Pray while the World Mocks

I’ve seen the mocking posts after the school shooting, ridiculing people for saying “our prayers are with you.” As if prayer is some weak gesture, a useless substitute for action. Brothers and sisters, do not let the world confuse you. Prayer is not empty words cast into the void. Prayer is standing before the living God, who created heaven and earth, interceding for souls, crying out for mercy, and asking Him to heal what no legislation, no social program, no human wisdom can touch—the human heart.

It is madness to act as though prayer is ineffective. Every Liturgy we pray for the peace of the whole world, for those in suffering, for captives, for the departed, for every city and land. Do we imagine that the saints, the apostles, and the martyrs wasted their lives in prayer? Do we forget that Christ Himself prayed with tears and groaning before the Father? If prayer is useless, then Christianity is a lie. And yet we know the opposite is true: prayer is how heaven enters earth.

Of course, prayer does not excuse us from acting. We must feed the hungry, protect the vulnerable, build just laws, and stand against evil. But without prayer, all action becomes self-reliant striving, cut off from the only One who can change the root of violence—our corrupted hearts. We will surely wither if we cut ourselves off from the Vine, for apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

The secular world will always mock the ways of Christ. But let us remember, it was the ways that seemed right to man that led us into sin, separation, and death—the very reason we now stand in desperate need of the prayer they despise. Do not be discouraged when they sneer, for even Christ was mocked as He prayed to His Father in His darkest hour upon the Cross. And He gave us the model: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). So let our prayers rise not only for the victims and their families, but even for those who mock and scorn, that God may open their eyes to the hope they reject.

To mock prayer in the face of tragedy is to mock the only hope we have. The world wants quick fixes, but prayer calls down eternal life. The blood of those children is not forgotten by God. He will judge rightly. And until that day, we will keep praying, because only in His presence can grief be carried and evil be defeated.

“Be not anxious for anything; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6).