Prayer initiative is spreading across Christendom

These days between Ascension and Pentecost [May 30, and June 9] mark a spiritual interlude between Jesus Christ leaving the earth in his physical body at Ascension, and the day when the Holy Spirit came in power on his disciples at Pentecost.

And we are told in the Scriptures that the disciples spent these days in Jerusalem in constant prayer.

We are asked in these days to make a specific effort within this prayer to “pray for five”. This means praying intentionally for five people, but not necessarily those we instinctively pray for on a regular basis. This “prayer for five” should be that God will bless the people for whom they have prayed and give them a deeper awareness of his infinite love for them.

It is not a condescending or judgmental prayer, but a simple act of truly Christian love and friendship. We sometimes wonder what prayer is able to do. There was a lovely reflection on the matter by Archbishop William Temple, “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don’t, they don’t!”.

By God’s grace, what began as a simple local call for prayer has spread across almost all the Christian traditions and across the world.

Pope Francis and Archbishop Welby with other church leaders have asked Christian disciples throughout the world to be part of this focussed wave of prayer. We now join in this call to prayer, coupling it with our own shared prayer to God, “Thy Kingdom Come”.

Eamon Martin and Richard Clarke (joint signatories), Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland archbishops of Armagh