Why Do We Pray?

“Seek my face..”. the face of another person is just that: an-other. I know the other person is real because they can walk off, or not answer my phone call, or arrive at my door unexpectedly. They aren’t a projection of my imagination.
In prayer I seek God as S/he is. God can’t be summoned as I wish. I am the one who is summoned. And so I try to find my right relationship to God in prayer. I search for a real encounter, a being-before a non imaginary God. Usually I look in the deepest silence of myself, knowing that God is my deepest ground, and sustains my existence and will help me grow ever more into my fullest self.
But mostly in prayer I look to God for healing.

Thanks Becky for this profound question, why do we pray?. I tend to find meaning in what Mahatma Gandhi used to say: “When every hope is gone, ‘when helpers fail and comforts flee,’ I find that help arrives somehow, from I know not where. Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.”

Dear Becky, Thank you for your very obviously thought provoking Questions(?) So many responses , all so interesting and refreshing, there is nothing left for me to say, except Thank you and God Bless to ALL you and respondents. A.M.D.G.

St Teresa of the Cross believed ‘prayer is the highest achievement of which the human person is capable.’ From Richard Leonard SJ these words ‘prayer asks an unchanging God to change us to change the world.’ Both wonderful definitions. When I pray I experience a calmness, a place of solitude where I feel welcome. I have to be mindful that I allow time for prayer.

I never use to pray. I stopped. I listened to rock and roll; Hollywood and I drank. These were the tools I used for support and guidance. They didn’t work. They led me astray. There was and is a voice I am privy to which I have opened up and now I listen to. It is remarkable. It is my conscience. My spiritual guide. So I pray to hear it and I pray for the strength to carry it out. Discern is a great word for this exercise and I pray with gratitude for what’s in my life and how God has blessed me. Many of these blessings went and still go unnoticed. I need to focus on God’s gifts. I never did before. Help me Lord.

Whenever I pray, I hold the image of the art of Peter Clare of Jesus and the little children. In this picture, Jesus has a little girl on his lap. To me I am that little child aged 61. I sit in prayer for my Father to show me his great love for me, to be held so I can feel safe and secure, to be comforted, to tell him my struggles and ……….knowing He understands, is compassionate towards me and is with me in my life.

Becky, thank you. Your post moved me to reflect:

Believing in Ignatius’ view as I do:
That God is in all things,
most often inspires my thinking
that God is “out there” in the world
around me BUT your post this morning:
Invites the stunning realization
That God is within ALL of ME.

So often I easily accept that God
Is in the world around me
But then I can’t find or experience
The revelation that God
Is in me in so many ways

In my deep yearning to love
And be loved
In my acceptance of the Goodness
And Peace that resides in me
In my intellectual and spiritual searching

In my need for so many gifts when:
I am lonely, in pain, happy, confused,
Joyful, peaceful,
In my perception of others
In my acceptance of others
In my helpfulness of others
In my acceptance of others help
In my failures and in my successes
In my weakness and in my strength

Accepting this truth is overwhelming
My prayer is that I do not become
overwhelmed
but rather
that I accept the Grace
of the Holy Spirit
Amen

“God wants us to acknowledge our dependence on God” – last Monday my husband and I were involved in a serious intersection collision. We, in our two door compact, were hit by a large SUV, pushed, spun, car wrecked. Fifteen inches closer to the driver’s side door and my husband would have been killed. As it was, we walked away with minor injuries.
EMS and ER docs said we were “very lucky”, I said we were “blessed, the Hand of God was upon us”. Afterwards all we could do was pray THANK YOU, over and over.
We realized that not only were we saved, but we were and are entirely dependent on God and not much else matters to the same degree.

existentially we human beings are not just for this world. And somehow we know that there is an existence far greater than us that we need. Even non-Christians believe in a greater being. As for me, Personally this relationship exists anywhere with God, it maybe when we are happy, sad, grieving etc…the need for formal prayer, times of silence and contemplation but same time no matter how busy I am I know that I connect with God in prayer whatever I do. I need God more than He/she may need me I think

One reason we do/should pray is because God commands it in His Word, so it becomes a matter of obedience.
More experientially and personally, though, I need to pray to “re-tune to the right station” in my mind and heart. The world and my responsibilities in it distract me and I lose my footing; I need a frequent rest and reset.
I think that when I pray, God stirs good things within me, and so then I can be and do more as He wishes me to. I remember that I am *His* girl, and I reflect Him more, both to myself and to those He places around me.

The difference between an acquaintance and a close friend is what you say to each other. I want God to be close to me. Like the others that posted before me, I need to pray. I believe God wants to hear from me because He too wants to be my close confidant.
m.

Think your three reasons are also mine.
And,I pray because God keeps drawing me and I cannot resist.
Advent blessings to all, Suzanne

I believe we pray by way of the grace of the gifts of faith, hope, trust and peace that our loving God bestows on us and for me it does ‘surpass all understanding’ and yet maybe not….mystery!

I’m also a person who can’t help myself when it comes to prayer. I talk to God all the time about all sorts of things – just like I talk to friends. God’s love continues to overwhelm me every day and I just want to thank God and involve God in all of my life. I don’t know why God would want me to pray other than God loves creation so much and wants that relationship. I’m with Michelle and although my children are older, I feel so very good when they call or especially when my grandchildren run to me in their excitement to see me and shout out, “Nana! Nana!” I believe that is how God wants us to come – with wild excitement.

Maybe for me the question is how can I not pray. I am with CS Lewis: “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time- waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God- it changes me.”
But as to why God wants me to pray, to me it comes down to the desire of the One who loves us to hear our voices. I keep thinking of how I feel when my oldest’s face pops up on Skype and I hear him say “Hi, Mom!”

God certainly doesn’t need the ego fluffing of hearing himself praised. We pray because WE need to understand our status under him. WE need to embrace our dependence on our Father. Our brain believes what we tell it (which is how positive (or negative) reinforcement works and why we have to be careful what we read and what we watch on videos and TV). When we pray we hear our words and our mind believes assimilates that and by default reinforces that praying, that dependence on God.
Prayer is the champagne of the soul.