A question about prayer

[JohnGerard]

Here is a question that I wonder about sometimes and I don’t know if the Church has taught anything about it. Just looking for other people’s thoughts, I guess.

We are told to pray for one another in Scripture.

Since God is transcendent and is not bounded by time, can our prayers be efficacious for events that have already occurred?

For example, if a person is a known alcoholic we can pray to God to help that person. What about if I know that my Grandpa was an alcoholic in his lifetime, but he is now deceased. Would it make sense to pray for him for God to help him with his alcoholism that he struggled with while he was alive?

Or how about if somebody is dying? I could pray for God to aid that person, have mercy on that person, comfort that person, strengthen that person, etc. as they go through the dying process. Can I pray for those same things from God for my Grandpa who died decades ago?

It kindof seems to me that since God is transcendent, that He could accept our prayers for such things and apply them to the events when they happened.

On the other hand, it also kindof seems to me to be a little “Back to the Future-ish” and maybe a bit unreasonable.

And on the third hand, I suspect I really don’t know what God’s transcendence really means so I’m just way off base in even thinking about this.

I don’t know. What do you think?

Thanks.

jg

 

[Christy_Beth]

Yes, we are to pray for each other. God is transcendent, but still hears our prayers. It’s kind of like praying for healing of some illness. God already knows the outcome, but wants us to pray about it. He often times rewards those prayers. But some of the time the answers He gives isn’t the one we want. We may pray for a healing, but God may not give it. Why? Well, I can guess at an answer, but it may not be very good theological one. God has His plans for us, so our greatest prayer is one seeking to know His will. If we are open to Him, we may see the answer. But that may not happen until well afterwards. I look back on my life, and see that God didn’t answer all my prayers like I wanted Him to. But I can see that something else came out of that time. I hope this helps.

 

[ProVobis]

Yes, we are to pray for each other. God is transcendent, but still hears our prayers. It’s kind of like praying for healing of some illness. God already knows the outcome, but wants us to pray about it. He often times rewards those prayers. But some of the time the answers He gives isn’t the one we want. We may pray for a healing, but God may not give it. Why? Well, I can guess at an answer, but it may not be very good theological one. God has His plans for us, so our greatest prayer is one seeking to know His will. If we are open to Him, we may see the answer. But that may not happen until well afterwards. I look back on my life, and see that God didn’t answer all my prayers like I wanted Him to. But I can see that something else came out of that time. I hope this helps.

Good answer.

 

[JohnGerard]

Yes, we are to pray for each other. God is transcendent, but still hears our prayers. It’s kind of like praying for healing of some illness. God already knows the outcome, but wants us to pray about it. He often times rewards those prayers. But some of the time the answers He gives isn’t the one we want. We may pray for a healing, but God may not give it. Why? Well, I can guess at an answer, but it may not be very good theological one. God has His plans for us, so our greatest prayer is one seeking to know His will. If we are open to Him, we may see the answer. But that may not happen until well afterwards. I look back on my life, and see that God didn’t answer all my prayers like I wanted Him to. But I can see that something else came out of that time. I hope this helps.

I like your answer…and I agree. But I’m not sure it answers what I was asking. I think you addressed prayer for our present/future lives. I was curious about prayers offered for events that have already happened in the past:

In other words, can our prayers be efficacious for events that have already occurred?

Are you saying that the answer is: Yes??

 

[Dorothy]

Here is a question that I wonder about sometimes and I don’t know if the Church has taught anything about it. Just looking for other people’s thoughts, I guess.

We are told to pray for one another in Scripture.

Since God is transcendent and is not bounded by time, can our prayers be efficacious for events that have already occurred?

For example, if a person is a known alcoholic we can pray to God to help that person. What about if I know that my Grandpa was an alcoholic in his lifetime, but he is now deceased. Would it make sense to pray for him for God to help him with his alcoholism that he struggled with while he was alive?

Or how about if somebody is dying? I could pray for God to aid that person, have mercy on that person, comfort that person, strengthen that person, etc. as they go through the dying process. Can I pray for those same things from God for my Grandpa who died decades ago?

It kindof seems to me that since God is transcendent, that He could accept our prayers for such things and apply them to the events when they happened.

On the other hand, it also kind of seems to me to be a little “Back to the Future-ish” and maybe a bit unreasonable.

And on the third hand, I suspect I really don’t know what God’s transcendence really means so I’m just way off base in even thinking about this.

I don’t know. What do you think?

Thanks.

jg

I don’t know how to respond to what you are asking. God is outside of time, and I am not a theologian and have no information about your question. I suppose this is theological speculation.

I do remember a priest saying, or maybe it was a spiritual book that I read, that we can console our Lord Jesus Christ in his agony in the garden. Perhaps that is a way of meditating on his suffering.

 

[JohnGerard]

I do remember a priest saying, or maybe it was a spiritual book that I read, that we can console our Lord Jesus Christ in his agony in the garden. Perhaps that is a way of meditating on his suffering.

Ok, so that would seem like a “yes” to my question. If we really can console the Lord in His agony, then it seems that prayers, etc. that we do now are efficacious for past events.

 

[midori]

Wasn’t it Padre Pio who prayed for his great-grandfather to have the grace of a happy death?

A quick check of the intertubes brings up the correct version of the anecdote–

A doctor who was very close to St. Pio received a letter from a lady whose daughter was near death. The mother implored the future saint for his prayers and blessing.

The doctor was unable to get this letter to Padre Pio until several days after he received it. After reading the letter to Padre Pio, this physician asked how he should answer it.

Pio responded, “Fiat.”

The doctor knew that some time had passed since he had received the letter and the girl was at death’s door. He was perplexed by Padre Pio’s assurance that all was done, that the request for prayer would work.

Padre Pio continued, “Maybe you don’t know that I can pray even now for the happy death of my great-grandfather.”

“But he has been dead for many, many years,” replied the doctor.

"I know that too,” said Padre Pio. “Let me explain by giving you an example. You and I both die, and through the good fortune and the goodness and mercy of the Lord we are obliged to stay in purgatory for 100 years. During these years nobody prays for us or has a Mass offered for the release of our souls. The 100 years pass and somebody thinks of Padre Pio and the good doctor and has Masses offered. For the Lord, the past does not exist; the future does not exist. Everything is an eternal present. Those prayers had already been taken into account so that even now I can pray for the happy death of my great-grandfather! Do you really think the Lord needs our bureaucracy– that somebody has to ask for a grace on a piece of paper and bring it to Padre Pio?”

The important moral is that we should always pray for the deceased, even those who have died many years ago, because for God there is neither a past nor a future, but all as one eternal present.

Let us join together with the holy souls in shouting as they were heard to do on one occasion in the friary of San Giovanni Rotondo, “Viva Padre Pio!” (Long live Padre Pio!)

(The little girl in need of prayer, by the way, was healed.)

 

[JohnGerard]

Wasn’t it Padre Pio who prayed for his great-grandfather to have the grace of a happy death?

A quick check of the intertubes brings up the correct version of the anecdote–

Interesting. I didn’t know about that.

Thank you.