Prayer of Petition: Complex and Easily Distorted
I
There are two fundamental points about the prayer of petition. We start with an awareness of our dependence on God. Second, whatever our petition may be, it must lead to God’s plan for our salvation, the Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospels. As we slip away from these central points, there is a change of focus from God to ourselves. We move gradually into deeper levels of superstition and magic. This is a denial of God and a gross distortion of our faith. It is amazing how flawed Christian prayer fades into the same structure of petition as practiced in witchcraft.
Moving away from a journey of faith and trust, we move toward the magical. We create our own image of God as our personal Divine Manipulator. This is how we become the center, and God is there in heaven at our beck and call. Now, it is not God’s Kingdom but our kingdom that is front and center. Most often our desires are for security and the elimination of anxiety. Usually, our prayer falls into a pattern of seeking some form of prosperity usually defined not by God’s Kingdom but by the norms of our consumer society with its assurance of wealth and comfort. Likewise, much prayer is brought on by a crisis whether personal or communal.
Moving away from a journey of faith and trust, we move toward the magical. We create our own image of God as our personal Divine Manipulator. This is how we become the center, and God is there in heaven at our beck and call. Now, it is not God’s Kingdom but our kingdom that is front and center. Most often our desires are for security and the elimination of anxiety. Usually, our prayer falls into a pattern of seeking some form of prosperity usually defined not by God’s Kingdom but by the norms of our consumer society with its assurance of wealth and comfort. Likewise, much prayer is brought on by a crisis whether personal or communal.
II
The Church’s prayer for a blessing of a car gives an important insight into this complex issue of the integrity of prayer of petition. The prayer of blessing makes three points: safety of those in the vehicle, the responsibility of the driver for the safety of others, and that Christ always be a companion of those in the vehicle.
This call for personal responsibility and accountability is critical to all prayer. God expects us to use the talents and gifts we have received. This task of human effort is spelled out beautifully in what we call the transcendental precepts. We express this human effort in the following guidelines for all authentic human activity:
- Be attentive.
- Be intelligent.
- Be reasonable.
- Be responsible.
- Be loving.
This is our final and complete entry into God’s loving plan. Along the way, everything we pray for needs to be measured in how it helps us achieve this final good that is God’s will for us.
Jesus has much to say about prayer in the Gospels. In Luke, Jesus makes it very clear how to decide about our concerns and God’s concerns. “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Notice the ravens: they do no sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God feeds them. How much more important are you than birds!…Indeed, seek his kingdom, and these other things will be given you besides… for where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Lk 12:22–24, 31, 34).
In all of its complexity, the prayer of petition comes down to this. God is God. We are creatures. This is the basis of our relationship with God. As creatures we are ultimately defined by our mortality resulting from our sinfulness. Our basic petition is for freedom from this bondage. That is God’s plan for us: a freedom and love in this life that opens in the passage through death to life eternal.
God’s Plan and Our Plan
Most often, when people pray, their petition fits into their plan. They want God to respond when their strategy for happiness needs some help. But God also has a plan, and God wants us to respond to the divine plan. Here is the conflict, the two plans: God’s and ours. This is a significant problem with prayer. However, in the end, this difference can be a great source of life in our prayer.I had my first experience of the conflict of the two plans in high school. The loss of a championship football game seemed like the end of the world to me. In fact, it was the beginning of a new and ever-so-more-wonderful world. After the loss of the game, I entered what seemed like an unending funk totally new to my teenage experience. What it was, in reality, was God making space so I could hear his call to enter the seminary, one of the best decisions in my life. It took me many years to understand that the pain and anguish of the loss were a true blessing. Life is always coming from death when we walk with Jesus.
For most people, a good part of their journey as Christians and searching people involves this transition from our plan for happiness to God’s plan for our happiness. We are clear with what we want and what we think we need. Deep personal payer opens up the wonder of the Gospels to let us see life in a new way. This is the transition from our kingdom to God’s Kingdom. In this way, we turn the prayer of petition into a true opportunity rather an obstacle to deep personal prayer.
