ay Amalek conquered.
Could the power of intercessory prayer be manifested in a more striking
manner? The silent prayer of Moses on the mountain was more formidable to
the Amalekites than the sword of Josue and his armed hosts fighting in the
valley.(199)

When the same Hebrew people were banished from their native country and
carried into exile in Babylon, so great was their confidence in the
prayers of their brethren in Jerusalem that they sent them the following
message, together with a sum of money, that sacrifice might be offered up
for them in the holy city: "Pray ye for us to the Lord our God, for we
have sinned against the Lord our God."(200)

When the friends of Job had excited the indignation of the Almighty in
consequence of their vain speech, God, instead of directly granting them
the pardon which they sought, commanded them to invoke the intercession of
Job: "Go," He says, "to My servant Job and offer for yourselves a
holocaust, and My servant Job will pray for you and his face will I
accept."(201) Nor did they appeal to Job in vain; for, "the Lord was
turned at the penance of Job when he prayed for his friends."(202) In this
instance we not only see the value of intercessory prayer, but we find God
sanctioning it by His own authority.

But of all the sacred writers there is none that reposes greater
confidence in the prayers of his brethren than St. Paul, although no one
had a better knowledge than he of the infinite merits of our Savior's
Passion, and no one could have more endeared himself to God by his
personal labors. In his Epistles St. Paul repeatedly asks for himself the
prayers of his disciples. If he wishes to be delivered from the hands of
the unbelievers of Judea, and his ministry to be successful in Jerusalem,
he asks the Romans to obtain these favors for him. If he desires the grace
of preaching with profit the Gospel to the Gentiles, he invokes the
intercession of the Ephesians.

Nay, is it not a common practice among ourselves, and even among our
dissenting brethren, to ask the prayers of one another? When a father is
about to leave his house on a long journey the instinct of piety prompts
him to say to his wife and children: "Remember me in your prayers."

Now I ask you, if our friends, though sinners, can aid us by their
prayers, why cannot our friends, the saints of God, be able to assist us
also? If Abraham and Moses and Job exercised so much influence with the
Almighty while they li