What’s the point of praying for something over and over again?

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the2112

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When you pray for something once, shouldn’t God remember it for all eternity, and “answer” it when the time is right?

What compels me to ask this is I’ve been praying to get a Catholic girlfriend for the past 10 years, yet out of the 6 girls I’ve pursued in that amount of time, I ended up in a relationship with only one of them (which was long distance and only lasted 3 months). All the other girls rejected me (some in harsh ways).
Despite this, it’s something I keep praying for, and is in fact usually the first thing I pray about when I say my prayers. But now I’m beginning to wonder what’s the point of continuing to pray to get a Catholic girlfriend when for the past 10 years my prayers have basically been answered with “not yet.” Shouldn’t God already know that a Catholic girlfriend is my greatest desire without me having to remind Him every day? I’ll say this “radio silence” and the hurt I’ve felt from 5 rejections has taken a hit on my faith over the years, and often makes me question if my prayers are really doing anything.
 
I think you had just answered your own question. You only need to pray ONCE. Praying too many times seems to show that your faith in God is not strong enough.
 
OP, is it too much for you to continue to pray for what you desire? I don’t understand the problem.
Perhaps you should merely pray for acceptance of God’s will for you, whatever it ends up being.
 
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Actually, that is not the case. Praying with persistence demonstrates your faith in God more than if you were only to pray once for something.

St. Louis de Monfort in The Secret of the Rosary says that we need to pray very much for things. When we pray, we need to pray with firm faith that we are praying for will be granted us and we need to pray for it persistently for it. St. Louis says that God makes it this way so that when we recieve the favour we pray for, we will be more grateful and appreciative of it, among other things.
 
Jesus tells us to keep praying for something over and over again in the Parable of the Persistent Widow (aka the Parable of the Unjust Judge) Luke 18, 1-8
 
@semper_catholicus @TRON Oh, is it? Oh well… I am just writing from my life experience. I always prayed only once and I knew He heard my prayer. My prayer is granted in just few days. Fastest by next day. 😁
 
You could find the positive and thank God that maybe the person you were in contact wasn’t the person God was moving you to. That person was your choice and not necessarily the correct. Thru all this keep looking for the spiritual lesson God may be trying to teach you. Peace be with you
 
St. Monica prayed for many years for the conversion of her son, Augustine…eventually, he converted to Catholicism, and became a great saint.
 
the2112 said:
Shouldn’t God already know that a Catholic girlfriend is my greatest desire
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Maybe this is the problem. Shouldn’t loving God, knowing God and trusting in Him be your greatest desire? Focus on strengthening your relationship with God first, and accept His will. He will provide for your needs in His time.
 
We should continue to lay our desires and concerns before the Lord. Absolutely. Keep praying.

But we also need to do work on our end to get things done. Look for ways to improve your heart and attitude – for example, a girlfriend is not an object to possess. A woman is a human being made in the image and likeness of God.

For me, looking at men as potential boyfriends (or not) was a form of objectifying my brothers in Christ. They aren’t there to serve my need for companionship.

Keep praying, but also look for how your desperate desire might actually be pushing women away. Maybe add a prayer for the Holy Spirit to guide you in this.

And keep praying.

Keep praying.

Keep praying.
 
I forget the name of the parable that Jesus taught, but it involves knocking on your neighbors door in the middle of then night for some food, and when they don’t answer, knock again and again and they will answer.
 
Can you imagine a world where we got everything we prayed for with just one prayer?
Just food for thought…
 
In my opinion, 2 reasons. 1, in the bible we are told to ask and ask again. Sorry my brain is wonky so I can’t recall the reference but it is where Jesus tells us that if you go and ask your neighbour for bread as you have guests drop by and he tells you he hasn’t got time to come and give it to you or he’s in bed to come back in the morning, if you keep asking then he will give it to you if for no other reason than to get you to stop asking. It’s roughly where the ask and you shall receive and knock and it shall be answered bit is. So out of obedience to Jesus as he told us so. 2, because prayer is meant to change us, not God. God is perfect and as you say will not forget or not know what we ask. He does in fact know what we want before we ask for it. But we must change for our prayers, perhaps in what we ask for or in how or why we ask them. Thomas Acquinas tell us how to get our prayers answered. I will see if I can find a simple article on it and attach it here, but it is basically aligning ourselves with God’s will and then our prayers will be answered. If you say ‘I want… I want’ it may be that is the problem and reason why you aren’t getting… try ’ God if it is your will, I would like xyz, if not then your will be done…’ or’ show me your will for me my Lord’ these are the sorts of prayers than are likely to be answered more promptly as the ‘I want prayers’ even if they seem to be orientated towards good and holy things may not be want God has in store for us, so we may pray again and again until we change …… which may take sometime if our will is stubborn. Try to let God lead you in your discernment of the vocation of marriage. I mean no offence but there is a lot of focus on what you want in your post and little on what God wants. It may be simply that patience and humility are gifts God is waiting to give you. I know they are difficult to receive. Try pray to Mary about being receptive to God’s other gifts while you wait. God bless you

Oh I found the article
Thomas Aquinas says these 4 things will ensure your prayer is answered
 
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Your prayers can often require work on your part too.
Maybe be open to dating a non catholic and when she sees how devout and faithful you are, she’ll consider her own conversion?
Just a thought.
 
As was stated, our prayers are meant to change us rather than Gd’s mind. It is we who have to remember to follow the will of Gd, not our own will, and it is we who have to keep reminding ourselves that all things in our lives come from Gd. We also have to be reminded that prayer does work but in Gd’s time, not our own, and that what we think we want in the moment may not be what is best for us right now.
 
Praying changes US.

There is the old story about the man dying on the rainstorm.

The news broadcaster comes on and says “evacuate, floods are coming”.

The man says “I am praying for God to save me”.

The water gets higher, a rescuer comes past in a rowboat and offers to give the man a ride, he replies “I am praying for God to save me”.

Soon the man is on his roof as the flood waters rise, a helicopter drops a ladder, the man says “I am praying for God to save me”.

The man drowns, when he arrives at the pearly gates, the man asks God “I prayed and prayed, yet you did not save me”.

God says “I sent you a news reporter, a boat and a helicopter”.

So, we must act along with our prayers.

Are you a good catch? Do you take good care of your appearance, well groomed, fit? Do you have good manners? Are you fun, funny, compassionate and smart? Are you interesting?

Do you attend Catholic Singles Conferences? Are you volunteering with your parish and your Diocese? Do you get to know the “old ladies” at the parish? (They have nieces and granddaughters and goddaughters)?
 
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Makes us humble.
Makes us want it more.
Often it makes us tune our prayer toward God’s will.
Test us…do we trust God? Or do we let doubt distance us from Him and His will for us.
More time to enlist others…
 
TheLittleLady said:
Praying changes US.

There is the old story about the man dying on the rainstorm.

The news broadcaster comes on and says “evacuate, floods are coming”.

The man says “I am praying for God to save me”.

The water gets higher, a rescuer comes past in a rowboat and offers to give the man a ride, he replies “I am praying for God to save me”.

Soon the man is on his roof as the flood waters rise, a helicopter drops a ladder, the man says “I am praying for God to save me”.

The man drowns, when he arrives at the pearly gates, the man asks God “I prayed and prayed, yet you did not save me”.

God says “I sent you a news reporter, a boat and a helicopter”.

So, we must act along with our prayers.

Are you a good catch? Do you take good care of your appearance, well groomed, fit? Do you have good manners? Are you fun, funny, compassionate and smart? Are you interesting?

Do you attend Catholic Singles Conferences? Are you volunteering with your parish and your Diocese? Do you get to know the “old ladies” at the parish? (They have nieces and granddaughters and goddaughters)?
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Wish I could give this 1,000 :heart:s!
 
the2112 said:
“answer” it when the time is right?
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Yes.

Perhaps now is the time to change what you’ve been doing?
Try a new orbit or two, engage in a new pursuit and whilst pursuing it you may find yourself accompanied.

(This sounds as though it came from a cracker, or is that self abasement?)

🙂
 
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