Prayer question.....

[Gospel]

Does God hear your prayer if you are in mortal sin? I have a sin that I am struggling with. I don’t ask God for help as much as I should, but I am working on this by studying and reading up on spiritual combat. My question is, when I am in sin does God still hear my prayers? Can he still answer my prayers when I am in sin?

Does anyone have any guidence on this question?

 

[dominicsavio]

Peace be with you!

I personally think that praying even when you aren’t in the state of grace is good for a few reasons. 1.) While it is true you are not in the state of sanctifying grace, God can and does still give actual grace which can help you to repent and come back to Him so as to be restored to sanctifying grace. I have seen that when you pray anyways, it is likely you will return to Him faster than if you stop praying. 2.) It will help you from getting discouraged. It is really easy to get discouraged quickly when you fall into sin. If you pray and ask God for help, it will keep you from losing trust in His power to purify you and keep you from further sin. Often times, when someone falls, they get tempted further to say “I have already sinned. It doesn’t matter if I do this too/again” or “I might as well do this, I can go to confession Saturday.” These are terrible temptations. When you pray and ask God for help, He can give you the grace to keep from future falls and then restore you to grace when you come to Him in Confession.

 

[Deacon_Tony560]

God hears and answers all prayer. If a person is in the state of mortal sin, there is no “Santifying grace.” However, the church teaches that there is also "Actual"grace. This grace continues no matter what. Through this grace, God calls us back to union with him. It can be another person that brings us back, an illness, loss of a loved one Etc. God never gives up on his children…he leaves the 99 and always searches for the one that is lost.

Deacon Tony

 

[jrabs]

Deacon Tony560:

God never gives up on his children…he leaves the 99 and always searches for the one that is lost.

How true! God always heres and answers prayers. He will also hope and beg that you to go to confession to restore your relationship with Him. But regardless, He will never leave you and always listens and loves.

 

[Faithful_2_Rome]

I would guess that the first prayers God acknowledges are from those in Mortal sin over those in Grace…(not that he doesnt do things simultaneously…just trying to make a point) He looks for those steeped in sin asking for his help in conversion and faith… and those are the mortal sinners.

 

[Davis]

Yes, God hears our sin even when we are in mortal sin.

I’ve heard it put that – God hears us out of justice when we are in the state of grace and out of mercy when we are in mortal sin.

In fact, we should be encouraged to pray especially for God’s help / for grace to overcome a particular area of temptation we may have.