Dominica V post Pascha - Why God Doesn't Answer

PRESENTATION: A promise unfulfilled?

As we continue making our way through Our Lord’s farewell discourse to His apostles, he makes a very clear promise to them, alluding also to His Divinity, and the new state He will take up after His Ascension.

Douay-Rheims Bible Chapter 16

23 And in that day you shall not ask me any thing. Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you.

24 Hitherto, you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full.

Mark His words, “if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you.” If we ask for anything, in Christ’s name, the Father will give it to us. That is the promise that Christ made to His disciples then, and makes with us now. So why is it, that so often our prayers seem to go unanswered?

I’m sure we’ve all heard the saintly wisdom that has been repeated so often in these situations that it has become platitudinous. We often hear “If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better gift”, wisdom that actually comes from St. Augustine. We may also hear the words of St. John Damascene who says that, “sometimes, when we do not obtain the graces which we ask, we receive, by not receiving them; because it is better for us not to receive than to receive them.” In other words, we’re asking for something that is harmful to us, spiritually, morally, or physically.

While these are often true, there may be another cause to God’s silence, and that is a defect in us, the petitioner, the ‘pray-er’. The Scriptures offer numerous possible reasons that God may reject someone’s prayers, I’ll be focussing on five of those.

EXPLANATION: Attitudes that hinder our prayer

When God does not seem to answer our prayers, we might start by looking inward, to see what faults and failings on our own part might be hindering God’s gracious response.

The first and most obvious blockage is sin. The prophet Isaiah says, “But your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he should not hear.” This should be fairly apparent to most Catholics, that if we are in a state of mortal sin, then we have cut ourselves off from God, and clearly, God will not answer our prayers if we have created such a divide.

The second reason that may block God’s gracious response to our prayers is disobedience. Turning to the Prophet Zechariah, we hear, “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear’, says the LORD of hosts”. Now we might wonder how this differs from sin, after all, isn’t sin disobedience to God’s commands? This is true, but there are many ways we can be disobedient to God without rising to the level of mortal sin, even venial sins disobey God, but there is one thing that always marks an act of disobedience, whatever it may be, pride. If we act with pride towards God, He will surely reject us.

The third item on our list is selfishness. St. James tells us, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” In other words, if we are praying for something wholely self-interested, something that will just serve to build up our own ego, or satisfy our own base passions, then we can almost guarantee that God will not grant it to us.

Fourth on our list is injustice. Again the Prophet Isaiah says, “When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” God doesn’t just look at us, whether we are sinful, disobedient, or selfish, but looks to how we treat those around us. If we treat others with loathing and contempt, then our prayers before God will not be heard.

Finally, on our list we have a lack of faith. Once again, St. James provides us with insight, “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.” Do I really have faith and trust in God, do I rely on His grace in all things or am I skeptical, do I have difficulty trusting, do I do everything myself without recourse to God?

This is obviously not an exhaustive list, but is a good start to examining reasons in ourselves why our prayers may not be answered as we would like.

IMPLICATION: Attitudes pleasing to God

Thankfully, that is not the end of the discussion. Beyond simply examining ourselves for attitudes that could hinder our prayer, the scriptures also provide us with attitudes we can adopt that will make our prayer more pleasing to God.

The first and most obvious of these is humility. We can find any number of passages where God is pleased with the humble supplicant, the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, the repentance of King David, the prayer of the Centurion that we echo at every Mass, and perhaps it’s most elegantly put in the 50th (or 51st) Psalm:

Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition Chapter 51

For you take no delight in sacrifice;

were I to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.

17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Secondly, an antidote to disobedience, is naturally, obedience. St. John tells us, “Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God. And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of him: because we keep his commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight.” Just as Christ offered a pleasing sacrifice to the Father by His obedience, so our prayer becomes more pleasing to God if we turn away from the sin of Old Adam, and imitate the obedience of the New Adam.

Third, as an antidote to injustice, we have the attitude of righteousness. As the Book of Proverbs tells us, “The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” This is simply a biblical term that means just. If we treat others in a just and righteous manner, then God will respond to us in kind.

Fourth, is to pray with single-mindedness and perseverance. We only need to recall Our Lord’s parable about the widow and the unjust judge to know that perseverance leads to effective prayer. Our Lord Himself says, “[W]ill not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily.” St. Paul also exhorts us to “Pray without ceasing.” What does perseverance look like? Just think of the St. Monica praying for St. Augustine for 17 years, or the Israelites in Babylon praying for release for 70 years, or in Egypt praying for a deliverer for 430 years. Perseverance doesn’t mean praying for a few weeks or even months and expecting a result, it means praying for as long as it takes.

Finally, as a remedy to lack of faith, we (quite obviously) have faith. Just think of how many times Our Lord told someone whom He healed that it was their faith that made them well, recall the faith of the Centurion, or the Canaanite woman, and of course, the words of our Gospel today, “Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you.”

Our Lord made that promise to His disciples the night before His death on the Cross, His last testament to them before His glorious resurrection. If we find that our prayers seem to be going unanswered, then we should make a humble self-examination for anything that might be hindering our prayer, and seek to adopt those attitudes that will make our prayer truly pleasing to God.