On Mr. Rogers and prayer

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:37 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

On Mr. Rogers and prayer 2016-09-30T17:37:08-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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How’s this for a little Sunday morning lectio: a story about the day Fred Rogers met a boy with cerebral palsy. Mr. Rogers asks the boy to pray for him:

The boy had always been prayed for. The boy had always been the object of prayer, and now he was being asked to pray for Mister Rogers, and although at first he didn’t know if he could do it, he said he would, he said he’d try, and ever since then he keeps Mister Rogers in his prayers and doesn’t talk about wanting to die anymore, because he figures Mister Rogers is close to God, and if Mister Rogers likes him, that must mean God likes him, too. As for Mister Rogers himself … well, he doesn’t look at the story in the same way that the boy did or that I did. In fact, when Mister Rogers first told me the story, I complimented him on being so smart–for knowing that asking the boy for his prayers would make the boy feel better about himself–and Mister Rogers responded by looking at me at first with puzzlement and then with surprise. “Oh, heavens no, Tom! I didn’t ask him for his prayers for him; I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I wanted his intercession.”

More on Fred Rogers here. God bless him.

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