[obegeLype]

Dear Fr Michael,
I very much share your views on this issue.
Addressing the issue of the other thread on who we pray for- I also wonder if this is why the Church has us be restrained in who we pray for publicly in the services (rather than in our personal prayers). Prayer outside of the parameters of what the Church provides in the wording of the litanies,etc can lead to a kind of 'free prayer' guided by the spirit of relativism. I think this happens naturally unless we are very cautious. We forget that Christ & His Truth are the final arbiters of all things- whereas in prayer our own sentiment comes into play & it is easy to reach the conclusion that "everything is alright" with the person we are praying for. This again gets to the idea that I mentioned in the other thread that if we are not careful we begin thinking as if our prayer makes a kind of super-church above the actual Church of Christ which of course is false.
In Christ- Fr Raphael