Free Will vs Answered Prayers

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nicragland

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Hello,

Is Free Will incompatible with answered prayers or an intervening God?

What form do answered prayers come in and do they (or not) undermine our free will?

Any recommended reading would also be appreciated.

Thanks,
 
I don’t have any recommended reading, but the answer to your question is that free will is completely compatible with God answering our prayers.

Even if you were praying for God to force you to stop something or to do something, he wouldn’t, because that would violate your free will. When God intervenes, it is usually (in my experience) through thoughts and feelings more than direct commands. It is then up to the individual as to whether or not they act on those thoughts and feelings.

We cannot truly know how God answers our prayers because we are not God, because we are limited in our perception, and because we cannot fathom His plan. Just take heart that, whether you get the answer you want or not, your prayers are not being ignored ^^

As to prayers about other people, the same could be said. Perhaps you are praying for a person to return to the Church. God may redouble his efforts / make his call a bit louder for that person, but it is still up to that person to heed it and take action.
 
Thru our prayers God makes it more appealing for the person to change.
God turns on the light inside so they want to change. He motivates them.
Or he can put the person into contact with other people or events which will
motivate them to change.

Suffering is one such event. When a person sinks so low in his own misery,
he can only look up and beg for help, or raise his fist in defiance. But one
way or the other, he recognizes God which is a start.

God never makes us do anything except at the end of our life.
But he can make us want to change in various ways.

Of course he probably answers prayers that ask for grace first.
By asking for grace, a person wants to do what God’s will is.

Praying for others is an act of charity which pleases our Father.

Once in a while a person will receive such a great grace that it would be
difficult to say no to God. Like St. Paul whom God chose to a special life
dedicated to helping his early church. Usually such a grace is given for that
very reason, a special purpose or vocation for others.

Just a few thoughts.
 
ProdglArchitect said:
As to prayers about other people, the same could be said. Perhaps you are praying for a person to return to the Church. God may redouble his efforts / make his call a bit louder for that person, but it is still up to that person to heed it and take action.
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God does everything he can already to save a person’s soul even without the petitions of others. How could God redouble his efforts to same someone when a friend or relative prays for him? The other thing is that this seems very unjust. Are some more likely to be saved because other people pray for them? I thought we were saved by our own merits alone.
 
zro_x said:
God does everything he can already to save a person’s soul even without the petitions of others. How could God redouble his efforts to same someone when a friend or relative prays for him? The other thing is that this seems very unjust. Are some more likely to be saved because other people pray for them? I thought we were saved by our own merits alone.
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  1. By intercessory prayer the Faithful on earth can procure gifts from God for one another. (Sent. certa.)
  2. The faithful on earth can, by their good works performed in the state of grace, render atonement for one another. (Sent. cert.)
The above is from Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 1974
jloughnan.tripod.com/dogma.htm
Zro,
People give into temptataion to sin even tho they receive grace to resist it. Christians are then given the privilege to pray for them to receive grace to repent. Once a person resists grace there is no requirement for God to give more grace. But in virtue of someone in the state of sanctifying grace praying for them, God can and often does give another the grace for the sinner to return from their disobedience of sin.

This is really the point of praying for the world which the church does sometimes in her liturgy.
For example, the common prayers immediately following the homily of the priest on Sunday.
Those prayers are directed at rulers, legislators, and the world at large, for the sick, for sinners to return to their church, for the deceased, our families, starvation, and wars.

Jesus said, “knock and it will be opened, seek and you will find” which implies that he answers if we ask. If we don’t ask, then who knows.

Just some thoughts.
 
God also has free will. If your will is in harmony with His, your prayers are likely to be answered.
 
fred_conty said:
  1. By intercessory prayer the Faithful on earth can procure gifts from God for one another. (Sent. certa.)
  2. The faithful on earth can, by their good works performed in the state of grace, render atonement for one another. (Sent. cert.)
The above is from Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, 1974
jloughnan.tripod.com/dogma.htm
Zro,
People give into temptataion to sin even tho they receive grace to resist it. Christians are then given the privilege to pray for them to receive grace to repent. Once a person resists grace there is no requirement for God to give more grace. But in virtue of someone in the state of sanctifying grace praying for them, God can and often does give another the grace for the sinner to return from their disobedience of sin.

This is really the point of praying for the world which the church does sometimes in her liturgy.
For example, the common prayers immediately following the homily of the priest on Sunday.
Those prayers are directed at rulers, legislators, and the world at large, for the sick, for sinners to return to their church, for the deceased, our families, starvation, and wars.

Jesus said, “knock and it will be opened, seek and you will find” which implies that he answers if we ask. If we don’t ask, then who knows.

Just some thoughts.
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What this basically means is that those with more people to pray for them have a greater likelihood of being saved. I’m sorry, but I have a hard time believing that the prayers of others affect our souls in any way. It just doesn’t seem fair that God would pour out more graces on those who are lucky enough to have people to pray for them.
 
zro_x said:
What this basically means is that those with more people to pray for them have a greater likelihood of being saved. I’m sorry, but I have a hard time believing that the prayers of others affect our souls in any way. It just doesn’t seem fair that God would pour out more graces on those who are lucky enough to have people to pray for them.
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Zro,thanks for your reply, and you bring up a good point.

There are examples of people praying for other people and thru their prayers, they received what they asked for. A famous example of this is St Monica, the mother of St Augustine.

God gives to others grace to change their lives because someone has asked Jesus for their conversion.

And the other observation is that God does give to some more than he gives to others.
For example, a good loving home for some and a broken unhappy home to others.
Some have received a good mind, while others have received a handicaped mind.

It is obvious that there are differences of gifts God gives.

We have orders of religious men and women in the church who do almost nothing but pray for others. They devote their lives to it, and especially to pray for those who are on their way to eternal unhappiness.

In the liturgy of the church at Mass, many prayers at Mass are devoted praying for those who are sinners. For instance, the “I confess” at the beginning of mass, we ask our brothers and sisters there “to pray for me to the Lord our God.”

Your prayers, and my prayers, and all our prayers, are very much needed in this sad world plagued with sin. We help one another out by praying for one another. So I hope that you will pray for me because I need your prayers as well.

In the Chaplet of Divine Mercy we pray, “For the sake of his sorrow passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

Just a thought.
 
fred_conty said:
Zro,thanks for your reply, and you bring up a good point.

There are examples of people praying for other people and thru their prayers, they received what they asked for. A famous example of this is St Monica, the mother of St Augustine.

God gives to others grace to change their lives because someone has asked Jesus for their conversion.

And the other observation is that God does give to some more than he gives to others.
For example, a good loving home for some and a broken unhappy home to others.
Some have received a good mind, while others have received a handicaped mind.

It is obvious that there are differences of gifts God gives.

We have orders of religious men and women in the church who do almost nothing but pray for others. They devote their lives to it, and especially to pray for those who are on their way to eternal unhappiness.

In the liturgy of the church at Mass, many prayers at Mass are devoted praying for those who are sinners. For instance, the “I confess” at the beginning of mass, we ask our brothers and sisters there “to pray for me to the Lord our God.”

Your prayers, and my prayers, and all our prayers, are very much needed in this sad world plagued with sin. We help one another out by praying for one another. So I hope that you will pray for me because I need your prayers as well.

In the Chaplet of Divine Mercy we pray, “For the sake of his sorrow passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

Just a thought.
Click to expand...
There is a difference between physical gifts, such as a powerful mind, body, and good homelife, and spiritual graces. The idea behind the former is that God gives us different gifts so that we the faithful, as a whole, can operate as a body. I’m not sure I agree with that justification, but it makes a certain degree of sense. Spiritual graces, on the other hand, are a whole 'nother ball game. Those are necessary for our salvation. Without them, we can’t enter heaven, which is what God wants most for each of us.

As for your examples, I’m not really sure if praying to God for others affects the degree of graces he gives them. Those prayers are likely to help us focus on the desire for our fellow man to come to God.

As they say, “prayer doesn’t change God. Prayer changes us.”
 
nicragland said:
Hello,

Is Free Will incompatible with answered prayers or an intervening God?

What form do answered prayers come in and do they (or not) undermine our free will?

Any recommended reading would also be appreciated.

Thanks,
Click to expand...
Nothing destroyes our free will. Our freedom may be mitigated by torture, illness, accident, etc. But your question is about apples and oranges. God will never " force " you to do anything against your will. If God has answered your prayers, you will know it but it will not happen by " controlling " someone’s free will. I am not aware of any book or article discussing the relationship between the two since there is none. 👍
 
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