Intercession and the virus
Monday, March 16, 2020 at 4:11PM 
I’ve kept my intercession list in a small blue book for the past 40 years. It is my way of managing intercessory prayer. I have two groupings—those few that I carry on my heart before God and the many I mention in prayer. I’ve accepted that I can only pray intensely for one or two people at a time. They are people that for a variety of reasons God’s love has impressed upon my heart.[1] The second group includes all those who ask for my prayers or that I have felt a desire to pray for. They go in the book and are mentioned during the Daily Office.
This morning I added to the second group – those working in grocery stores, medical personnel, first responders, bus drivers, bank employees, government workers, farm workers.
The list has been floating in the back of my mind for a week or so. Then late last night I looked out my window and saw two huge Safeway trucks across the street lined up to restock the store. There are all these people who are just-doing-their-job. Jobs that don’t allow them to self-quarantine. Jobs that put them at some risk. People who go home to families who share that risk. Our common life depends upon their toil.
A Compline prayer had come to mind –
O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live
in and the life we live: Watch over those, both night and day,
who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never
forget that our common life depends upon each other's toil;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
In times of plague it’s natural enough to become self-absorbed. We can understandably find ourselves obsessing about our health or defiantly refusing to acknowledge the danger. Both forms of excessive self-regard. Offering prayers of petition for ourselves is one way of moving our anxiety into a fruitful place.
Another spiritual practice that may help is intercessory prayer. Intercession for others draws us out of ourselves. It is our joining in the prayers of Christ and the saints for people other than ourselves. Intercession for those who continue to do the work that our common life depends upon: unites us and those we pray for to Christ, makes us more aware of God’s providential work, sets loose the power of co-inherence in a transfer of mystical power, and opens up other ways in which we might serve.
Of course, during these times we may also want to take heed of Anslem’s prayer and give ourselves more eagerly and ardently for those we “hold more dear”—close friends and family.
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[1] I love all men, in and for your sake,
though not as much as I ought or as I desire.
I pray your mercy upon all men,
yet there are many whom I hold more dear
Since your love has impressed them upon my heart
with a closer and more intimate love,
so that I desire their love more eagerly – I would pray more ardently for these.
The Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm, Penguin Classics
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