Prayer is not sending in an order and expecting it to be fulfilled. Prayer is attuning yourself to the life of the world, to love, the force that moves the sun and the moon and the stars.
When one views the planet Earth from outer space and sees no national boundaries, the prophecy of Teilhard de Chardin is compelling:
The age of nations is past. That task before us, if we would not perish, is to build the earth ... to help hear her wounds.