Prayer

During this Season of Lent, there is a lot to pray for; at home those devastated by the flood, Ukraine families, Afghan families, Syria, refugees to name a few. Petition and intercessory prayers ask God to act. Why do we do that? What good does prayer do? If God is good, why doesn’t God just make the ‘good’ thing happen? 

We can sometimes fall into the mistaken notion that God is in control of everything. In a general sense, that is kind of true. Everything that exists either comes directly or indirectly from God. We readily acknowledge that God is the ‘ground of Being’; without God, nothing at all would exist. But that is not the same thing as saying that God is ‘in control’ of everything or that everything that happens is a ‘part of God’s plan’. In choosing to create a universe that operates according to certain ‘rules’, God has willed to abdicate his power to a certain extent. This is why we have thieves, liars and dictators. But it is also why we can have doctors, nurses, teachers, rescue workers and volunteers. Human beings are free to choose to act or not to act.

So will our prayers change God? No, they don’t change God. God is good. God doesn’t need to be convinced to be ‘good’. So what good does prayer do? And why do we do it?

We pray because Jesus told us to. Jesus tells us to go to the Father, ask and be persistent in prayer. A parent who never makes their child contribute is more likely to see their child stunted in their development. God shares his strength and power with us. When he calls us to pray we become more than children; we are participating as God’s coworkers.

Prayer doesn’t change God, but it changes us. The primary end of prayer is to have a relationship with God. God can achieve things alone, but He wants us to participate as co-workers. We get to know God better when we work alongside God to will goodness into our world. And that kind of prayer and relationship definitely changes something… it changes us.

So this Lent, let’s become a co-worker with God and pray. After all, there is so much to pray for right now.

Adapted from Fr Mike Schmitz, The Power of Prayer (Ascension Presents)