Why God Does Not Answer Prayers (Part I)

[Michie]

In His Last Supper Discourse, Our Lord spoke to His Apostles the following: “Amen, amen, I say to you: If you ask the Father any thing in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked any thing in My name: Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full” (16:23-24). But it seems that when we ask in the Name of Christ, oftentimes our prayers are not answered. Why is this? Is it because Christ was wrong, or because He was purposefully misleading us? Such statements, of course, are offensive to pious ears.

As St. James tells us in his Epistle, “You ask, and receive not; because you ask amiss” (4:3). But, what does it mean to ask amiss in prayer?

First, it might mean asking for something which, while it might seem good to us, God knows that if it were granted, it would lead to our harm or at least not to our best advantage (see Luk 11:11-13). Like a good parent who does not give his child something which will be harmful, God seemingly refuses such prayers in order to protect us. St. Augustine (Tract. lxxiii.) rightly observes that

God occasionally refuses what we ask for, because this is more expedient for our salvation and His glory: God therefore hears us, not according to our wishes, but as it is best for our salvation. And thus He hearkened not to St. Paul when he prayed to be delivered from the thorn in the flesh, because it was more profitable to him, to humble him, and that he might continually struggle with and overcome it.

In this passage, St. Augustine gives us the key that when we pray our main concern should be the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. Our Lord Himself said, “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mat 6:33). Our Lord directs us to seek chiefly and above all the kingdom of God, namely the means which lead us to the kingdom of God, such as God’s grace, virtue, and good and righteous works. These we should esteem above all other things, count them as of the highest value, and count material and physical goods as having less worth, and as only to be sought after in second place to those things which are for the greater glory of God and our salvation.

Continued below.

Why God Does Not Answer Prayers (Part I) - TAN Direction - Catholic Spiritual Direction From the Saints and Faithful Modern Authors

In His Last Supper Discourse, Our Lord spoke to His Apostles the following: “Amen, amen, I say to you: If you ask the Father any thing in My name, He will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked any thing in My name: Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full”…

tandirection.com

 

[Michie]

Previously, it was discussed that
God refuses our prayers if we ask amiss, as St. James explains in his Epistle (4:3). God will not grant us something which He knows will be harmful or at least not to our best advantage. It was also stated that our prayers for God’s glory and one’s salvation should hold the first place.

But we also pray amiss when we do not ask or pray as we should. Scripture shows us that there are several qualities which prayer should have so that it will be heard favorably by God.

First, we should pray with humility and reverence. In the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (Luk 18:9–14), Our Lord tells us that the prayer of the Publican was heard because he prayed with humility and reverence. He prayed standing afar off and did not so much as lift his eyes to heaven. The prayer of the Pharisee, on the other hand, was not heard because he was proud and presuming.

True prayer also requires contrition for sin. God, speaking to sinners through the prophet Isaias said:

And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear…Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely, learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow. And then come…If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land (1:15-19).

From this, we should take the lesson that sinners who willfully persist in sin, when they pray, are not readily heard by God.

It is not required, however, that we be sinless in order for God to hear our prayer. If this were the case, then practically no one would be able to pray properly in any sense to God. What is required is that we realize that we are sinners and, relying on God’s grace, repent and have sorrow for our sins.

True prayer also requires great faith and confidence that we shall obtain what we ask for through Christ. St. James in his Epistle wrote: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. Therefore let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (1:6-7). According to St. James, those who waver in faith should not expect to receive an answer to their prayers.

Continued below.

Why God Does Not Answer Prayers (Part II) - TAN Direction - Catholic Spiritual Direction From the Saints and Faithful Modern Authors

Previously, it was discussed that God refuses our prayers if we ask amiss, as St. James explains in his Epistle (4:3). God will not grant us something which He knows will be harmful or at least not to our best advantage. It was also stated that our prayers for God’s glory and one’s salvation...

tandirection.com