Pope Francis: 'Prayer works miracles'

Prayer works miracles and prevents hardening of the heart, Pope Francis said this morning during Mass at Casa Santa Marta.

"It's the prayer of the faithful that brings change to the Church; it's not us popes, bishops or priests who carry the Church forward, but the Saints", the Holy Father said.

Pope Francis was reflecting on the Bible reading of the day which tells the story of Hannah, who was deeply distressed by her infertility and desperately prays to the Lord to give her a child, and of the priest Eli, who looks on vaguely from afar and superficially judges the woman as a drunkard as he can see her babbling but cannot hear her words.

"Hannah was praying silently, her lips moved but her voice was not heard. Hers is the courage of a woman of faith who is weeping and grieving and asks the Lord for his grace. There are many good women in the Church, many! They place all their trust in prayer... Let us think of one of them, Saint Monica who was able, with her tears, to be granted the grace of conversion for her son, Saint Augustine. There are so many" the Pope said.

Eli, the elderly priest, was "a poor man" towards whom, Francis says, he feels "a certain sympathy" because, he said, "I find faults in myself that allow me to understand him well and feel close to him."

This priest "had become tepid, had lost his devotion" and "did not have the strength to stop his two sons", who were "delinquent" priests. Yes, they were truly wicked men "who exploited people". Eli is a "poor and feeble man", and is therefore incapable of "understanding this woman's heart."

"How easily do we judge people and lack the respect to say: 'I wonder what he has in his heart? I do not know, but I will say nothing...' When the heart lacks compassion one always thinks evil" and does not understand those who pray "with pain and anguish" and "entrust that pain and anguish to the Lord."

"Jesus knows this kind of prayer. When he was in Gethsemane and was so anguished and hurt he sweated blood, He did not accuse the Father: 'Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done'". Jesus responded in the same way of the woman: with meekness. Sometimes, we pray, we ask things of God, but often we do not know how to engage with the Lord, to ask for grace" he said.

The Pope also recalled the story of a man in Buenos Aires whose nine-year-old-daughter was dying in hospital. He said he spent the night at the shrine of the Virgin of Luján clinging to the gate and praying for the grace of healing. The next morning, when he returned to the hospital, his daughter was healed.

"Prayer works miracles. It works miracles for Christians, whether they be faithful laypeople, priests, bishops who have lost compassion. The prayers of the faithful change the Church: it's not us popes, bishops, priests or nuns who carry the Church forward, but Saints. Saints are those who dare to believe that God is the Lord and that He can do everything" Pope Francis concluded.

Source: Vatican Radio/VIS