Ethics of extra prayers more than requested?

[newcalling]

I have a habit I can’t break, and I don’t know that I should break it. Whenever I’m praying for someone, whatever other reason I’m praying for them, I also pray that God touches their heart in whatever way they need so that they will know He loves them. I just so fervently want others to know and love God, our world needs it so desperately! On the one hand, I can’t see how praying for that to happen can ever be wrong. However, I guess it was ingrained into me that unsolicited prayers are unethical somehow; the person only asked me to pray, for example, because they’re having ill health, but if they have ill health I especially want them to get to know God ASAP! I don’t know, I’m probably being ridiculous. Bear with me and be kind, please, I have only been Catholic for a couple of years, and wasn’t even Christian for decades before then.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

it’s not unethical. You can pray for anything for anybody as long as it’s a good thing you’re praying for.
Like, it would be wrong to pray that someone would break their leg or get cancer.
It is fine to pray that they come to know and love God more.

The one caveat is that if you are praying out loud in front of them, don’t add on extra things they didn’t ask you to pray for. This can cause people to get upset. Often if people are asking for prayers for a specific thing, like financial distress or they are ill or they just had a death in the family, etc. they are already having emotional turmoil, and it would be very easy for some prayer for an “extra” thing to be taken wrong even if you didn’t mean it that way. For example, a person who is ill may actually pray all the time and feel they know and love God just fine and so if you tacked on an unsolicited prayer that they could “know and love God better” they might be affronted, especially since they’re already in a state where their thinking might be affected by illness, stress, pain, medication. In those cases, you can say the extra prayer for them silently to yourself, or say it after they are out of earshot.

 

[newcalling]

Tis_Bearself: That’s a very good note to make! Yes, I meant in private prayer. If I’m praying with them, I will pray that the Holy Spirit is with them and their loved ones, and that the Love of God will comfort them. To me, that’s practically the same as praying for them to be closer to God (because we can all be closer, especially me) but in a much kinder way.