We know on a deep and unspoken level what comfort truly is: a solace, a help, a quiet strength amid pain. And with it, comfort brings peace. The peace we are promised as people of faith is found when we take the powerful path God has given us through prayer.
God’s invitation to us to “pray always” is accepted by us in a special way through devotion to St. Jude. The essence of devotion is prayer in which St. Jude strengthens us with hope on the path to God. The relationship we build with God through St. Jude also allows us to build our relationships with others. We pray for those in need, we pray in hope, we pray for solace, comfort, and peace. God uses others to comfort us and uses us to comfort others.
The very nature of devotional prayer is one meaningful way God uses us to bring comfort and peace into the temporal world. We can’t think of comfort without thinking of its relational nature: it takes at least one other in a relationship to provide comfort. God’s comfort and peace come to us not outside of pain, but in its midst. God’s comfort goes out to others in pain through our relationship with God and with them: our prayer is a comfort-bearing spirit in the world.
Consistency in prayer is right in the “sweet spot” of the St. Jude devotee. Our devotion keeps us in tune with God, enabling us to hear the promptings of the spirit that give us hope, faith, comfort and peace.