{"id":527,"date":"2012-02-27T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2012\/02\/praying-like-pagans.html"},"modified":"2014-08-22T15:49:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T20:49:07","slug":"praying-like-pagans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2012\/02\/praying-like-pagans.html","title":{"rendered":"Praying Like Pagans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cI\u2019ve started a novena so that God will make her knee better\u2026\u201d I explained to my eldest son this weekend.\u00a0 We were discussing the things and prayers we were offering to God for the health of his little sister.<\/p>\n

We were going about it all wrong.<\/p>\n

This Sunday at Mass, the priest said in his homily, \u201cIf you are fasting so that God will do something for you, you might as well be sacrificing bulls to Jupiter.\u00a0 You, my friend, are praying like a pagan.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is no quid pro quo.\u00a0 There is no magic formula.\u00a0 If I do \u201cX\u201d it doesn\u2019t mean that God will do \u201cY\u201d.\u00a0 Who exactly do I think is in charge here?\u00a0 Me?\u00a0 No way.<\/p>\n

There are no deals with God. It doesn\u2019t work that way, and shame on us for trying to buy her good health.\u00a0 We have been praying like pagans.\u00a0 We need to begin again.<\/p>\n

The purpose of fasting is not to win favors from God.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It is an act of worship precisely because it requires us to give of ourselves.\u00a0 It calls us out of ourselves and away from our own selfishness. Fasting is, at its heart, an act of trust.\u00a0 We must trust God to provide for us that which we are not providing for ourselves.\u00a0 It is a gift of love, trust and humility.<\/p>\n

So, too, prayer should not be simply a means of begging.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 If I get so tired of the steady stream of nagging, how much more tiresome it must be for God.\u00a0 After all, I have a history of forgetting things my own children ask about (like time on the computer or an extra cookie.)\u00a0 God, however, has never forgotten me.\u00a0 Why do I feel the need to constantly remind Him of the things that I need?<\/p>\n

I have only to look at the examples within my own home.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Yet here I am, child of God, haranguing my Father for the things I have already requested a thousand times. <\/p>\n

God is a parent who doesn\u2019t make deals.\u00a0 There is no trade off of novenas or fasting in exchange for boons.\u00a0 (I get it.\u00a0 It\u2019s the way which we<\/i> parent in our own home.) I need to stop bartering for blessings.\u00a0 I must stop praying like a pagan and only remember that I am His beloved daughter, and that He is all goodness and mercy.\u00a0 I need only to trust in Him, tell Him of my needs and then get back to the business of being obedient.\u00a0 He will give to me all that we need in His<\/i> time.<\/p>\n

Whether she recovers or not is in His hands.\u00a0 No deals.\u00a0 No bargaining.\u00a0 Just trust.<\/p>\n

P.S. \u00a0 It\u2019s not the asking, it\u2019s the \u201cI\u2019ll do this so\u2026.\u201d and the \u201cI\u2019ll do this if\u2026\u201d Just making sure I\u2019m clear.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ve started a novena so that God will make her knee better\u2026\u201d I explained to my eldest son this weekend.\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPraying Like Pagans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""I've started a novena so that God will make her knee better..." 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