Unsure, Why pray?

[fjonc]

Sorry have not had time to go to that prayer link yet.
Still though, yes we pray.
Prayer to ask for blessings, no matter how we pray, no matter how much we pray, the out come will still be the same. Why pray for blessings? I know in the Bible it says “Ask and you shall receive”.
First we have to have enough faith to believe for this to happen. Is it being said that perhaps we do not have enough faith? Am I not a good enough person to have my prayers answered?
Is it just not my destiny for my prayers to be answered? Or just not mine for that matter but many.

 

[beckycmarie]

Sorry have not had time to go to that prayer link yet.
Still though, yes we pray.
Prayer to ask for blessings, no matter how we pray, no matter how much we pray, the out come will still be the same. Why pray for blessings? I know in the Bible it says “Ask and you shall receive”.
First we have to have enough faith to believe for this to happen. Is it being said that perhaps we do not have enough faith? Am I not a good enough person to have my prayers answered?
Is it just not my destiny for my prayers to be answered? Or just not mine for that matter but many.

The way I see it, God has three answers to our prayers:

1. Yes.
2. Wait.
3. I have something better.

If you don’t get what you pray for, it’s because what you’re asking for is not God’s will for you. As any parent knows, giving your child everything he asks for is not what’s best for the child.

Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Mt 7:9-11)

Often the “good gift” is not what we ask for.

Peter Kreeft has another quote about prayer that is some good food for thought:

In fact, I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers to God make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those effects down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.

Source: Kreeft, Angels & Demons: What Do We Really Know About Them? p. 23

 

[GerardM]

Jesus clearly tells us “ask and you shall receive”, and even encourages us to be persistent and continue to ask until God answers. He wants us to come to him as a trusting child, addressing him as the loving Father He is, believing that He truly wants to give us everything that we need. By asking God for what we need, we are acknowledging that He is the source, the provider, and we are His children, under His authority.

Because God does not operate in time as man does, he already knows the choices we are going to make. However, because he created man on Earth to operate in time, he operates and responds to man in man’s time. It is true, as stated in an earlier post, that just because God knows all things that have been and all things that will be, that does NOT mean that he does not respond to prayer. On the contrary, he humbles Himself to be responsive to man’s issues in man’s time, and asks us to faithfully bring our wants and needs to Him, and in turn, he faithfully responds as a loving Father does to his little children.

God Bless!

 

[ready]

We should pray because God and the Blessed Mother (in her apparitions) tell us to. If we don’t pray (for peace, for example, like Mary asks us to do in her apparitions) we might not get what we need (peace) and war might break out. If we ask, we are told we will receive. If we don’t seek God by talking to Him, if we don’t knock on doors when we need things or ask for things when we need them, then we might not ever get all the things we need.

God can be moved, as has been told in a vision (an old I think approved vision in France, I believe.) It’s been said that God’s ordained will can not be changed, but it’s also been said by God Himself that if we ask, we shall receive.

 

[FCEGM]

Here is the question and maybe someone has a good answer. Or I should say an answer through logic and reason? I am not sure. A question someone asked me and it made me think as I could not think of a good answer at the time. Here it is.
God already knows what decisions we are going to make, down to what time we will be getting up in the morning, when we will die etc etc etc. Why do we pray then? Why do we pray for someone who is sick and who is terminally ill? Why do we pray to make the right decisions in our lives. I understand there is free will involved. Still though God knowing what decision we are already going to make, why pray? Why pray that we will be able to do this or do that?

Prayer, for one, is an exercise in humility. It’s a recognition of our dependency on our loving Father. Second, because the Holy Spirit planted in our hearts urges us on to the bosom of the Father. Third, because He has freely ordained that some of His gifts are dispensed in response to prayer - another reason for humility in the face of our poverty meeting His largesse.

"He has already seen everything before we ask Him. The whole course of events lies spread before His eternal eye, and proceeds according to the designs of His Love. He sees events and all their causes. Among their moral causes He sees also this present prayer of ours.

"Our own poor prayer, offered up from this lost corner of the universe, at this fleeting moment of time, was taken into considertion from all eternity by this omnipotent God Who holds all things in His hands. . .He heard it, where He dwells beyond time and change, where there is no before and after. . . .He saw our intention and He saw our need in the eternal simplicity of creative Thought. He welcomed our prayer before it was uttered. . . . .[Prayer] sets us already in our place in eternity, while we are still borne along on the current of time. It brings us back to the true source of our life, and associates us with this universal government by which [He makes] all things serve the true good of [His sons and daughters]. Abbe Emile Guerry, God the Father: Meditations.

It’s important not to see prayer as solely petitionary. One must also understand that God has called us to a depth of intimacy beyond the recognition of our needfulness of Him as expressed through prayers of petition. Our life in Christ is meant to be more than a series of petitions for His aid. He is calling us to deepen our relationship with Him through prayer, especially through a tending toward contemplation.

But, this of course necessitates dying to self, being less and less “full of self” and more and more “full of the Spirit of Christ.” The great Saints in the way of contemplation, St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, constantly urge us to strip away the way of the flesh and live in the way of the Spirit, the way of the virtues and merits of Christ, and to seek time for solitude with our Beloved.

Contemplative prayer is a drawing into a deeper experiential communion with the Trinity and there in the darkness of faith the soul surrenders more of itself to the embrace of the Beloved and is quietly and peacefully receptive (often in the midst of great exterior struggles and trials) to the transforming grace of union. The Uncreated reveals Himself to the creature; the Word speaks our unique name and we in the stillness of contemplation are born to a new level of intimacy with Our Lord, all of which is an anticipation of the full union we will enjoy in Heaven - then not only in our spirit but in our resurrected bodies.

So pray away!

 

[MarieVeronica]

Hi MarieVeronica
So you said we pray because it is Christian Charity. That does not really answer the question.

Well, you asked, specifically… why do we pray for someone who is sick or terminally ill. And my reply to the specific question was… “out of Christian Charity”. In other words, in response to Christ’s teachings. “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you”. I can only speak for myself… but I know that if I were dying of cancer… with only a month to live. I would be greatly comforted by the prayers of my family and friends. (Perhaps my view on this is rather simple, child-like. But, child-like faith is good).

If God already does know the outcome, no matter how we pray, it will still come out the same in the end.

In my previous response… I quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church… which says that Almighty God has “factored in” the decisions of our free will, which is His gift to us. He has somehow incorporated our various free will decisions… into His “Plan”. How has He done this? Well, being only creatures… chances are, we will never know. Just as we will probably never know, how God created everything… out of nothing.

Can a man freely choose good or evil… at any time while he is alive? Yes. Does God know which path each man will ultimately choose? Yes. Does that mean that our prayers have “no effect”? Absolutely not. Human prayer is of infinite value and worth. Otherwise, Our Lord would not have taught us to pray. He wants us to pray. The best example of this is the Mass. It is the highest form of prayer… which Our Lord Himself, instituted. Extremely valuable, when offered for the souls of our departed loved ones. Suffering can also be offered as a prayer, in this way.

If I pray for my mom’s health to get better and she passes away, the outcome would have still been the same.

Let’s say that this happens. You’ve prayed for your mom… but she passes away. Dear soul, we would never know… in this situation, how many graces we may have obtained for a loved one who died. Your prayers… could shorten a loved ones time in purgatory… or even get them into Heaven.

In regards to the effectiveness of prayer, I can offer a personal experience to you. My mother and I have been praying for years for my sister… who fell away from the Church. She hadn’t been to Mass, since 1979. She returned to the practice of the faith, this past Easter. To us, this is a miracle and clear proof that God does hear our prayers. Especially, since I myself… had fallen away from the faith for about 10 years. The Lord in His Mercy… still heard my prayers for my sister.

the CCC (600) you mentioned, still does not say anything about why pray for the right decision, why pray for a healthy child, why pray we make the right choices.

“How is our prayer efficacious?”
CCC (2738) “The revelation of prayer in the economy of salvation teaches us that faith rests on God’s action in history. Our filial trust is enkindled by His supreme act: the Passion and Resurrection of His Son. Christian prayer is cooperation with His Providence, His plan of love for men.”

The best prayer we can ever offer is to say… “THY Will be done, Father”. This is in imitation of Jesus… as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. To pray that the Father’s Will be done… is always to pray for the right decision. Because the Father’s Will… IS the “right decision”.

God bless.