We shouldn't pray for feelings. We should pray because it pleases God

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It can, but it need not…and it’s a subtle thing…we can mistakenly begin to seek the feelings and not the unity and friendship with God.
 
That’s fine, but it’s also part of God’s plan that He wants us to examine using our intellect the reality and vagaries of “feelings”…so I will continue to examine the topic, tks.
 
Seeking comfort instead of the love of God is lower in perfection than seeking the love of God purely, that is without the self-seeking involved.

Yes. That’s what the saints and mystics teach.

Seeking comfort is self seeking.

God MAY choose to accompanying our acts of union with Him with comfort, with feelings of consolation…or depending on what He sees still missing in us, He may choose to send dryness, 40 years of manna, what have you.

And our approach to Him should be unchanged! We should be just as desirous to please Him without any consolation…if our love is what He wants it to be: pure as His.
 
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I’m with TisBearself on this. I find that pretty terrible.
Edward_H said:
Seeking comfort is self seeking.
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So seeking comfort out of a love for God is wrong.

So asking for prayers to be answered, by that extension, is equally wrong. After all, asking is self-seeking.

I think there’s a flaw in your logic here.
 
And our approach to Him should be unchanged! We should be just as desirous to please Him without any consolation…if our love is what He wants it to be: pure as His.
 
Edward_H said:
As I said, no offense, but no one gave you job as protectorate.
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No one made you Post Police in a public forum, either.

You know what they say about the kitchen…
Edward_H said:
And our approach to Him should be unchanged! We should be just as desirous to please Him without any consolation…if our love is what He wants it to be: pure as His.
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No one’s disputing that.

Your logic above is still flawed.
 
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I was responding to the other self-appointed police officer, but tks.
 
Doesn’t matter - just because you’re the OP doesn’t give you the right to tell others to get off your lawn.
 
As the Church teaches…we should ask away for things from Our Loving Father God, but the highest most perfect petition is our love for God, that His will be done.
 
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You should be more even handed. You should defend the original poster (and his original intention to study a matter) as you are policing the periphery. but tks.
 
I am certainly open to discussion on the original point…the principal reason for our prayer should not be our own feelings, more specifically the feelings we get in return for our prayer.

Aquinas said that love must seek its highest state of perfection.

So a desire for prayer that’s self seeking falls far short of what God intends…He intends that we love Him no matter what we get in return.

If you want to understand this point more clearly, then hang around. If you want to police a knitting bee, then this may not work for you.
 
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Do you have something against emotionality? I’ve followed a few of your posts and they seem to look down on emotionality
 
No emotionality is wonderful. God gave us our emotions. But they need an owner: the human will and the intellect (well formed, morally so), otherwise the emotions have a tendency to “bark” and lead people around and confuse them and make them sad, or at least leads them to living a spurty life, sometimes happy, but quickly sad.

Doesn’t this ring true with people you know? Up and done, prone to moods.

We should never serve our emotions.
We instead serve God, by knowing the truth (the job of the intellect) and doing the good (the job of the human will).

A person who has learned this ordering is one of the most “stably happy” person you will ever meet, since they are not slaves to their emotions, they are truly free, free to serve God, free to do good. They are always smiling, always working, always talking to God. They attract others, they spend their time serving others because they have a deep and lively friendship with God. God’s spirit is spilling out in them. But the rarely examine their emotions unless they’re training them again. They don’t live this way so that they can feel good…they seek to serve God.

A moody person is a slave to their emotions. Their emotions are unmortified. Their emotions bark or wag and the person follows their commands. The “dogs of emotions” own the owner. Always trouble ahead in this case.
 
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If you’re point is steadyfast prayer is the way to go. Pray without ceasing. I agree. Emotions can lead us astray. It comes across that you think it is inferior to pray according to their moods or in search of comfort or consolation.
 
Well, that’s not quite my point.

My point is we shouldn’t treat God like a fair-weather friend…we pray when we get something from Him…or we pray when we’re in the “mood”.

That’s my point.

We should pray because we love God and because He DESERVES our free act of self-gift, our act of prayer…again not because we’re going to get any pleasure out of it.

The reason many people don’t pray (and as a result wander off on their own, feeling sad, or feeling lonely, perhaps sinning, losing trust in God, losing that “influence” of God, not being as cheerful to their spouse, etc. etc)., is because when they go to prayer they’re hoping or looking for good feelings…and so they tend to pray as long as they’re getting good feelings from the pratice…but they abandon the practice quite soon thereafter when the feelings don’t accompany their prayer.

Doesn’t that make sense? Has it ever happened to anyone you know? They don’t pray regularly.

And when I say regularly, I mean say 15 minutes or more of uninterrupted prayer a day.
 
What if you are quite unhappy. Suppose you’ve suffered great loss and are now feeling overwhelmingly hurt and alone. If you seek to be with God through it (or rather to be aware of God’s presence as He is always with us) does that mean you are praying only to be consoled? What if you do not expect consolation or cessation of the loneliness, but you simply want God with you through it? Are you seeking good feelings when you are seeking God’s company?
 
When we’re sad we go to God to tell Him; He knows why we are sad or sorrowful (these are different emotions) but He knows that our telling of these things will be good for us because we are putting our feelings into WORDS and that is an act of the INTELLECT and that act itself requires the exercise of the WILL and so in this prayerful act of unity with God, He is already bringing about a healing and re-union of sorts…us to Him…then interiorly as our intellect is drawn into unity with God and our will too, using the “material” of the emotions. With that order of human faculties re-established we are better equipped to begin putting larger matters in better shape. Our intellect and will are the problem solvers influenced by their closeness to God.
 
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No, I don’t accept your premise and I am with those who find your tone prideful. There is no limit on how God guides and directs souls, or what they ask him, what they need, and what he gives them. You want to circumscribe God, and that can’t be done without human arrogance.
Therese of Lisieux, a Doctor of the Church and “the greatest saint of modern times” according to the Pope who canonized her, combated the predominant Jansenist tendencies of her day by insisting that she would take God up on his offer of being no more than a child before him, running into his arms for comfort at all moments. Thank God we have such a loving God! God created every part of us, our reason, our emotions, our sensitivities, and all can be used to come closer to him. Love is far more than cold, distant reason.
 
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None of my posts above have been about any of the commenters. There is no personal point or jab in any of my points or responses. No accusations no smearing.

But only you seem intent to make it personal, calling me a prideful Jansenist. And anyone who read my points above and REALLY understood Jansenism more than being simply able to paste it in from her previous posts couldn’t draw the conclusion that you did. “Conclusion” is being far too generous, as it implies logic, evidence, inferencing.

Your anger and desire to turn this discussion personal and ugly reveals something.
 
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