DECEMBER PRAYER INTENTION - A LIFE OF PRAYER
December 1, 2020
POPE FRANCIS' DECEMBER 2020 PRAYER INTENTION
In a year marked by the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Holy Father calls us to prayer... "the key for us to be able to enter into dialogue with the Father" - i.e. prayer.
Through a life of prayer, it is possible to have a personal and profound relationship with Jesus Christ and to change our hearts. Prayer-listening to Jesus, contemplating Jesus, speaking with Him as with a friend-transforms our lives. It is the path to drawing closer to the Father.
In the video issued with His appeal for a renewed prayer life, the Pope speaks as images are shown that are taken from some of the most emotive moments of 2020: the prayer service for the pandemic in an empty St. Peter's Square; a pilgrimage of the crucifix of San Marcelo in Via del Corso, in the middle of Rome; and moments of recollection before the Byzantine icon of Salus Populi Romani at the Roman Basilica of St. Mary Major.
For Pope Francis, reminds us that "by praying, we change reality. And we change our hearts". Prayer always produces a change. "We can do many things, but without prayer, it does not work," he says. In the General Audience on 4 November, he also took advantage of the opportunity to explain Jesus' life of prayer. "During his public life, Jesus constantly availed himself of the power of prayer. The Gospels show this to us when he retired to secluded places to pray. These are sober and discreet observations that allow us only to imagine those prayerful dialogues. They clearly demonstrate, however, that even at times of greater dedication to the poor and the sick, Jesus never neglected his intimate dialogue with the Father."
PRAYING TOGETHER
