A friend recently asked me, “How can I know that God answers my prayers? If I ask Him to heal someone who is sick, and it doesn’t happen, does that mean He didn’t answer? And if the person gets better, how do I know it was because of prayer? I don’t know how to pray.”
We must begin by recognizing God’s presence in every circumstance, every breath, every struggle or recovery. As people of faith and as our faith grows stronger, we realize that prayer must be more than merely asking God to grant our desires. It’s an inner dialogue that is ever-present with every beat of our hearts. Prayer is a relationship that moves us to listen, respond, and desire God’s will above our own.
Part of resolving this dilemma is to rest in the mysteries of life. Not everything can or must be explained, so it’s important for us to recognize our human limitations with humility, while always lifting our eyes, hearts, and hands heavenward.
Trusting that God answers our prayers, whether they’re desired outcomes or not, is sometimes an extraordinary act of faith. We must resign ourselves to the good and the bad, knowing that all will pass in time. Loving God for His own sake requires a deep level of resolve on our part. When we move from loving God, because He grants us favors and consolations to loving Him when He chooses to remain silent, our faith moves from a petulant to mature spiritual depth.
How we pray is up to our openness to the Holy Spirit. The beauty of Catholicism is that we have access to countless types of and ways to pray. Rote, memorized prayers, such as the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, are often a comfort when we are depleted of strength and cannot muster a creative, spontaneous prayer of our own. At times, the “Spirit intercedes with groanings” on our behalf, especially when we are weary. At other times, the Holy Spirit may move us to a heartfelt stream of thoughts or words that reflect our gratitude, praise, and even lamentations to God.
Prayer is a conscious, intellectual act of the will, but it can also be quite passive. Passive prayer exists in our constant awareness of God’s presence in and around us. Even as we go about our daily routines, we may be moved to thoughts of God, which then nudge our hearts. Eventually, it becomes natural for us to move fluidly from passive to active prayer several times throughout the day. The point is that our hearts are always focused on God, remaining vigilant and steadfast in times of trial, always grateful and ever eager to serve when God calls upon us.
When we doubt how or whether God answers our prayers, we doubt Him. Our faith in God wavers. We don’t have to know the details of how God chooses to act in and through our intercession; we are merely asked to believe that He does. Often, God answers prayers in very clandestine ways, perhaps to annihilate our pride and thus increase the virtue of humility in us.
While it may be natural to become skeptical of answered prayer from time to time, we must never remain in a place of questioning for too long. The key to obtaining great faith is fidelity to the Lord. In other words, there are seasons of life that require us to simply be obedient to God and fulfill our role as Christians, even and especially when God appears to be silent.
We can glean much from recognizing God’s silence, as well as the thunderous ways He sometimes chooses to reveal Himself. More often than not, He chooses the hidden path so that we may seek Him wholeheartedly. “I sought Him whom my heart loves. I sought Him but could not find Him” (Song of Songs 3:1). The jealousy of God isn’t so much about envy, but rather it is about His desire to belong to us completely, without any other distractions or gods replacing Him. In order for that to happen, we must be empty of self, which includes most especially our pride, because our emptiness provides a vast space within us that God can then fill with Himself.
Do not be duped when God chooses to remain silent, whether it is after you have offered a desperate supplication to Him that appears to have gone unheeded or you do not feel His presence or hear His voice. His silence is not an indication of His absence. Rather, it is an invitation for you to delve more deeply into the recesses of your heart and soul to find Him there. If you doubt this, meditate on the mystery of the Eucharist and how Jesus chose to hide Himself in a tiny piece of unleavened bread.
Throughout your life, it is crucial to remain close to God through daily conversation in prayer and in frequent reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist. Believe, dear soul, that He is near you in times of spiritual aridity, in times of darkness and intense interior strife. He is nearer to you when He sleeps in you, because He rests where you have provided a place for Him – a place of refuge and respite.
Not every soul is as generous, and Jesus doesn’t choose to sleep in every soul. But if He has chosen yours as a place to enjoy solitude and rest, allow Him all the time He desires. This is your offering of love for the sake of love rather than gain. In this way, you please Him and you will eventually find Him whom your heart loves. When you do, you will not let Him go (Song of Songs 3:4).
So when the matter of whether God answers prayer, the answer is a resounding yes. He answers every prayer, but you may or may not be privy to how He chooses to do so. Often the most powerful answers to prayer are as hidden as the Sacred Host, hidden in the sense that the one offering prayer does not see what has happened, yet great transformation has occurred within a formerly lukewarm soul. Do not doubt the power of spiritual change, for it is far greater than physical healing. Therefore, do not concern yourself with how, when, or whether God responds to your pleas. Instead, stand firmly rooted in prayer. If you are faithful to God, His fidelity will be yours forever.
