The power of prayer may be disputed, but there’s no disputing that when Damar Hamlin collapsed from a cardiac arrest, people turned to prayer.

Patrick Rogers, the vice president of Mission Integration at LeMoyne College, said for those not helping on the field, that was how they could help.

“People realized how serious this was and the thing that they could do at that point was pray," Rogers said.

It's a concept echoed by Brian Konkol, the dean of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University.

“When people observe something that is tragic, that is unfortunate in various ways, there is this urge inside of ourselves to want to do something about it," said Konkol. "And when you can't physically be there, you want to spiritually be there in one way, shape or form."

Konkol said prayer or meditation provides an intentional way for people to participate in the healing of a situation.

“Prayer, meditation, mindfulness," Konkol said. "It is that recognition that we can be there for someone, even if we're not physically in that space, because when we're mindful of that person and of their needs, that intention, if you will, will lead to action and that action will lead to impact."

Rogers said prayer transcends differences. The nature of need is unifying.

“When you pray together, it's pretty hard to do what I call other another person to say, ‘That person is so foreign from me, I don't understand where they are.’ When you're engaging in prayer and you're both asking God to open up our hearts to the reality of God's love for us and for humanity, yeah, that's pretty hard to do," Rogers said. "So when we do come together, I do think it’s beneficial for everybody."