Excerpted from "The Prayer of Women":
I have often been surprised by the power of the prayer of women. But then, how many times have I seen it, especially when a woman prays for her children! What often amazed me -- because I have often experienced it -- is that it had a knock-on effect on three, four, five, six generations. This means that one sees the result of the prayers of women for their children for generations and generations after, and that really is something which often amazed me, because of course I believe in the power of prayer, I believe in the power of thoughts, I believe in the power of the heart, of man's strengths. I believe in all these powers, of course, but to see it, to be always aware of it, like in this case, how it acts -- as I say, several generations after -- that is an amazing thing.
Women were praying to protect their children, they were going into the churches, these are things that nowadays make people laugh a little, nobody believes in that anymore. One does not believe in the power of prayer anymore: to light a small candle, to kneel down, and to pray to the Virgin Mary; that is what women were doing some time ago. To pray to the Virgin, to say: "You who have had a child, protect my child, protect my child!"
Yes, well these prayers had a knock-on effect, a real knock-on effect. I have also seen a young woman who had a car accident, her life was spared because four generations prior to that, the mother was praying to the Virgin, was lighting candles and it is absolutely not stupid to do these things. One sees how the act of a man -- in this case that of a woman -- works to protect people, generations after. I call this love, I call this something beautiful, I call this a good way of being in the world, of protecting the Earth...