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Hi,

While searching the Internet for information about God’s will (since I asked for a thing in my prayer), I found a site saying that God’s will is inflexible and therefore, as a saint said, it is not convenient to pray to Him.

He also explained that we should rather ask to receive what He has offered us, because His will shall remain.

Is that true?

Why then, in Matthew’s Gospel, does Jesus recommend to trust that what we ask is already granted?

So, can or cannot we ask what we wish?

Or, can we think that sometimes God’s will wants some demands of ours to come live?

Thank you and have a nice day

Matteo

The priest’s answer

Dear Matteo,

Yes, God’s will is immutable.

So we read in the sacred Scripture: “all good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change” (Jas 1:17).

2. God’s will is immutable because God is not within time, which has a before and an after, but He is in eternity, where the present never becomes past and is fullness of life.

If we thought that God may change His will, we should conclude there is no absolute perfection in God.

3. However, it is wrong to say ‘to pray is useless’ since, in His will, God may have determined to give us certain goods only through our prayer, that is to say, only if we create the conditions to receive them by our prayer and conversion of life.

4. Therefore, we are right to ask and not only, even we should ask by our prayer what we wish and what we want.

After all, we know that God, before giving us a good, makes us wish for it. And, so as we possibly achieve that good, He stimulates us to pray and to commit our good will.

Indeed, prayer makes Jesus Christ present and active.

The good we ask will be certainly granted if it is truly useful for our sanctification.

5. With reference to the Jesus’ statement you quoted “Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours” (Mk 11:24): if it is useful for our eternal salvation; and we must trust that grace is already granted if we do what Jesus said right afterwards: “When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions” (Mk 11:25).

The Lord wants you to pray by your spirit reconciled with everybody. Nobody can hope to get anything from the Lord without one’s own will to forgive in turn.

If we do not want to forgive, there is no standing for sanctification and no aptitude to receive that grace. It is like you wanted to put food into your mouth keeping it closed.

Wishing you every good from God, sanctification first,

I bless you.

Father Angelo