On February 25, 2025, the Hungarian Parliamentary Prayer Group held its first regular prayer breakfast of the year, now for the 171st time..
Imre Vejkey, the leader of the prayer group, greeted the large number of prayer group members who attended, and then – on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Communism – commemorated the victims of the dictatorship. He said that “for communism, truth and reality have always been the two main enemies, before which it has always been forced to capitulate.” The members of the prayer group continued the meeting with a joint prayer for the victims of the war taking place in our country’s neighborhood.
Imre Vejkey then shared his thoughts on Christian authenticity with those present. As he said, it is extremely important to ask ourselves the question every day: “What makes me a Christian?” The answer: Christian authenticity always stems from the love and service of the Lord. We can only be truly Christians if we live according to faith. He highlighted Pope Francis as an example, who dedicated his entire life to serving the Catholic Church, as its leader. The members of the prayer group said a joint prayer for Pope Francis, who is suffering from illness.
The daily Gospel passage (Mk 9:30–37) describes one of the Galilean journeys of Jesus Christ and his disciples. The disciples argued about competition and priority among themselves, not paying attention to the teachings of their master. Jesus noticed this and then spoke to them with these words: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Hearing this, the disciples understood that serving the Lord was the task entrusted to them and that it must precede their own desires.
Dr. György Bakondi, Emeritus Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Hungarian Parliamentary Prayer Group Foundation, said that our faith in the Lord helps us to carry out the tasks entrusted to us, the “sanctifying work”. Although we are not always able to correctly assess the importance of a task or its subsequent effects, God is able to transform the world with the smallest task and with any person acting in His name. He mentioned the struggle of David and Goliath as an example, during which the seemingly smaller and less likely David won a brilliant victory over his enemy. The Emeritus Chair added that – as the Old Testament story proves – the Lord always supports the family and the community becoming a nation and its strengthening.
Reflecting on the competition mentioned in the Gospel, prayer group member József Béres highlighted an example from his own life. As he said, in his experience, our task is not to copy the work and success of our predecessors or to defeat others. Instead, we should contribute with our abilities and diligence and complete the work that has been started, with which we can serve others.
According to prayer group member Csaba Latorcai, competition between disciples is part of human nature. As he emphasized, the important thing is what we compete with each other in? If this is aimed at serving the Lord and our fellow human beings, then we are obliged to work to the best of our abilities, which can serve our spiritual edification.
Following the comments, the prayer group meeting ended with a joint prayer and a violin performance by artist Lajos Kathy–Horváth, a prayer group member, of his own composition.