Hi Scott,
By speaking of prayers being effective I assume that you mean prayers of petition. And further, I assume that these are the petitions where one gets what one has been praying for; prayers that deliver, you might say.
But the first prayer is the prayer of adoration where we simply acknowledge God to be Who He is. It’s the most honest prayer and the one we owe him above all else. It’s the prayer of worship. The “Our Father” begins with it: “Hallowed be Thy name.” Then we ask for our daily bread and so forth.
No prayer changes God’s mind—ever. He has known what we need and what we think we need from all eternity. You are correct when you say that if you pray for something, and it is God’s will for it to happen, then it happens. But when He doesn’t answer us in the way we prefer, it is not just a matter of our prayer not matching up with His will. It is also the fact that what we are asking for is ultimately not for our own good—even though it seems so to us. But our prayer still has value because we have come to Him, trusting His love for us. And such trust is a form of love. When we love, we win. It is always the best thing for us and God always wants that.
When we pray for and with each other, we are adding other people’s love to the mix. This is what the Mystical Body of Christ is all about. It’s what the communion of saints is about. We are all related. It’s all a matter of love and it’s good. Hot dog!
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
