Does Prayer Really Make a Difference?

By Frank Weathers

Our Lord, someone once said to me, is only "an awareness away." Recollecting Him often is a means to give thanks when times are good, as well as a means to ask for help when times are trying. Prayer is the means to complete our transformation from being mere babes in Christ to being His actual brothers and sisters and, by extension, true sons and daughters of God. When considered in this regard, prayer makes all the difference in the world.  

Prayer is not simply an exercise in asking for "wish fulfillment." Instead, prayer is a foretaste here on Earth of our eternal union with God in Heaven. It is an ongoing conversation with God, His Son, Our Holy Mother, and all the angels and saints who have gone before us. When we pray, we Catholics have quite an extended family.

Through prayer, we grow in our devotion to God, and following Our Lord's example in Gethsemane, as we grow in faith, we begin to simply ask that His will, and not our own, be done in our lives. We lay our burdens, cares, and concerns, on the Lord, as He asks us to do. Thanks be to God.

 

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Frank Weathers is a Catholic convert, and former Marine; he blogs at Why I Am Catholic and has contributed several pieces to Patheos.com.