S
Sophia714
Guest
My question is based on a number of assumptions which I also don’t know if they are correct. They are: 1) God’s perfect will is going to be done one way or another.
2) Sometimes God allows bad things to happen and then brings good from them
3) Sometimes God intentionally gives a person or people bad things/ experiences that are painful in order for a greater good to come. 4) God gives humans free will. 5) God knows all our needs and desires before we ask them.
If all these are true, then how do our prayers (which I end mine with “I ask this in Jesus’ name, Thy perfect will be done”) actually work? Are we influencing / persuading God as I’ve seen depicted both in a play (Divine Mercy and St. Faustina) and in a movie (St. Pio) to do something He might not otherwise have done? Does God want us to ask and then if we do, He’ll consider changing what might have been His perfect will to another perfect will?
I believe He wants to grant us our prayers, yet He knows best what we need before we ask. What about those that don’t have the ability to ask due to mental disorders/ dementia, young age, incapacitated state, lack of any knowledge of God, etc…God would know what they’d want to pray for if they could, does He consider that on their behalf?
Some prayers for healing seem to be answered and some don’t, it just seems very confusing as to why we should pray since His perfect will is going to be done. He knows our thoughts, our needs, our desires. But wants us to ask Him, is that correct? And still, many times prayers aren’t answered and someone dies. I have been grappling with this for years, but then this past week our friends’ 10 y/o son suddenly died without warning in his sleep. The paramedics were trying to resuscitate him, could get his heart to start but not his lungs. I was praying intensely during the process and offered up a Divine Mercy Chaplet as well, however, he died. Is this God’s perfect will? So, it is bringing it all into the forefront of my mind as I try to comfort the parents and as my husband and I experience our own grieving for the heart breaking loss of this beautiful boy.
2) Sometimes God allows bad things to happen and then brings good from them
3) Sometimes God intentionally gives a person or people bad things/ experiences that are painful in order for a greater good to come. 4) God gives humans free will. 5) God knows all our needs and desires before we ask them.
If all these are true, then how do our prayers (which I end mine with “I ask this in Jesus’ name, Thy perfect will be done”) actually work? Are we influencing / persuading God as I’ve seen depicted both in a play (Divine Mercy and St. Faustina) and in a movie (St. Pio) to do something He might not otherwise have done? Does God want us to ask and then if we do, He’ll consider changing what might have been His perfect will to another perfect will?
I believe He wants to grant us our prayers, yet He knows best what we need before we ask. What about those that don’t have the ability to ask due to mental disorders/ dementia, young age, incapacitated state, lack of any knowledge of God, etc…God would know what they’d want to pray for if they could, does He consider that on their behalf?
Some prayers for healing seem to be answered and some don’t, it just seems very confusing as to why we should pray since His perfect will is going to be done. He knows our thoughts, our needs, our desires. But wants us to ask Him, is that correct? And still, many times prayers aren’t answered and someone dies. I have been grappling with this for years, but then this past week our friends’ 10 y/o son suddenly died without warning in his sleep. The paramedics were trying to resuscitate him, could get his heart to start but not his lungs. I was praying intensely during the process and offered up a Divine Mercy Chaplet as well, however, he died. Is this God’s perfect will? So, it is bringing it all into the forefront of my mind as I try to comfort the parents and as my husband and I experience our own grieving for the heart breaking loss of this beautiful boy.