No need to pray for others?

[HydanCelare]

This is an excerpt from the book "Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence:
"That as for the miseries and sins he [Brother Lawrence]* heard of daily in the world, he was so far from wondering at them, that, on the contrary, he was surprised there were not more, considering the malice sinners were capable of: that for his part,* he prayed for them; but knowing that GOD could remedy the mischiefs they did, when He pleased, he gave himself no further trouble."

My understanding of this is that Brother Lawrence no longer prayed for sinners because God could easily do help them whether or not he prayed for them. So doesn’t that mean that we too should also no longer bother ourselves with such a task?

 

[JordanRogers]

The bible teaches us to pray for our brothers, I see praying for others as a small way of being selfless and if someone says the Hail Mary they do pray for others

 

[bzkoss236]

He is right in that God needs absolutely nothing from us. But that is different than what God WANTS from us. God wants us to pray for one another.

 

[Trishie]

“he gave himself no further trouble” isn’t a clear claim that he stopped praying for others, only that he didn’t allow it to trouble/distress himself so much, but that while praying for others, he trusted in God’s mercy.

God bless you,
Trishie

 

[jimperu]

" What so ever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto Me" God has always asked man to love one another as He has loved us. God hears all our prayers and responds as He desires. Why do we have petitions at every Mass? Why the Rosary?
Why prayer books? Why Saints? I believe Brother Lawrence may have personally thought that he had issues to deal with within himself. He said he gave himself no further trouble, he did not say he would never pray for them again. He may have been overwhelmed with all this evil and could not deal with all the growing evil that he prayed so hard at trying to lessen. He may have directed his intense prayer elsewhere and because of frustration or fatigue left it totally in Gods hands. All men have breaking points and have times they can no longer cope with something, this is one of mans weaknesses, and he is just a man. He may have made this statement screaming out to God to help! Maybe it was to get us to show OUR faith and praying when he could no longer do so, through Gods interaction.
Remember Jesus cried out to His Father at His Crucifixion. So Brother Lawrence cries out also, we all do. Prayer is love and love is God and God is eternal life. NEVER ABANDON PRAYER BECAUSE PRAYER WILL NEVER ABANDON YOU…

 

[Jennifoo]

“he gave himself no further trouble” isn’t a clear claim that he stopped praying for others, only that he didn’t allow it to trouble/distress himself so much, but that while praying for others, he trusted in God’s mercy.

God bless you,
Trishie

+1 It sounds as if Brother Lawrence reached a point of detachment in which he prayed for others, not in an anxious manner, but in peace, leaving the matter to Almighty God. Detachment is very good. It is a form of trustful surrender.