AT a project meeting with young people the other day, a teacher started with a prayer. When she came to the part where she said an “Our Father” and a “Hail Mary,” she was surprised that only a handful were able to answer her.
She remarked to me that this was not the case before. When everybody (maybe with the exception of one or two) could recite the continuation of the prayers. She concluded that either there are fewer Catholics now or that young people have just ceased to pray.
Since the young people loved that particular teacher and respected her a lot, it was certainly not because they were resentful of the prayers or wanted to rebel in some way. They just must have lost the desire or ability to pray.
We must admit that the world has become increasingly materialistic, jaded, and cynical. The violence all around us attests to that. The greed attests to that. The philosophy that the end justifies the means which is so prevalent attests to that.
Which is why people who do know how to pray and who realize its value should enjoin all in their household to keep the faith. And if they have any influence at all beyond their households, they should exert that influence to ask others to pray.
We are facing one of the most critical phases in our history. Our leaders and our people should recapture a faith which we once enjoyed so gloriously.
