If you are a Catholic striving after sanctity, you make a sincere effort to avoid all mortal sin and even venial sin. You certainly value truthfulness as a basic requirement for living a vibrant spiritual life and never intentionally tell lies or deceive others. Yet even so, there is one lie I have learned that Catholics, even very pious, faithful Catholics, are guilty of telling. And they tell it time and time again, sometimes every day. We go on deceiving others with this lie, and then tell the same lie again, sometimes to the same people. Most likely it is not intentional; we do not set out to be untruthful - but we become untruthful nonetheless. And this untruthfulness is not harmless; it is an untruth that can do grave harm to our own spiritual life and deprives those we lie to of very necessary graces. If not rectified, this habitual lie can lead to a devastating habit of spiritual neglect. And yet, even then, even knowing this, we continue to do it.

Have you figured out what lie I am talking about, what untruth we habitually tell other people? Is it clear yet? What lie am I talking about?

"I'll pray for you." 

We sign up for prayer chains with pious intentions, then neglect to actually offer the prayers we have committed to. Many of us have all but tuned out the "prayer intentions" section in our parish bulletin. When in hearing about others' problems and calamities, we often sympathize and say, "I'll pray for you," but then when we do our rosaries and holy hours we are consumed with our own troubles - that is, if we manage to keep our minds from wandering totally. Yes, "I'll pray for you" is probably the biggest lie we tell - surely the most well-intentioned lie, but an untruth nonetheless.

Sometimes we realize our neglect here. Sometimes, as we are going through our evening rosary, we remember how we took our friend's hand and assured them of our prayers. Pricked with remorse over failing to pray for them, we will often retroactively add our friend's "intention" to the rosary we are just wrapping up, or maybe say a few extra Hail Mary's on their behalf. Such efforts, though better than nothing, signify our spiritual laziness when it comes to praying for others.

The mightiest prayer warriors of our Faith were all great intercessors; they derived great spiritual benefit from pleading the causes of others, and their prayers were heard because of their great love. The great intercessors were not simply content to mention the names of their people before their rosaries; they deeply held the concerns of their people in their hearts, brought them lovingly before the Lord in rapt prayer, wept on their behalf before the altars, sometimes praying all night for them. St. Francis spent entire days fasting and praying for the brothers of his order; St. Monica wept and prayed for Augustine for years, and the heart of the great Doctor of the Church was softened for conversion by the tears of his mother's impassioned prayers.

When we pray for others, our prayers should be passionate. In this way we allow divine charity to bridge the gap between our own life and needs and those of others. "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man has, and not according to that he has not" (2 Cor. 8:12). If we take the initiative to truly reach out to God on behalf of another, to cherish them and their problems in our heart and bring them before God in prayer, God will take up our prayers and transfigure our disposition through Divine Charity, helping us love beyond what we thought capable and rendering our prayers fruitful and beautiful.