b123 (3.31-1.2025): prayer: un-believable

prayer (un-believable) [i]
by notall prayersar equal    
 
not all prayers are equal
momma’s cancer/life
field goal (down seven)
daughter’s boyfriend’s wife
 
it’s hard to believe that god would just invite a sequel
it’s hard to believe
not all prayers are equal
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·       if you’ve ever attended a catholic ‘mass’, you’ve probably heard a prayer that went something like this:

let us pray for mrs. smith’s leg,

and the jones’ dog, scruffy,

and for father jim (and for tiny tim),

and for all of our brothers and sisters…

 
wait a minute: why is there a ‘catch-all’ pray-for-all-of-our-brothers-and-sisters thrown-in at the end? 
 
if “pray-for-all-of-our-brothers-and-sisters” was effective, wouldn’t it be the only prayer necessary?  why individualize some prayers, but group-together others?  when people say “you’re in our prayers,” what does that really mean?
 
·       do they really pray?

·       are they on their knees?

·       do they pray harder when they want something?  (rhetorical question)

·       does ‘god’ pay less attention to a stadium full of steelers fans than that lone, disabled, christian, god-fearing cowboy?  if so, why aren't the cowboys repeat champions, infinitely?

·       if one prayer is more powerful than another (and a christian’s prayer must be more powerful than a muslim’s [at least to the christian]), then isn’t god choosing sides?

·       if god is choosing sides, is ‘he’ really all-loving? (that would be contradictory, and impossible)
 
when a person actually takes more than a minute or two to contemplate the nature of prayer, s/he will deduce that prayer itself -- is un-believable.
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[i] martino, j. (3.31-1.2025). prayer: un-believable. book 123: i don’t even care. © 2024 by j. martino.