Sixth in a series
A habit that some Catholics have is asking friends to pray for them or for a loved one or for some special intention. It’s a wonderful habit. I think that practice reveals strong faith in the power of prayer. It reveals the belief that prayer can make a difference in people’s lives. I believe it can make a difference in the life of the person for whom the prayer is being said, and also in the life of the person offering the prayer. Even asking people to pray reveals an awareness that ultimately all of us are in the hands of God.
In his book, “Gabriel Marcel” (South Bend, Ind., Regnery/Gateway, Inc.), Seymour Cain comments on a number of insights into the mystery of prayer that Marcel has incorporated into his philosophy. One of the most important is Cain’s explanation of Marcel’s view of intercessory prayer. I wonder if some of us have narrow – and perhaps even erroneous – views of our relationship with God when we ask God for some favor. Commenting on Marcel’s insights into prayer, Cain writes:
“Like any I-Thou relation, prayer is not verifiable from the outside, by a detached third party. It is also not verifiable as to its ‘efficacy’ by the person who prays. Marcel insists that the divine response cannot be tested by definite criteria or treated as a causal process. Given the assumed relation, no such question can possibly occur. My prayer is always addressed to that infinite being who is the absolute Thou for me, who cannot fail to hear and understand and respond to my prayer. In this sense, no truly addressed prayer can fail to be efficacious, though not always in an obvious way. Once I inquire about God’s attitude and response toward my prayer, I step outside of the I-Thou relation and transform my prayer into an object, into a not-prayer.” (p. 43)
Occasionally, I have heard Catholics say something like: “I prayed but God did not hear my prayer.” Of course, that is impossible. There are no prayers that are not heard by God. I have also heard Catholics say: “I prayed, but my prayer was not answered.” That too is impossible. It is possible for me not to respond to a request, but it is impossible for God to not answer prayers. If someone asked me to do a favor, of course I may not respond. But because God is Infinite Love, God will always respond.
I have even heard Catholics say that God responded to their prayer and the answer was “No.” That also is impossible. God cannot say no to us when we pray. In relation to us, God is Love. A parent can say no to a child, but God cannot say no to us.
Not all prayers are answered the way we wish them to be. I don’t know why that is, but I believe prayers are always answered. In fact, I believe that they are answered better than we hoped. I realize that we often cannot point to evidence of that, but nevertheless, I believe it is true, because whatever we were praying for was some kind of finite imitation or image of God. In praying we received not the imitation or image, but God!
It is important to remember that God has made a commitment to us. That commitment initiates and influences all our acts in relation to God. Though we are free, we do depend on God. Cain writes:
“The utter dependence implied in prayer is not a matter of surrender to overwhelming external force or fatalistic acceptance of an inevitable abstract order. It is a free and spontaneous affirmation within a mutual I-thou relation – “Thy will be done” – not conformity with an impersonal law or order. Above all, it is not a passive surrender to divine ‘predestination’…” (pp. 42-43)
The philosophy of personalism emphasizes the importance of freedom. Among the many gifts God has bestowed on human persons, freedom is one of the greatest. Without it, we could not love. With it, we can even choose to go against our Creator. Human existence is an adventure and a drama precisely because we are free. I cannot imagine a determinist writing a great novel. Everything in the plot would be determined, so there would be no room for freedom or genuine love. Because of freedom, the human journey can be both dangerous and wonderful. Because of God’s freedom and our own, the human adventure, at its best, can become a love story.
Father Lauder is a philosophy professor at St. John’s University, Jamaica, and author of “Pope Francis’ Profound Personalism and Poverty” (Resurrection Press).