In my quest to heal from colon cancer surgery, I have tried to become more disciplined in walking consistently. Although I am not gearing up to run a marathon, the health benefits of walking each day are well documented. Maintaining my motivation to do this has been a struggle.
I pondered a variety of tactics. Should I join a gym and use an indoor track or a treadmill? The nearest gym is 15 minutes away. Quite frankly, I commuted to work for 40 years. I don’t want to commute to a gym. Walking outside it is.
I decided to combine prayer with walking. Although I tend to get easily distracted while observing my surroundings as I walk, I found an answer. I offer a prayer before I start walking entrusting to the Lord each household that I physically walk by during my exercise period. I utilize the opening greeting from Mass to pray for these households.
Here is my simple prayer:
“As I pass by each house, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion, fellowship, and power of the Holy Spirit be with each individual who resides or visits this house.”
How does utilizing this prayer method impact me? It spurs me on to keep walking so that God’s grace will fall upon more households as I pass by them. I was ready to quit today before I reached the two-mile mark. However, I wanted to bless more people with God’s grace through my intercessory prayer for them by walking past their house. I went down additional streets and ended up going 2.5 miles in total.
I don’t know how many houses I passed by in total, but a lot of people received prayers without knowing it this morning. What a joy it is for me to give them this gift of intercessory prayer.
On October 16, 2001, I had major surgery for a cancerous tumor wrapped around my duodenum. (Yes, I am coming up on the 25th anniversary of that surgery.) We lived in southern Colorado at the time. My local doctor said that the surgery would be a serious one. He recommended not going to Pueblo or even stopping in Colorado Springs. He said, “You want to have this surgery at University Hospital in Denver.” That’s what I did.
Two ladies from the parish said they would drive to Denver and pray for me while I was in surgery. I said, “You can pray for me at home. There is no need to drive two hours.” They insisted that they wanted to be in the building where my surgery would be taking place. They wanted to be in close proximity to me as they offered their intercessory prayers on my behalf. That has stuck with me all these years. I now find ways to do that myself. Praying for the neighborhood residents as I walk past their houses is one such way.
I also do this when I visit nursing homes or hospitals. While I am in the building I pray for everyone there.
When I walk in areas more commercially oriented, I pray that owners, workers, and customers all receive God’s grace in such a way that they recognize God is meeting them at the point of their need.
Walking by a school brings me great joy. I get to pray for administrators, teachers, support staff, the students, and all the parents and grandparents who pass through those school doors during the course of the academic year.
Organizations such as 40 Days for Life have been utilizing proximity prayer for years. Why? Because it works.
Who is in close proximity to you? Have you prayed for them lately? This could be family, friends, co-workers, classmates, people at the grocery store, the doctor’s office, and so many other places. Don’t miss the opportunity to be an intercessor for others.