26 February 2026 - prayer in practice

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

We know that prayer isn't like magic. It doesn't usually bring results instantaneously to satisfy our whims or to give us that which merely seems good to us in the moment. That is why we often pray without any expectation that our prayers make a difference. We utter brief prayers in moments of desire and then forget about them entirely, only pausing later to confirm our suspicions that they were ineffective after all. 

Actual prayer that brings results seems to require that we invest something of ourselves into it. As with the widow who kept returning to the unjust judge until her demands were met we must persevere if we wish to receive what we ask. This isn't because there is any special power in our will that we have to build up sufficiently, or anything like that. It is rather because God uses prayer, not only to bless others, but to enlarge our own hearts. As with the leper who was brought before Jesus for healing but was first given the forgiveness of his sins we must be open to have our desires refined from those lesser things to those that God knows will conduce to our good. We may seek healing, when God first wants to offer us spiritual healing. We may ask for a loaf of bread or a fish. But God may respond by offering us more of his Holy Spirit. Though it is often the case that once we are willing to receive higher things from him it becomes safer for him to also give us lesser things as well, knowing that we won't turn them into idols.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, everyone who asks consistently, with faith, for matters necessary for salvation always receive from God. Why, then do we mistrust prayer? Why do we treat it like a lottery which we may only win if infinitesimally small odds happen to favor us? In part, no doubt, it is because we ask for things that aren't' ultimately part of the plan, and are not open to the better things God has for us instead. No doubt it is also because we are too quick to give up when the results are not immediate. But the reason that underlies both of these defects in our prayers is often our image of God. We do make him out to be an unjust judge, or someone just as likely to give us a stone or a snake as to give us fish or bread. We will pray better, and be more likely to receive answers, when we remember that God is a Father who desires to give us good things, more so even than our own parents desire for us.

Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law and the prophets.

This golden rule is a separate point of the Sermon on the Mount. Yet it is connected to the principle of prayer. God does not give us anything whatsoever we ask of him. But rather he empowers us to love himself and others according to his divine wisdom. In a lesser but analogous way, we are not called to give others everything they want, but rather, the things we know will enable them to grow and to flourish. We know what these are particularly since we ourselves need the same things. It is true that God doesn't need anything from us. But he helps us act toward himself and his creatures in a way that makes us all grow and flourish together. He really is a good Father who desires to see his children thrive. So let's not give up after momentary disappointment. Instead, may we continue to seek him with all of our hearts.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart (see Jeremiah 29:13).

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