MARY'S MEMORARE "Do whatever He tells you." John 2:1-5 Intercession Mother of the Word Incarnate.

Mother Mary serves as a role model of intercession and prayer petition at the wedding at Cana in Galilee. Mother Mary presents the need to Jesus her Son. This was the 1st miracle of Jesus’s public life and ministry. “Do whatever he tells you” John 2: 1-5. In intercession, he who prays looks “not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” even to the point of praying for those who do him harm’ CCC 2635. Intercessory prayer is an integral part of Christian prayer life. The highest prayer of the Church, the Holy Mass, which is interwoven with intercessions from the beginning to the end. Church teaching holds that Mary is the Mother of the Church and our mother as well “in the order of grace” (that is to say, spiritually) as we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 969. “We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ.” CCC 975
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1Tim 2:1-4

Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom Genesis 18:22-33. Moses interceded for the people of Israel. King David asked God to forgive him his sins. The Psalms are hymns to praise of God, but they are also countless intercessory prayers. In the New Testament, there are intercessory prayers when individuals sought favor from Jesus for other people. The majority of the healings of Jesus Christ in the scriptures were a result of the intercession of other people. People came to Jesus and pleaded with him to heal their sick and afflicted. The centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant who was ill Mt 8:5-13; the Canaanite woman begged Jesus to heal her daughter Mt 15:21-28; Jairus, who was the president of the synagogue, pleaded with Jesus to come to heal his daughter Lk 8:40, 49-56; the paralytic was carried by four men to Jesus for healing Mk 2:1- 12. Individuals asked Jesus directly for one favor or the other. Bartimeus the blind beggar shouted at Jesus calling him ‘Son of David,’ and requested Jesus to restore his sight Mk 10:46-52. Bartimeus’ request is a prayer of petition or supplication.

Jesus invites us: “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” Mt 7:7. Intercessory prayer is to ask a favor from God on behalf of others. We promise people of our prayers, and at other times we pray for people without their knowledge. We ask people to pray for us and are moved daily to intercede for the varied material and spiritual needs of others. Prayer is inexhaustible and our best weapon in the spiritual life. We can pray every day and yet we cannot say we have prayed enough. Prayer is the hunger and desire to be with God, communicate with God, and be attuned to God’s presence in one’s life.
Pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, echoes the need for us not to be discouraged in prayer since God answers all prayers: “Many times we ask God to deliver us from physical and spiritual evil ... however, we often have the impression that He doesn’t hear us and we run the risk of becoming discouraged and of not persevering. In reality, there is no human cry that God does not hear. ... God the Father’s answer to His Son was not the immediate freedom from suffering, from the cross, or from death: through the cross and His death, God answered with the Resurrection” (VATICAN CITY, MAY 30, 2012, VIS). Our Lord encourages us to pray continually and never lose heart Lk 18:1. There are no unanswered prayers of petition, intercession. God answers all prayers. Sometimes, the answer is positive, negative, or delayed. God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, says: “For, as the rain and snow come down from the sky and do not return before having watered the earth....so it is with the word that goes from my mouth: it will not return to me unfulfilled or before having carried out my good pleasure and having achieved what it was sent to do” Isaiah 55:10-11. Similarly, there is no prayer of petition/intercession to God that returns unanswered. All intercessory prayers are answered according to God’s will and plan. “Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” Lk 11:9. Jesus Christ encourages us to pray continually without being discouraged. Our faith requires us to persevere in prayer. After we have offered all our prayers and requests to God, we should add that may God’s will be done. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well” Mt 6:33.