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Dear Father Angelo,
here I am. I greet you first of all and I thank you for your work (now indispensable for me) of spreading the Word of the Lord, a source to which I drink every night thanks to the publication of your answers to the letters of us all who write to you, a flock that longs for God.
I write this time for a doubt that has been nagging me for a long time: I know that praying is a way to obtain grace (we do not pray only for this and in any case it should not be only this reason that drives us to pray. We pray to be with the Lord in friendship and companionship, in intimacy, we say, then if he hears us so much better).
I happen to pray for other people who ask me (my spiritual father, the Pope who, as is well known, always asks all of us Christians, my parents, some of my friends in difficulty or far from the love of Jesus etc.).
Maybe if I pray for my friend and the grace comes true I’m happy, but… is it possible that what I prayed for would happen the same in any other way? How do I know if I actually helped this person or if the required help would be there anyway? Was my prayer helpful? How to know?
I realize that this could perhaps make me become superb, believing that I was decisive with my prayer, while only the Lord is, but I would like to be aware that I really helped someone, it would still be a rewarding thing, no?
Sometimes we need a little confirmation, to know that what has been done has served something, to believe that sometimes God listens to us and answers us, I think it is a human fact.
Now I leave you asking to pray for me and assuring you of my intentions in prayer like every night.
I greet you with affection and I thank you again.
Angelo
The Priest’s answer
Dear Angelo,
1. We are certain of one thing: that the Lord would not ask us to pray if he were not willing to grant us.
Saint Thomas says it very clearly.
2. The Lord assures us that our prayers, if they have due dispositions, are always welcome to him.
This is recalled in a very beautiful way by the episode of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, who had a vision by virtue of his prayers.
Here is what we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “One afternoon about three o’clock, he saw plainly in a vision an angel of God come in to him and say to him, “Cornelius. He looked intently at him and, seized with fear, said, “What is it, sir?” He said to him, “Your prayers and almsgiving have ascended as a memorial offering before God (Acts 10,3-4).
3. Of course, we would like to see the effects of our prayers.
However, we must know that for an act of mercy the Lord does not let us see them because we would immediately mount in pride.
Moreover, in this way the Lord also adds to our prayer the merit of faith.
4. With regard to certain coincidences you raise the objection: it could simply be a case, and that effect would have been produced equally without prayer.
Of course, we cannot say: this happened after prayer, and therefore it was caused by prayer.
Already the ancients said that from the post hoc (it happened after this), one cannot conclude by saying: ergo propter hoc (it happened because of this).
5. However, the Lord does not fail to give us signs, such as sometimes certain coincidences, which are particularly eloquent.
For those who have faith and see everything with the eye of God (because having faith finally means just that!) everything is clear.
For those who do not believe, it is just chance.
6. It is a discourse analogous to that of God’s existence. For those who have faith everything speaks of Him and it is easy to say: “Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Everything speaks to me of you!”.
Who does not look with the eyes of God, although forced to recognize an admirable perfection in the laws of nature and the cosmos, insists on saying that it is only chance.
If as well, the case happens by chance and that is only sometimes.
But if this always happens, it means that we are faced with an immutable law full of wisdom.
It is a law so admirable in its perfection that it refers to a Legislator whose perfection we can only see something.
7. This law is also observed in the promptness and efficacy of prayer, so much that Saint Bernard had said that he would no longer speak of Our Lady if he knew that someone, turning to her, had not received any benefit.
I bless you, I wish you all the best and I remember you in prayer.
Father Angelo