We’re God’s Intercessors
Acts 7:55-60; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26
Sin is a reality that needs no researchers to prove; it suffices to look at ourselves and realize that we too are sinners. This doesn’t mean that virtuous persons do not exist, but the presence of sin necessitates a new vocation, the vocation to become intercessors: those who spend their lives in prayer and penance for the salvation of the world. Monasticism has long shown us the need for people like that, not just the present day Charismatic intercessors.
Today’s gospel provides us with two models of intercessors: visible and invisible. Jesus spent his life as a visible intercessor among human beings through his incarnation – “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). As long as he was upon earth, Jesus was the intercessor and mediator between God and human beings: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the prop- er time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). All the accusations against his disciples of breaking the Sabbath, the healing of the sick, and the expulsion of demons are Jesus’ way of interceding for those in need.
As Jesus returns to his Father, he promises and prays for another advocate, an invisible yet active intercessor, the Holy Spirit. Paul says this of the Advocate: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). With the departure of Christ, the Church and Christians perform their heroic acts through the intercessions and power of the Holy Spirit.
Even today, the visible Church, you and I, through our “Prayers of the Faithful,” penances and mortifications, intercede for one another and present the needs of the world to God. But the triumphant Church, the saints in heaven, also are intercessors because they too pray to God for us upon earth. An intercessor is one who refuses to live for himself alone but lives for others and works for the salvation of others. An intercessor is one whose life, like Christ’s, is offered for the good of the other.
The unselfishness and altruism of an intercessor is the model put forward for every Christian today; that there is no one who is so bankrupt that hasn’t the capacity to do good and help others. In fact, to be an intercessor is to realize that life upon earth is a call to be there for one another. It is a conscious reminder that even when we do not see God, he is ever present through his Holy Spirit sustaining and encouraging us in our weaknesses and strengthening us.
How does one explain Stephen’s calm and patient endurance of his stoning to death, in our first reading, yet he prayed for his excusioners? The answer is simple, we are told that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus on the cross, Stephen prayed: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”. The power of the Holy Spirit made Stephen forget about himself, and he prayed for the salvation of his persecutors. Stephen joined the fellowship of intercessors by imitating the words of Jesus on the cross for the forviness of sins. What happened to Stephen, persecution of Christians, is ongoing today. We do need the Holy Spirit as Stephen did, and the world needs intercessors to prevent us from going down the route of murderous retaliation of evil for evil instead of forgiveness of our enemies.
The same Holy Spirit wishes to work through us to touch hearts and bring them faith and healing. The same Holy Spirit lives deep down within us, just waiting for us to accept to be instruments of God’s love, compassion, and forgiveness to our fellow human beings. Jesus needs our voices, intelligence, beauty, all we’ve got to be used as intercessory tools for the salvation of the world. Indeed, we are the christs of today, the visible intercessors of God in the world.
“Come, Lord Jesus,” the cry of our second reading, will become a reality in our world today, to the degree to which we become intercessors for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. It is the power of love that makes God visible among us; the love that moved Stephen to forget himself and pray for the salvation of others. We may begin by praying for everyone in any kind of need, not just when we are persecuted like Stephen.
Assignment for the Week:
Choose a person or group of persons for intercession prayer this week.