The power of prayer is the confidence that we are being guided and cared for, even when that guidance and care are not immediately apparent. It is what allows someone to live in detachment from all of the ups and downs of life. In the language of Ignatius: “Lord, I don’t care whether I have a long life or a short life, whether I am rich or poor, whether I am healthy or sick.”

Someone that lives in that kind of detachment is free, and because they are free, they are powerful. They are beyond the threats that arise in the context of this world. This is the source ofdynamis, real power. This is the power that Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, and John Paul II wielded: world-changing power.

Reflect: Can you honestly say with St. Ignatius: “Lord, I don’t care whether I have a long life or a short life, whether I am rich or poor, whether I am healthy or sick”? Why or why not?

Reflection on today’s Gospel, Mark 7-7:12 from Bishop Robert Barron