Praying with the Pope: May 2016

The pope is praying for women this May..

General Intention: That  in  every  country  of  the  world,  women  may  be  honoured  and  respected  and  that their essential contribution to society may be highly esteemed. 

 

Hopefully “every country of the world” includes the Vatican! Of course it’s easy to play the game of comparing countries. Perhaps we should simply acknowledge that women and their work are taken for granted almost everywhere in the world.

For example, at the beginning of this year there was a report on salary inequalities in the legal profession in  Britain. The irony of this was heavy because the very professional body that created the laws to enforce equality between men and women had failed to observe these laws.

So although we acknowledge how hard and even dangerous it is for women in developing countries, it seems that even in the developed world, with all its resources, professional women are by no means always respected and valued as much as their male peers. And if professional women are treated inferiorly, then it is hardly surprising that less educated women who do manual work are treated worse.

Why do women consistently get less well rewarded for the same work that men do? One factor is obvious: because women are often closer to their children and their needs, they tend to be less demanding about their salaries, even if these are exploitative. For the sake of their children’s basic financial security they will play it safe.

Employers know this and so they frequently offer them less than the more demanding men.

Are there other ways of showing respect for women than equal pay for equal work? In most cultures women are respected for their indispensable role in family life.

Here in South Africa we have a Women’s Day holiday on August 9 to mark their role in the struggle for a better society.

But if unequal pay for women is systemic, then that in itself is certain to undermine respect. Money really must be put where mouths are praising women and praying for them.

Praying brings Peace

Missionary Intention: That families, communities, and groups may pray the Holy Rosary for evangelisation and peace. 

There is a universal notion among religions that prayer and peace go together.

We believe this, I think, firstly because of the experience and example of prayerful people. Those who have worked at personal prayer for some years know that if they pray regularly, deeply and at some length, then they find the peace which enables them to handle the tensions and aggravations of daily life.

They can sometimes experience this on a daily basis. Generally speaking, the days a person manages to pray are the days on which that person finds peace of soul.

Experience also shows that the opposite is also true. Less prayer today, less peace today; sometimes it’s as simple and immediate as that.

Then there is the experience of communities that pray together and the reconciling effect that this can have among diverse but open-hearted individuals. It is no accident that the motto of the Benedictine community, which is dedicated to the life of prayer in community, is pax (peace). And the Quakers, who are a non-violent religious community, set great store by simply sitting in silent prayer together.

For Christians there is also a well-forged link between prayer and evangelisation. Again, experience teaches us that with regular prayer, the energy for evangelisation will be generally available and the Lord’s yoke will normally feel light and sweet.

One way to teach these lessons to children is through family prayer, including the recitation of the rosary together.

“A family that prays together, stays together” is more than a pious phrase. Once again, peace and prayer are intimately linked. And the influence of the family rosary can take on wider apostolic significance in prayer for peace in the world and the spreading of the Gospel to the nations.