Extract from the book by Fr. Arturo Sosa SJ – General Superior of the Society of Jesus
How important is prayer to you? What do you think of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which is promoted by the Society of Jesus?
If what love basically needs is two-way communication, then a time of prayer is time you spend communicating in a particular, inimitable fashion. St. lgnatius defìnes prayer in a beautiful way by explaining in the Spiritual Exercises that it is like a friend speaking to another friend. The Christian life is based on sensing God, who communicates with us through prayer. Nothing can substitute for this and, without this conversation, there can be no discernment. The Church would not be able to make decisions without prayer or discernment.
That is why the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is so valuable. When it was founded with the name the Apostolate of Prayer, it was with the profound insight that problems will not be solved if we do not pray enough. We need to promote prayer, and this network does so with the intention of us all praying together as a Church around the Pope so that both we and the world can change. This initiative brings together many ideas: simplicity in prayer, promotion of prayer, and belonging to a large worldwide ecclesial community in which the Pope is the unifying bond.