“I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.” These words of St. Paul were written at a time when the infant Church could not count on “all in authority” to be benevolent toward them. Paul was killed in the first wave of general persecution of the Christians which loomed on the horizon in his final imprisonment. That he urged prayers for this persecutors is a lesson for us all. Even when we find the faith in opposition to those in power we should continue to pray for them… in fact, praying for them might be the best we can do.
