Why Pray for Others: The Power of Intercession

Someone tells you their mother has cancer, and you say, I will pray for you. It is one of the most common phrases in Christian life, and one of the least examined. What are we actually doing when we pray for someone else? Does it change anything? Would God not help them anyway? This article looks at intercessory prayer, the practice of praying on behalf of others, and why the Church considers it one of the greatest acts of love a person can offer.

What intercession is

To intercede is to stand between. An intercessor stands between God and another person, bringing that person's need before God and asking Him to act. It is the prayer of Abraham pleading for Sodom, of Moses on the mountain with his arms raised while Israel fought below, of the four friends who carried the paralyzed man to Jesus and lowered him through the roof.

The Catechism describes intercession as a prayer of petition that leads us to pray as Jesus did. Christ is the one true intercessor; He stands before the Father on our behalf forever. When we pray for others, we are joining our small voice to His.

Why God wants us to pray for one another

The obvious objection is that God already knows what people need and already loves them. Why does He need us to ask?

He does not need us. He wants us. God has chosen to involve human beings in His work, and prayer is one of the ways He does it. When you pray for your sick neighbor, you are not informing God or persuading Him. You are participating in His care for that person. He has arranged the world so that your love matters, so that your prayer is woven into how He acts.

What intercession does for the person you pray for

Scripture is unambiguous that intercessory prayer has effect. James writes that the prayer of a righteous person has great power. Paul repeatedly asks for prayer and credits his deliverance to it. Jesus tells His disciples to pray for their persecutors.

We cannot usually trace the results. But people who have been prayed for through a crisis often report a strength they could not account for, a peace that arrived at the worst moment, a door that opened unexpectedly. The saints took these things seriously. Saint Monica prayed for her son Augustine for seventeen years before he converted; we have a Doctor of the Church because a mother refused to stop praying.

What intercession does for you

Praying for others also changes the one who prays. It is almost impossible to pray sincerely for someone and continue to resent them. Jesus knew this when He told us to pray for our enemies. The act of bringing a person before God forces us to see them as God sees them, and that view is always more merciful than our own.

The communion of saints

Catholics believe that intercession does not stop at death. The saints in heaven continue to pray for those on earth, which is why we ask Saint Jude, Saint Rita, or the Blessed Virgin to pray for us. This is not a replacement for prayer to God; it is an extension of the same principle. If you can ask your friend to pray for you, you can ask a friend who is already with God.

Practical ways to pray for others

• Keep a list. Write down names and needs. Review it daily. Cross off and give thanks when prayers are answered.
• Pray immediately. When someone asks for prayer, pray right then, even silently. Do not wait and risk forgetting.
• Offer specific things. Offer a Mass, a rosary, a fast, or a day's work for a particular person. Concrete offerings keep intercession from becoming vague.
• Pray for people you dislike. Make it a rule. It will change you before it changes them.
• Tell people. Knowing someone is praying is itself a grace. A short message saying, I prayed for you this morning, can carry a person through a hard day.

When intercession seems to fail

Sometimes we pray for someone and the illness advances, the marriage ends, the person does not convert. Did the prayer fail? The Church says no. Every prayer is heard. The outcomes we see are not the whole story. The person was accompanied; grace was given in ways we will not know until heaven. And often the prayer bears fruit years later, in ways we never connected to it.

Saint Monica did not see Augustine's conversion coming. She simply kept praying. That is the model: faithful, persistent, trusting intercession, offered not because we can guarantee results but because we love the people God has given us and we believe He hears.

When you say, I will pray for you, you are making a promise to stand between that person and God on their behalf. Keep the promise. It may be the most important thing you do for them.