Does prayer make a difference?

It is the only thing that makes a difference. Everything else we do to promote good is meaningless and fruitless without prayer. We must begin and end our days and all our activities with prayer.

Even if we were somehow able to solve the world's material problems -- hunger, poverty -- we would still be living in a world of evil without prayer. Take for example contraception and abortion as solutions for hunger and poverty. How can we say that we can feed the poor by killing millions of unborn? The evil that this promotes would rise up like a foul stench and choke every living thing. In fact this is already happening.

St. Teresa of Jesus writes about this in the story of her life. She says that she created her convents to fight the evil of the Protestant attack on the Church in the time of she was living. She says that a few faithful Catholics praying could do  more to stop this attack than armies or great wealth. Jesus tells us that faith can move mountains. We have the examples of the saints and the martyrs of the Church.

Pray, and ask God for forgiveness. We are not innocent. It is through our own fault that the world has become what it is.

We are living in a time when Christ is being constantly crucified. We need the faith of a Mary Magdalene to see through these desperate times to the Resurrection.

And if you find yourself crying as you pray, then that is a blessing. It is Christ pouring down holy water from Heaven on us.