Thread by @catholiccom

"If God has a plan, prayer is pointless."

This is true if our prayer is an attempt to make God change his mind or his will. That's contrary to sound philosophy and biblical faith: “I the Lord do not change” (Mal 3:6). So what IS the goal of intercessory prayer?🧵

A correct understanding of the nature of prayer teaches us that prayer does not change God’s will but accomplishes it. We might say that prayer attempts to fulfill the conditions of God’s will by which he has ordained that certain goods be given to us.

God has ordained that certain goods be granted on the condition that we pray. And so it's truly the case that if we don't pray, those goods won't be given. Nevertheless, this does not mean that prayer changes God’s mind or will.

Aquinas says “We pray not that we may change the divine disposition, but that we may ask that which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers: in other words ‘that by asking, men may deserve to receive what almighty God from eternity has disposed to give,’ as Gregory says.”

The only wills changed are those of the persons praying or being prayed for. The Our Father prays, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” This means we pray that that God’s kingdom come in us, & that his will be done in us. Thus, by prayer we are changed to conform to God’s will.

Prayer is the most noble of the many created means whereby God accomplishes his will. In his wisdom and providence he has determined that there are many things that will only be brought about by prayer.

Prayer is thus an instrument of God’s supreme causality; that is, prayer is a way that God makes things happen with our cooperation. When we pray and are encouraged to do so by God, it is with this awareness.

Of course, we don’t always know what God wills, so we pray faithfully for what we ask, trusting that if what we ask for is his will, he has used our prayer to accomplish it.

When an intention of prayer is certainly God’s will, as for example, “Lord, increase my faith” or “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner” we can be sure the prayer is granted.

We can say simply that prayer is the spiritual, intelligent, and free way that God has his creatures accomplish things. It is the supreme way that God makes things happen when he uses created instruments.

It teaches us humility of heart, as we seek to conform our hearts to the heart of God. By praying we become once again like the little children to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs (Matt 19:14).

Postscript: This is an excerpt from our free ebook, "20 Answers: Prayer" by Fr. Hugh Barbour and Fr. Sebastian Walshe. Download it here for free: ow.ly/Nlti50HyeQi