I’ve just received an email from a friend I’ve never met. That’s possible these days because we can have friends all over the world we will never see in “real space”, but who are nevertheless real friends. Sometimes they and I exchange gifts, confidences and prayers.

This email came from someone in real trouble. The friend has just resumed a career after having been away from it for a while. I won’t say what it is, because that might identify him. There has been trouble in his life. He’s getting on his feet, but suddenly he’s been told he has to vacate an apartment because his landlady needs it for her daughter. He won’t have the cash to get a new apartment for a while. He’s scared and feels unable to summon the courage to act. He’s asked me to pray for him.

I think to myself: Who am I to pray for someone else in trouble? There have been times in my life that my prayers seem to have gone wrong. I prayed that someone close to me would recover from an illness, but he died despite my prayer.

One should always pray first that God’s will be done, they say. But it would take more resignation than most of us can summon not to feel forsaken.

How do I know that my prayer will do any good? Suppose the worst happens, and my friend, who lives three thousand miles away, is forced to live in his car, or worse?

What I wrote him was this: 

“I’ve been in similar situations. I know that the fear can be paralyzing. Courage comes from a place beyond our selves. I don’t know how to explain where it is, but I’ve had the sense afterward that the loss of control is an illusion. If you feel that you are being forced down, you must rise to the surface. Ask for help – but rise. The surface is there. 

“I’m praying for you now.”

I’m a cooperator in Opus Dei. We’re often told in the Work to remember that we are the sons and daughters of God. That should give us courage, if we can remember it.

KINSMEN

I am a kinsman of the Lord
And He of me became a sign,
The Blessed Virgin Mary is
The link ascended of our line

You and I and they and all,
Kinsmen of the heaven-race,
Infant in the donkey stall
King-Creator interlaced

I have called upon them both –
Mother comfort in distress,
A father in my puzzlement
To comprehend the heart of death

Mary answered with a hymn
Unlikely in a place so deep,
And Christ immortal and my kin
Revealed the glory that He keeps