When Jesus Came Among us As We Prayed

When Jesus Came Among us As We Prayed

Thoughts of a Retired Pastor

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 6, 2026

“For where two or more are gathered in my name,

there I am in the midst of them.”

Matthew 18:20

         Do we really believe that the Lord is present whenever we pray together in his name? Notice that he says “where two or more are gathered…” This is why we pray together and not only individually. The Lord expects us to be in fellowship with other Christians to support and aid them as well as to receive support. The Lord never envisioned a church of one, but expects us to come together regularly, especially on Sundays. We see this clearly in the Our Father. Notice Jesus doesn’t say “My Father,” but “Our Father.” this means that we share the Father with Jesus, and with each other.

Of course, Our Lord is with us when we pray alone, but he also expects us to be praying together regularly. Without this, we are incomplete Christians. For Catholic Christians, this includes at least Sunday Mass and perhaps daily Mass if we can. It includes praying as a family before meals and perhaps the Rosary together. It may include a prayer group that you belong to. There are many ways to pray together.

         Once in my previous parish I was called out to the home of a dying man living in a very small trailer. Rather, I should say his wife wanted me to come out. He himself wanted nothing to do with religion or a priest. As I approached the house, I could hear screaming and blasphemies, along with references that I could hear that he didn't want a priest coming in his house to try and convert him etc., etc. It was of course with great trepidation that I knocked on the door. How could the Lord possibly be present in a situation like this? The Holy Spirit gave me the grace to go in there. Thanks be to God because a miracle was waiting on the other side of that door.

         Plucking up my courage, I knocked on the door. Inside, I found this man lying on a bed, dying and unhappy. He calmed down as I approached.  After we conversed, I offered to pray with him and he said something like “Well, OK if that will get you to leave, Father!” Yikes! So we joined in a circle, he, the wife who invited me and this tortured soul.

For all of the theatrics, he was still willing to pray. The man was afraid to die, afraid to face mortality, afraid to face God. See how we have to take the first step, and that's all the Lord needed. And as we prayed, the most remarkable thing happened! Into our circle came a dog and a cat. I had my eyes closed so I was surprised to see these two animals looking up at us happily as we finished our prayers, as if they were praying with us. Right in the middle of the circle.

         For this angry man, this was a real miracle. Is wife told me that these two animals absolutely never got along and were always separated (he didn’t know how they both got in the house). He had never even seen them in the same room together peacefully. To him, this was a sure sign that Christ had been present in the midst of us and I am sure this was in fact the case. He died, reconciled to God and the church, convinced that the Lord had joined us in prayer. Those animals sensed the presence of God. He arranged for them to be there. To me it seemed normal, but to him it was exactly the sign that he needed.

         Of course Jesus is always present with us in the Eucharist and in so many other ways as well, particularly when we join with someone else in prayer.  This also applies to intercessory prayer. Though usually invisible to our sight, the Lord promised to be always with us, and especially when we pray together

                                                                                          Father Gary