Editing Fast Fridays: 30 Minutes for God (section)

== Friday, Sept 6: Intercession ==
Does God listen to us only if we ask him directly? Can we ask him to help someone else? Can we ask someone else to ask God to help us? Can we ask someone else to ask him to help someone else?

"Intercession" may be a topic of dispute among Christian sects, but we know from Scripture that asking the Lord for help for ourselves and others is not only possible, but desirable.

We will explore the Scriptural sources for the various types of intercessions available to us, as well as our personal stories of intercession and fulfillment of it.
----Our principal focus of discussion was this page, [[Intercession]]. We started off reviewing the exchange between Jesus and Mary at Cana, the occasion of Jesus' first public miracle. Points on this are on the "Intercession" page, but the most important for us is that someone took the problem of running out of wine to Mary who took it to Jesus. Jesus would have known already that they were running out of wine, but he waited until someone asked someone else who asked him -- and then that someone else (his mother...) tells the others what to do ("Do whatever he says" [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/2?5 Jn 2:5]). 

We discussed briefly that there's much here in Catholic theology about Mary as the "Mediatrix" -- literally the medium by which the Lord became man, intercession at Cana, at the foot of the Cross and at Pentecost, etc. (and so much more), but for our discussion about intercession the Wedding at Cana is a perfect example. 

We also reviewed Gospel examples of direct intercession to Jesus (Simon's mother in law, instructions in Pauls' Epistles, especially [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/7:25 Heb 7:25]). We did not discuss, but I will add here that there is another magnificent example of the Son's intercession to the Father on our behalf in "The Prayer of Jesus" in [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/17 John 17] -- in fact, all of John 17 is a prayer of intercession to the Father by the Son on behalf of the Apostles and believers in Christ.

We then reviewed personal stories of intercession and prayer to God on behalf of others. It is real, and it is powerful.

Finally, we discussed Justin's document (not posted here) on “Travaileth Prayer”. I shared the document with participants and these observations on "travail":<blockquote><small>A first question is, what is a “Travaileth Prayer”?  From the word “travail,” which is French for “work,” but in English carries the connotation of suffering in work.

We find the word “travail” in Scripture frequently in the KJV translation, especially in the Old Testament. It appears only once in the Gospels, in John 16:21:

   ''A woman when she is in '''travail''' hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the '''anguish''', for joy that a man is born into the world.''

My NABRE uses “labor” as in Jn 16:21:

''When a woman is in '''labor''', she is in '''anguish''' because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the '''pain''' because of her joy that a child has been born into the world''

Revelation also mentions the pains, or travails, of birth (Rev 12:2):

   ''She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.''

As does Job 39:1:

''Do you know when mountain goats are born,'' ''or watch for the birth pangs of deer''

In the OT, the coming of the Messiah is illustrated frequently through birth pains. So God wants us to associate ''travail'' with birth, both literally and figuratively, and, as always, towards the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.  This is why in John 16:21, Jesus refers to the “hour” of birth which brings pain and subsequent joy.

What Justin has wonderfully done here is to bring up this notion of travail and the pains and joys of birth as we pray, with St. Paul’s  teachings, for our friends and family to open their hearts and minds to the Lord.</blockquote></small>
We also discussed briefly something that David had emailed after the prior week about how one's struggles with the devil is not external but an internal fight. And so it has been from the beginning of the fallen world, when Adam, priest, prophet and king, fails his duty as king by allowing the serpent into the garden in the first place.