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Question

Dear Padre Angelo,

My name is David and I am a seminarian. First of all, I thank you for all that you are doing through the web used as a powerful tool of evangelization. Indeed it is true that everything contributes to the good of those who love Christ.

It’s been a while since I had a doubt about prayer. I am aware of the importance of prayer and its power to change history. I am a faithful witness of it, as well as many Christians and biblical characters. For example, what comes to my mind is:

– Abraham’s intercession on behalf of Sodom;

– Moses’ prayer after the complaint of the people fed up with eating the manna;

– Moses’ Intercession after the complaint of the people returning from Canaan and the chastisement announced by God etc.

The whole Bible shows that prayer is a dialogue of the believer with God, in all circumstances of life. It can express adoration, thanksgiving, a request for help and relief for the poor and those who are suffering, protection against enemies, deliverance from the oppressors, love for God, and trust in His faithfulness.

But my point is: if it is true that God hears the prayers of the poor: “this poor man cries out and the Lord hears him deliver him from all his distresses,” how is it possible that the poor man has to cry out to be freed from his problem? How is it possible that we have to pray to God to change a certain situation for good and for our and other people’s salvation, when he could already take care of it without our requests?

Let me explain further. For example, if God knows that one has cancer and that he is suffering because he cannot find the meaning of it in his life, why should we pray so that that person can find consolation and hope in what he is experiencing?

I have often asked myself the sense of praying, especially in order to change a situation, an inconvenience, to gain some relief from suffering, or some hope in  anguish. Does God not see these situations? Of course, He does. He is Omnipotent and Omniscient. Why then? Is God waiting for our freedom? And so maybe He does not intervene to set us free. Why then does He grant the requests some other times instead? Because divine grace changes the situation and directs the other person’s will toward God.

Looking forward to your reflection, I pray for you.

Thank you.

Answer from the priest

Dear David,

dealing with intercessory prayer and so with prayer of request, you should remember a few things.

1. First of all, you should remember the great principle stated by St. Augustine: “A reasonable creature offers prayers to God to build himself up, not to instruct God” (De gratia N. Testam., 29).

While St. Thomas says that “if we address prayers to God, it is not because it is necessary to make our needs known to him, but in order to make it clear to ourselves that in that case we must use his help“ (Summa Theologica, II-II, 83, 2, ad 1).

“In his liberality God grants us many things that we have not asked. But, if he demands our prayer, it is for our usefulness, to make us recognize him as the author of our goods” (Ib., II-II, 83, 2, ad 3).

2. Second of all, since the beginning God has already given us all the graces we need.Nonetheless, some of them do not bear fruits  because our openness to God is not yet sufficient to receive them. That is why in our prayers we ask for the intercession of the saints, especially the Blessed Virgin Mary. And in doing so we become capable of receiving what God has already decided to give us.

This is the meaning of some of the  words used in the preface of  so many liturgical  prayers, such as when you say “Pray for us Holy Mother of God,” or “Pray for us St. Anthony,” the answer is “That we may become worthy of the promises of Christ.”

Then, this is why the Lord wants our prayer. We become able to receive the goods we ask for and use them in a holy way only by becoming holier, by living in goodness and in virtue. 

3. This is why St. Augustine says that “God gives some things even to those who do not pray, such as the beginning of faith. But He does not give others except to those who pray” (Lib. de Persev., 0.5).

And St. Thomas: “Divine Providence not only arranges the effects to be produced, but also the causes and the order in which they are to be produced.

And human actions are among other causes for certain effects. So it is necessary for men to perform certain things, not in order to change by their acts the divine dispositions, but in order to implement these effects according to the order predetermined by God.

The same happens with material causes. And this also applies to prayer.

So we pray not for the purpose of changing divine dispositions: but in order to impart what God has disposed to be accomplished through the prayers of the saints; and that is, as St. Gregory says, so that men ‘by praying may merit to receive what almighty God had disposed to bestow on them from eternity’ (in Lib. 1 Dialogorum, 8)” (Summa Theologica, II-II, 83, 2).

4. Then, it seems that the first grace to ask for in our prayers of intercession is precisely to make us holier and so to make us more worthy of receiving what God has already decided to give us. If certain graces do not reach their destination, it is also because they do not yet find a ground ready to receive them.

5. You should remember that God does not grant some graces for mercy. In the Summa Theologica St. Thomas writes: “Sometimes they are not necessary, but also not clearly contrary to eternal salvation”.

So, although people who pray may merit what is necessary for eternal life, nevertheless he does not deserve to obtain what he asks for. For St Augustine says: ‘He who with faith prays for the necessities of the present life, with equal mercy may be heard and not heard. That is because a doctor knows better than the sick person what is good for them’.

This is why St Paul was not heard when he asked to be freed from the stimulus of the flesh. It was not convenient.

On the contrary,  if what is requested is useful to the blessedness of the one who prays as an indispensable element for his/hers salvation, then the same grace can be obtained   not only by praying, but also by doing other good acts.

Therefore you receive what you ask, but at the proper time: ‘indeed, as St Augustine notes that (Super Ioan., 102) certain things are not denied, but are deferred in order to be granted at the proper time’.

However, this can be prevented if one does not insist on praying. This is why St Basil writes: ‘That is why you often ask and do not obtain, because you ask badly, and with little faith, or lightly, or by asking for things that do not benefit you, or without insisting’ (Const. Monast., l)”, (II-II, 83, 15, ad 2).

6. In other words, just as God has disposed that men should provide for their daily food and wine  by sowing wheat and by cultivating vines, so He wanted us to receive necessary graces for salvation through prayers. Indeed, it is through prayers that we receive the enlightenment and strength to make us worthy to receive what Christ has promised to give us.

Or better: God does not want to do what he has decided to do with us without us.

And this is to give us greater goods together with what we ask for.

I wish you a happy journey towards priesthood.

I remember you to the Lord and I bless you.

Padre Angelo