In Christ in the Seasons of Ministry John Killinger tells of Sister Anastasia ('Sister Resurrection') who had been a wonderful piano teacher during a long and happy career. When she became too old to teach any longer, her mother superior decreed she should henceforth spend her days in prayer. So Sister began a new phase in her ministry, going into the chapel each day to pray for the people on her list. 'I am glad to say,' writes Killinger, 'we are on her list.'

The best gift anyone can give another is to pray for them. The best motivation for such praying is love. As Coleridge's Ancient Mariner puts it: the one who prays well, loves well... For the dear God who loves us made and loves all.

Pray with words or imagination. The first is more common, but the latter way may be more effective. Imagine the person you are lifting to God, both as they are and as they could be, and simply add two words: 'Please Lord.'

Frank Laubach and others have suggested we take seriously some of the findings of the parapsychologists: your thoughts about another person actually affects them. Whether that is true or not, the basic idea makes sense (which is why when a trauma happens to a soldier on the other side of the earth, his mother wakes feeling it somewhere else).

Lord may I pray earnestly, lovingly and regularly for others. Amen.