The Happiness Prayer by Evan Moffic

Author:Evan Moffic
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion / Judaism / General, Religion / Judaism / Reform, Religion / Judaism / Conservative, Self-Help / Personal Growth / Happiness
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2017-09-12T04:00:00+00:00

Can I Pray for You?

One thing we can do for the sick—whether we visit personally or not—is pray for them. To my Christian readers, this language seems natural. For my Jewish and nonreligious readers, it probably sounds awkward. I confess it sounded that way to me the first time someone said to me, “I’m praying for you.” It was during a summer I spent working as a chaplain at a hospital in New York City. I was part of a group of clergy in training—including a Carmelite priest, a nun, and a nondenominational evangelical pastor—all of whom were undergoing training in pastoral ministry. We combined visiting patients with group meetings in which we shared personal spiritual practices and exposed some of our vulnerabilities as clergy in training. It was a transformative—if sometimes disturbing and difficult—summer.

One of the participants always ended his time for speaking during the group sessions by saying, “I’m praying for you.” And then he would say it to each of us personally. I asked him after a session what he was praying for. He said, “For you to know the truth.” My immediate feeling was anger. Was he seeking to convert me? Did his words violate the spirit of respect we sought to maintain in this multifaith program?

Rather than confront him, I asked him to sit down for coffee. We talked, and he told me how deeply he believed in the power of prayer. God hears its words. His prayer was not for me to convert. His prayer was for God to grant me grace. Whether or not I shared his understanding of grace was immaterial. It was a way of caring.

Not only did his words feel genuine, he was the most successful of all of the student chaplains. Patients reported to our supervisor that his visits lifted their spirits and made them feel more comfortable and hopeful. We all asked him what his secret was. He said simply, “I pray for my patients.” His prayer involved more than words. It brought faith, hope, and empathy. The patients knew he cared for them. The patients knew he meant what he said. He was not going through the motions. He was praying from his heart.

That’s the power of prayer. Its words are what Rabbi Lawrence Kushner calls “invisible lines of connection.” They draw us close to God and to one another. And they can heal.

A recent study, for example, at San Francisco General Hospital examined the effect of prayer on 393 cardiac patients. Half of them were prayed for by strangers who had only the patients’ names, and the other half were not. The patients who knew people were praying for them had fewer complications and cases of pneumonia, and they needed less drug treatment. They also got better faster and left the hospital earlier.

The difference between these patients and the others was not medical treatment. They all had the same doctors and nurses. It was the knowledge that they were not alone. Others were praying for them.

When

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