“Will you pray for…?”

This question is amongst my favorites. I always see it as such a beautiful gift when people trust me to pray for them or their intentions.

While it might be tempting to say a simple “yes” when asked this question, there are also a variety of meaningful responses that you can use.

“Let’s pray together now.”

While this response might seem intimidating at first because you just learned of the intention, it can also be very powerful. These are the moments where we often let the Holy Spirit guide us in our prayers, briefly asking Him to help us find the words to pray for this intention before we even begin speaking. It can be as simple as “Lord, please guide my words as we pray.” In addition, we’re not only showing the person that we’re praying for a particular intention but also inviting this individual to do the same.

“I’ll offer a ________for this intention.”

When I use this response, generally, the action occurs at a later time. There are many possibilities for the blank: you might say that you will offer a Mass for the intention or a particular prayer like the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, etc. Also, if you are near a church that has votive candles near a particular religious image, you could offer to light a candle for the person’s intention.

If saying a prayer for someone, I match up the best prayer for the intention. For example, if someone asks me to pray for a dying relative, I pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with this intention during the Hour of Mercy starting at 3 pm.

The more that you pray for others, you may find yourself with quite a few intentions that you are praying for! There are a variety of ways that you can work in several intentions to your daily prayers. For instance, if you have five intentions to pray for, you might pray one decade of the Rosary for each. If you have fifty prayer intentions, you might pray one bead of the decades of the Rosary for each intention.

“I’ll pray for you during   ____________   .”

This also has a variety of fill-ins that are possible: at a certain hour of the day, at a general time of day such as “after work,” or at an event like at Mass, Holy Hour, Adoration, etc.

When I use this response, I try to be as specific as possible so that the person knows when (and sometimes where) I’ll be praying. For example, if someone is scheduled for surgery at 9 am, I will, even if for a brief moment, pray for a successful surgery and recovery at that time. If the date is far in advance, I also will set a calendar reminder so that I am praying at the right time. Doing so helps them feel as the intention that they’ve shared is as important to me as it is to them.

“I’ll write this down in my list of intentions and will pray for you.”

I find my cell phone very handy for this purpose! I use an app called Notebook and, as you may have guessed, one of my notebooks is called “Intentions.” Then, when I’m praying for others who have asked me for prayers, I can just open this notebook up, and I have my list.

Now, before I had my cell phone with me all the time, I’d often forget the specific intentions that others had before I had a chance to pray for them. In those instances, I’d say something like, “Lord, for those who have asked me for prayers, I want to pray  ______ .” This was my introduction to the prayer(s) I said afterward.

“Thank you for allowing me to pray for you.”

Regardless of which of the above options I use after the initial request, this is my favorite way to end the conversation about the prayer request. I want those who give me specific prayer intentions to know how much I enjoy being able to pray for them.

Check out these resources on praying with others!

How Do You Pray With Someone For Their Intentions? A Catholic Guide

How to Pray as a Couple–Top 3 Prayer Tips for Marriage

5 Forms of Prayer You Should Try

Image: Photo by adrianna geo on Unsplash