Why do we ask God for things? Doesn’t he just do what he wants and what is best for us?

It is about this time every year (though this year it began about a month ago) that I start hearing my mother ask for my annual Christmas list. I am a grown man, and a priest no less, but my mother kindly wants the pleasure of getting her children—grown though we are—some nice presents. Unlike God, my mom doesn’t read my mind, and I have to try and scour my own brain for a short list of good gifts.

But God does read our minds, and on top of that he knows what is best for us. Jesus himself said during the Sermon on the Mount, “Your [heavenly] Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt. 6:8). Wouldn’t it follow that, unlike the case with my mother, there would be no need to ask God for anything? He knows what’s best; it’s in his hands. We should just take whatever comes.

Yet if we came to that conclusion, we would be at odds with Jesus’s words elsewhere in that same Sermon on the Mount. “Ask and it will be given to you,” he said, “seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7). A couple of chapters later he said, “Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Matt. 9:38). Maybe God doesn’t need us to tell him what we need, but he still likes to be asked.

But why? We are wrong to think that because God knows all things, prayer doesn’t matter. St. Thomas Aquinas, who seems to have an answer ready for most every theological question, gives us several reasons. He writes, “We pray to God, not in order to make known our needs or desires, but that we ourselves may be reminded of the necessity of having recourse to God's help.” If we followed the logic that prayer doesn’t matter, we might soon find ourselves never praying at all, and our hearts would grow cold toward God. God is far above us in every way, yet he also has an uncanny way of being close to us as well.

Not only is God close to us, he is happy to include us in the good work he is doing. We and the prayers we offer can be foreseen as part of God’s plan. St. Thomas writes, “Divine providence disposes not only what shall take place, but also from what causes and in what order these effects shall proceed.” When God answers a prayer we made to him, he does so having already planned that the blessing he would give would be given as a response to the prayer we would pray!

Finally, this brings us back to the Christmas season and the ultimate gift God has given, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the gift God knew that we needed though we barely wanted it, and most of humanity probably wasn’t asking for it. In fact, most of us if asked would probably say we’re getting along pretty well on our own already. Thanks for the offer, but no savior is needed. Few of us would acknowledge what St. Paul says about himself, “Miserable one that I am!” (Rom. 7:24). The Father sent his Son “while we were still sinners” to save us from ourselves.

Yet even though the Son of God has already come and finished his work, we still have to ask—to pray—that the salvation he offers might be ours. When parents bring their children to the church for baptism, they ask—they pray—during the ceremony for eternal life for their child. A baptized baby receives grace and is promised eternal life, yet the time will come soon when that child will have to start asking God personally to make those graces bear fruit. God wants us to want his gifts, not take them for granted. It is by wanting them that we are prepared to receive them. Again, St. Thomas writes, God “wishes to bestow certain things on us at our asking for the sake of our good, namely, that we may acquire confidence in having recourse to God, and that we may recognize in Him the Author of our goods.”

I might prefer that my mother would be able to guess what would be a good gift, but even if she did, like God, she would likely prefer that her children give her some requests. Both the list given to Mom and the prayers offered to God help us anticipate the blessing given, and by anticipating them, we can appreciate them when they come.
 
Father Haman serves as pastor of Holy Rosary Church in LaMoure, Assumption Church in Dickey, and St. Raphael’s Church in Verona.
 
Editor’s Note: If you have a question about the Catholic faith and would like to submit a question for consideration in a future column, send to news@fargodiocese.org with “Ask a Priest” in the subject line or mail to New Earth, 5201 Bishops Blvd. S, Suite. A, Fargo, ND 58104, Attn: Ask a Priest.