As of this writing, the nation keeps vigil with the Texas families whose loved ones were swept away by flood waters, the death toll north of 100 and climbing.
According to media reports, over the Fourth of July weekend gun violence killed 189 people and injured 500 in our country.
Last week I traveled out of state to comfort friends whose 37-year-old daughter died unexpectedly of an aortic aneurism during a European holiday with her husband.
And this week, life in our city is bookended by the anniversaries of two senseless murders, a year apart, which took the lives of two women in our community.
Is it any wonder my heart turns to questions of prayer and suffering? What good is prayer if we still suffer?
I can’t tell you exactly how prayer works, but I know it isn’t magic. I don’t always get what I pray for. Do you?
I think prayer “works,” to the extent it does, because it engenders faith, opens our hearts to new possibilities, and weaves relationships through which we are led to grace-filled responses breathed into life by the presence of the Holy.
Believers turn to prayer – beseeching God – during periods of suffering, pain and challenge, and experience the fruit of prayer through attention. My friends whose daughter died told me how much it meant to know our sisters were praying for them. Our prayer, of many others, didn’t remove their suffering, but lightened the burden, helping them to feel the consolation of many who were suffering with them.
That suffering with – the very definition of compassion – is a gift of prayer, perhaps its most important gift. When we pray, our hearts break open in compassion; when we have compassion, we turn our hearts to prayer.
There is so much suffering in the world that needs our open, compassionate hearts. We could all make a long list. If we can relieve suffering by practical means – our own or others – it is best to do so. Rush the neighbor to the ER; step in for the injured colleague; have the needed surgery; seek the treatment. Take the attitude change to heart; make the moves necessary to improve safety and the quality of our lives.
But when suffering comes that makes no sense and has no reason, we look to Jesus, who chose suffering, “heedless of its shame” as St. Paul tells us. Jesus accepted the senseless suffering of the cross and imbued it with ultimate meaning through the Resurrection. Though none of us is the Christ, through our own suffering, we, too, can find ways to turn darkness into light.
During the darkest days of the war in Iraq, our Iraqi Dominican sisters and brothers told us how much it meant to them to know that members of the order throughout the world were praying in solidarity. Our prayer was more than words. Some of us showed up. It wasn’t practical for every Dominican in the world to go to Iraq – but the fruit of our global, communal prayer enabled some of us – supported materially by the Dominican family the world over—to put our feet on the ground where the Iraqi people were suffering. It inspired many more of us to speak out against the war and share the witness of the Iraqi Dominicans with policymakers. It led to interventions at the United Nations, and contributed globally to a conversion of hearts and minds about the war.
You may have your own experience of the fruits of prayerfulness. A neighbor or friend has emergency surgery? You might pray and be inspired to do something practical like bring a casserole or walk the dog while they recover. A baby arrives early? Maybe some friends, through their prayer, are moved to finish stocking the nursery or assembling the crib.
Recently one of our Dominican associates traveled with her students to a refugee camp in Kenya, where they witnessed the suffering caused by the senseless dismantling of USAID, the government agency that used to provide nutrition to thousands of people in the camp. It was devastating to see, she said. She and her students are struggling through – and praying about – how best to act now. How might they communicate the consequences of this ill-considered U.S. policy in the best possible way to break open hearts and perhaps lead to the reversal of suffering caused by a bad policy decision? In other words, they understand exactly the link between prayer and action – prayer inspires action; action rooted in prayer bears fruit.
“Prayer changes things” is one of those slogans you might find on a pillow at the home goods store. It can change things: through the intention and attention of the ones who pray, and through the presence of God’s Holy Spirit among those who desire to bring healing to the world’s pain.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2025.
