Praying for Obama-- and Kennedy

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jan 22, 2009

Like Jeff, I have been taken aback by the readers-- relatively few in number, I'm happy to say-- who have written to protest our campaign of prayer for President Obama. We can all find ourselves making excuses for our failure to pray as much as we should (I'm busy, I'm tired, I'll do it later, etc), but I submit that if you find yourself making a conscious decision not to pray-- Non serviam!-- it's time for a serious examination of conscience.

Praying for President Obama does not mean praying for his success in achieving what he has set out to do in the White House. On the contrary, when I pray for him I pray that God will change his heart, so that the President will change his agenda. There's never an excuse not to pray for his enlightenment, his conversion, his submission to God's will. I hope that there are people making the same sort of prayers for me, right now. Those are prayers that we can all use.

While we're at it, the collapse of Senator Kennedy on Inauguration Day reminded me that I should pray more often for him, too. In his case, I pray that the grim reminders of his mortality will prompt Senator Kennedy to repent for the incalculable damage he has done to the cause of respect for life, to make amends, and to reconcile himself with the Church. His public conversion would be an enormous victory for the pro-life movement; it's surely a cause worth a daily prayer.