense, to see how many friends a person has who are willing to pray for him?

Answer:

The purpose of praying for another is that the love of God and neighbor, which is the life of the Church, is shared more powerfully when we bear each other’s burdens. God wants us to have concern for our brothers in the faith, so he encourages us to pray for others in order to perfect our charity, not in order to have winners and losers in a prayer competition! Christ even teaches us to pray for our enemies and our persecutors, so even to pray for those who do not want our prayers.

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