Praying for our Needs
Paul writes – I came across this in my reading recently. It challenged and pushed against some of my misunderstandings about prayer that have grown since my youngest days. I was reminded of this in a recent conversation. Somehow we think that the kind of prayer described below is something that we grow out of, as though there are “levels” of prayer that we pass through as we “grow-up”. Sure, there ARE many different ways of praying; different prayer practices, BUT I think McCabe (below) is reminding us that we’re never not a child of God, and so there’s nothing “childish” about asking for what we need.
…prayer is good for us first of all because in prayer … we understand more deeply that we are children of God and that he is our loving Father. And there is nothing selfish about … [asking for what we want and need]. It’s normal human behaviour. What would you think of a child who never asked her parents for anything? What would her parents think of her? Would they think her to be unselfish?
When you pray, consider what you want and need and never mind how vulgar or childish it might appear. If you want very much to pass that exam or get to know that boy or girl better, that is what you should pray for… When you pray you must come before God as honestly as you can. There is no point pretending to him. One of the great human values of prayer is that you face the facts about yourself and admit to what you want; and you know you can talk about this to God because he is totally loving and accepting [though many struggle with images of God where God is neither of these things!]. In true prayer you must meet God and meet yourself where you really are. For prayer is a bit of a risk. If you pray and acknowledge your most infantile desires, there is every danger that you may grow up a bit, that God will grow you up. When (as honestly as you can) you speak to God of your desires, very gently and tactfully he will often reveal to you that in fact you have deeper and more mature desires. But there is only one way to find this out: to start from where you are…
Prayer is the way in which our Father in heaven leads each of us by different paths to be … with him.
[Also we need to understand that] there is no such thing as unanswered prayer (if it is real prayer, and not just going through the motions. Either God will give you what you ask, and this is extremely common; or else he will reckon that you are ready now to receive more than you asked. To you at the time, and especially to an outside observer, it may look as though your prayer has not been answered. But, as you will recognise some time later, God has been getting you to understand that your deeper desire was for more than you asked for. If you let this continue he will gradually lead you to realizing that what you really do want above all things is himself…”[1]
[1] Herbert McCabe OP, God, Christ and Us edited by Brian Davies OP, London: Continuum, 2005. pp105-106.
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