Aren't our prayers almost worthless?

[McDale721]

I once heard a respected Catholic teacher talk about a conversation he had with a priest. The priest told him the following (sorry about the profanity but I think it captures the spirit of the quote): Saints aren’t people who have their st together, saints are people who have their st open to God.

We are all sinners. Your sin may be different than mine, but we all have that cross to bear. When I heard this, it blew my socks off because I was so wrapped up in my misery about my sinfulness that I couldn’t be open to God’s love. So now I work and pray to overcome my areas of sin, but know that when I fall, that God still loves me anyway. It’s not easy. But it’s important to remember, because when we forget, we end up in this downward spiral.

I like a football analogy. Not every play is perfect, but what marks a great football player from a good one is the ability to get back up after a bad play, shake it off and go into the next play. Daily practice allows them to do this. How do we practice? Daily prayer, frequent use of the sacraments and surrounding yourself with support.

 

[odile53]

How about the fact that the angels in heaven rejoice more over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine who never stray?

Repentance is continuous for many of us. I had asked my spiritual director about the fact that my sins always run in the same vein. I could just imagine God watching a grainy video of my life and saying, “Oh, yeah, watch this. Here she goes again! Odile, BORRR–ING!”

My spiritual director asked me if I thought God would prefer that I cooked up *new *sins! After a couple of moments of thought, I had to laugh at that!

Nope, my sins of habit are a reflection of my personal flaws, and they are my personal cross to carry. They’re my stumbling points, my vulnerabilities, and only constant vigilance prevents me (on rare, happy occasions) from falling into them. Prayer, to be sure, is helpful. So are the Sacraments. But I have to accept the fact that I was born in original sin, and I will die a sinner, though hopefully far improved from what I have been.

And I have to trust much in the graces given by the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist (how can you fight a spiritual battle on a spiritually empty stomach, so to speak?.) and trust in the mercy of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Believe it or not, this does give me hope.

I can’t afford to go down the road of despondency, and neither can you. Do the best you can. Lean on His grace and His strength. Pray. And trust in His mercy.

 

[MS_SURVEYOR]

How about the fact that the angels in heaven rejoice more over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine who never stray?

Repentance is continuous for many of us. I had asked my spiritual director about the fact that my sins always run in the same vein. I could just imagine God watching a grainy video of my life and saying, “Oh, yeah, watch this. Here she goes again! Odile, BORRR–ING!”

My spiritual director asked me if I thought God would prefer that I cooked up *new *sins! After a couple of moments of thought, I had to laugh at that!

Nope, my sins of habit are a reflection of my personal flaws, and they are my personal cross to carry. They’re my stumbling points, my vulnerabilities, and only constant vigilance prevents me (on rare, happy occasions) from falling into them. Prayer, to be sure, is helpful. So are the Sacraments. But I have to accept the fact that I was born in original sin, and I will die a sinner, though hopefully far improved from what I have been.

And I have to trust much in the graces given by the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist (how can you fight a spiritual battle on a spiritually empty stomach, so to speak?.) and trust in the mercy of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Believe it or not, this does give me hope.

I can’t afford to go down the road of despondency, and neither can you. Do the best you can. Lean on His grace and His strength. Pray. And trust in His mercy.

Amen

 

[knotanes]

Prayer is never worthless. As others here have said, they are a form of communication. To have a relationship, you need communication.

God loves all of us, and I am sure He is pleased to hear from us. Of course, I think it is good to avoid treating prayer as a 24/7 request line, but even then, maybe not. Maybe He would appreciate how much trust we have in His ability to care for us?

Really though, always pray, it’s good. Don’t give up.

 

[Peanut7949]

what you pray reflects into the way you live… so you must be acting the way you live during your prayer… so just change the way you pray and the way you live will follow suit.

source: Fr. Michael Scanlon

 

[J_Peterson]

Asking the question “why should I pray?” is a prayer.

Even if you don’t “feel” anything or notice any change, have faith that God hears your prayer. He’ll do thing’s His way, not yours. Keep praying.

 

[seanom]

That’s a delusion of Satan. If u don’t pray - no heaven boyo. Simple as that! God Loves you more than you’ll ever comprehend in this life. When you properly pray i.e. Mean what you say and are not totally focused, He always here’s you. Prayer is a gift from God to you. Don’t be like the servant who buried their talent. Prayer is so so necessary if u wanna have a relationship with the Lord. Offer your prayer through the Immaculate Heart of Mary to make them incomparably dear to Our Lord. I am pleading with for the good of your soul to PRAY EVERYDAY; even for just a little while. Make time for Him, He’s always waiting for you and listening like a caring Father. Don’t listen to the devil, who hates you and wants you in Hell.
May God Bless you abundantly and fill you totally through Mary with his Holy Spirit!
Our Lord suffered unimaginable tortures, and I can assure you He was thinking of u constantly during His life and His Passion. Stay close to Our Lady, She Loves ya!!!

Praised be Jesus and Mary!!

 

[YoungCatholic21]

I know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. And even if I do find a way to get to confession, and if God decides not to kill me before that day (which He would be perfectly just in doing), my prayers would be worth so little. I’d have to pray ten thousand rosaries before a single small prayer of mine might get answered!

Brother, I have thought the same thing more than a couple of times.

Therefore I commend to you two things, to always keep your sins before you by saying a daily holy and penitent act of contrition

and more importantly:

PRAY THE ROSARY. Those whom ever turned to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the only creature of God more perfect than all the saints and to whom even the angels kneel and praise (she having the most esteemed position as mother of God and allowing the Incarnation by her humble “Yes”),

HAS NEVER BEEN TURNED AWAY OR ABANDONED. Her Immaculate Heart is more charitable than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Just Judge (Judgement Day comes to mind), for she is our loving mother: “Mother behold thy son, Son behold thy mother.”(Jn 19:26-27)/“He who does the will of my Father in heaven is my mother, brother, and sister.”(Mt 12:50) God so willed that Lord Jesus should be 30 years with his Holy Mother before he started his ministry, for the perfection of his humanly virtues!!

A holy man impresses us (Blessed JPII, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, e.g.), a saint more so (St. Francis of Assisi, St. John Vianney, St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Bernard of Clairvaux)
yet most of all her who has been made Regina Coeli, Queen of Heaven, who was worthy to receive the Angelic Salutation, “Hail Mary Full of Grace the Lord is With Thee.”

These 15 promises were given by the Blessed Virgin Mary to those who devoutly pray the Rosary (daily is best; the whole thing at minimum takes 20 mins! What a short time to petition a prayer to so good a Mother!):

FIFTEEN PROMISES OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
TO CHRISTIANS WHO FAITHFULLY PRAY THE ROSARY

1)To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces.
2)Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace.
3)The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.
4)The rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5)Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish.
6)Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life.
7)Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8)Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed.
9)I will deliver promptly from purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary.
10)True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in heaven.
11)What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
12)To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
13)I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
14)Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
15)Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.

The Blessed Virgin Mary shall never fail you, because she has God’s heart, being his most beloved creature (the New Eve, as Jesus is the New Adam)
and also God’s Beloved Son’s ears! For every man, earthly or heavenly, loves his mother and listens to her advice, her pleas.

God bless you my dear brother.

And remember, to pray the Rosary daily, with a pure intent, and you shall never truly fall!
God is With Us!

 

[cmscms]

I feel like if I just pray all the time like I used to, and start trusting that God will always hear and answer my prayers, then I’m giving in to Protestantism or something.

Just because protestants do something does not mean it is wrong !!! A lot of protestant ideas and behaviours are in line with Catholicism.

Thank God that while you were in a portestant faith, He showed you the power of pray, thank Him for leading you to the Catholic faith and keep up the good prayer habits you had before converting.

That is like saying, when I was a baseball player I learnt to run really fast to get to the base. Now that I am a soccer player, everytime I run for the ball I remember that I learnt to run as a baseball player so I slow down

CM

 

[tbmeg]

Just because protestants do something does not mean it is wrong !!! A lot of protestant ideas and behaviours are in line with Catholicism.

Thank God that while you were in a portestant faith, He showed you the power of pray, thank Him for leading you to the Catholic faith and keep up the good prayer habits you had before converting.

That is like saying, when I was a baseball player I learnt to run really fast to get to the base. Now that I am a soccer player, everytime I run for the ball I remember that I learnt to run as a baseball player so I slow down

CM

hahahaha, I liked that!

 

[fred_conty]

Isn’t it true that, for horrible sinners like me, even after coming out of confession, our prayers are only as worth a penny when every one of our needs are as the cost of a house?

I don’t pray anymore, really.

When I was a Protestant of sorts, before I knew about Catholicism, I prayed all the time. And it was amazing because I thought prayer was the majority of where God’s grace came from. And so I had an amazing amount of strength that came from Jesus in order to avoid sin and know right from wrong and love God with all my heart. I came to many Catholic conclusions without even being Catholic, and I had the power at that point to life a blameless life, which I led for about a month or two.

But now that I’m a Catholic, I know that the Sacraments are how God usually ministers His Grace, and while we need prayer to accept the grace within the Sacraments, I can’t see that other prayers, such as outside of Mass or Confession, are efficacious at all. Sure, God has delivered us with material things because of our prayers (probably my wife’s more than mine since she’s practically a saint). Our house, our baby, my job, all things like this have gone well because of our prayers.

Yet none of this matters to me. What I want to do is be delivered from my own sinfulness, and stop offending God in severely grave matters practically every day and week. This is what I pray about, but God doesn’t answer my prayers. Then isn’t it true that my prayers are worthless because of how sinful I am? I pray that I can make it through temptations faithfully but I lose faith and heart in the middle of them and give in. I pray that I can do all of my duties on earth with heart and love, and yet I fail at practically every single duty I have and I fail to do them with even a slight bit of love.

So why should I pray? Yes, I know, Jesus said I should pray. But my prayers are apparently worth nothing. If anything, it’s always been my wife’s prayers that keep us having everything we need. So why should I ever pray, if apparently my prayers are virtually worthless?

It appears that the sacraments were stressed so much that you no longer thought prayer was necessary. Actually the sacraments are prayers. The Mass is a prayer where Christ is offered on our altars and from which we receive communion.

But all prayer is important, especially throughout the day to keep us in touch with our dear Lord. It is also important to ask for grace. It was Jesus in the bible who said that we must ask in order to receive.

As far as being unworthy and too weak spiritually to pray, it is just the reverse, pray to be strong, that is, that God strengthen our will to do whatever it is that He wants. For without his strength and help we cannot, cannot, cannot, do anything spiritually. We must trust in Him.

If we never pray, what message does that send to Him? It says, “I don’t need you.” So we must tell Him, “I need you… now… please”. “I can’t make it without you.” “I trust in you.” That prayer is spelled… S U C C E S S.

As long as you are always asking for the right things, He will always say “yes”.
The right things are spiritual things, grace. And ask for big graces.

Below are the needs for praying by St. Alphonsus Ligouri

ourladyswarriors.org/prayer/mustpray.htm

1. THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER

Prayer Is a Means Necessary to Salvation.
Without Prayer It Is Impossible to Resist Temptations and to Keep the Commandments
Invocation of the Saints
The Intercession of the Blessed Virgin

1. THE POWER OF PRAYER

Excellence of Prayer and Its Power With God
Power of Prayer against Temptation
God Is always Ready to Hear Us <<<==========================================
We Should Not Limit Ourselves to Asking for Little Things