Praying Like Pagans

“I’ve started a novena so that God will make her knee better…” I explained to my eldest son this weekend.  We were discussing the things and prayers we were offering to God for the health of his little sister.

We were going about it all wrong.

This Sunday at Mass, the priest said in his homily, “If you are fasting so that God will do something for you, you might as well be sacrificing bulls to Jupiter.  You, my friend, are praying like a pagan.”

There is no quid pro quo.  There is no magic formula.  If I do “X” it doesn’t mean that God will do “Y”.  Who exactly do I think is in charge here?  Me?  No way.

There are no deals with God. It doesn’t work that way, and shame on us for trying to buy her good health.  We have been praying like pagans.  We need to begin again.

The purpose of fasting is not to win favors from God.  It is to show God that we place nothing above Him in terms of importance, neither food nor physical comfort, not time or self-interest.  It is an act of worship precisely because it requires us to give of ourselves.  It calls us out of ourselves and away from our own selfishness. Fasting is, at its heart, an act of trust.  We must trust God to provide for us that which we are not providing for ourselves.  It is a gift of love, trust and humility.

So, too, prayer should not be simply a means of begging.  How tired I get of my children who follow me during the day constantly begging me to let them do as the wish or have whatever they want.  If I get so tired of the steady stream of nagging, how much more tiresome it must be for God.  After all, I have a history of forgetting things my own children ask about (like time on the computer or an extra cookie.)  God, however, has never forgotten me.  Why do I feel the need to constantly remind Him of the things that I need?

I have only to look at the examples within my own home.  It is not the nagging child who pleases me, but the one who shows his love for me by doing what I have asked of him.  Yet here I am, child of God, haranguing my Father for the things I have already requested a thousand times.

God is a parent who doesn’t make deals.  There is no trade off of novenas or fasting in exchange for boons.  (I get it.  It’s the way which we parent in our own home.) I need to stop bartering for blessings.  I must stop praying like a pagan and only remember that I am His beloved daughter, and that He is all goodness and mercy.  I need only to trust in Him, tell Him of my needs and then get back to the business of being obedient.  He will give to me all that we need in His time.

Whether she recovers or not is in His hands.  No deals.  No bargaining.  Just trust.

P.S.   It’s not the asking, it’s the “I’ll do this so….” and the “I’ll do this if…” Just making sure I’m clear.