Meditation 667
The Power of Prayer
A fable
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In 1960, 18 year old Marta's family fled to Miami from Cuba. Their property had been expropriated with the exception of several million dollars which her father had the foresight to hide away in an American Bank.
Marta swore she would pray every day to bring the end of the Castro regime, and she lived up to her promise. Each morning she would go to the Sagra Famila Church, give her confession, attend mass, light a candle, and spend 15 minutes on her knees praying for the day when Fidel would no longer be President of Cuba. Even though she married and had four children, she still went to the same church every morning and went through the same routine. On her deathbed, for poor Marta was destined to die young at only 37, she made her sixteen year-old daughter promise to continue to pray every day for the end of the Castro regime.
Maria, faithful to her promise to her dying mother, went to the Sagra Famila Church every morning, gave her confession, attended mass, lit a candle, and spent 15 minutes on her knees praying for the day when Fidel would no longer be President of Cuba. She too married and she had five children. The eldest daughter she named Marta in memory of her mother. Maria, like her mother, died young, only 40 years old in 2003. She too extracted a promise to continue praying from young Marta, only fifteen years old.
Marta, like her mother and grandmother went to the Sagra Famila Church every morning, gave her confession, attended mass, lit a candle, and spent 15 minutes on her knees praying for the day when Fidel would no longer be President of Cuba. However as the months and years passed, she began to have the smallest doubt about the efficacy of prayer.
The 81 year old Fidel Castro announced on 19 February 2008 that he would not accept the position of President when the next session of the Cuban Legislature began.
"Yes! Thank you God," said Marta. "Prayer does work."