Why do people ask others to “storm heaven with prayers” as if God takes urgent requests first?

As Americans, we live in a pluralistic society, surrounded by people who believe in all kinds of different things. At times, this can enrich our lives, yet it can also have an adverse effect, as in the domain of faith and prayer.

As Catholics in the United States, we may be the largest Christian denomination, but the majority of Americans identify as Protestant Christians. Protestant theology influences not only the secular culture, but Catholic culture as well. For example, we see Protestant spiritual terminology adopted by Catholics, such as “storming heaven with prayers.” What this means is that when you pray, you have to do so in a bold and confident manner and seeing our urgency, God will not turn down our request. In modern lingo, some might say, “Pray big or go home.” Storming a castle in the Middle Ages meant that a king was defeated and forced to submit to the will of his conquerors. So, in like manner, “storming heaven with prayers” suggests that we can force the hand of God and demand that His divine will conform to my will. This is not the nature of Catholic prayer.

When we pray as Catholics, we remember the proper order: God is our Father, we are His children. This means that we believe He knows what is best for us and our salvation and we accept this with humility and faith. We always pray with divine providence in mind, repeating over and over again the words of the Our Father: “Thy will be done.” When we pray, we believe that we are merely asking for blessings that God has waiting for us for all eternity. We can’t change the divine will by “storming heaven with prayers,” but we still need to pray, because if we don’t, then that particular blessing God had waiting for us may never be granted. Blessings in life often do not come to us because, sadly, we never asked for them. We should avoid the mistake of the bitter older son in the parable of the prodigal son. The father’s blessings were always there, but he never asked for them and thus did not receive them. In prayer, God is generous, but waits for generous hearts who pray with trust. In essence, prayer does not change the divine will, but aligns our hearts and minds with the divine will. “Thy will be done” brings peace to the soul, because we rest in the loving arms of God, the best place to be.

Don’t become discouraged when you “stormed heaven” with your prayer intentions and did not receive what you desired. Consider the millions of pilgrims who have gone to the Grotto of Lourdes in France for healing. The Church has officially verified only 70 miracles of healing at Lourdes. Does this mean that the multitudes who prayed there, but did not receive their physical healing, lacked fervor or faith? By no means, but they all went home with the healing of accepting their sufferings as God’s will for their lives. God wants us to bring our petitions to Him and while prayer does not change His mind, it does change us. If prayer makes us recognize our need for God, then our prayer was efficacious. In the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta, “Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself.”

Fr. Benz is pastor at Sacred Heart, Glen Ullin, St. Ann, Hebron, and St. Joseph, Grant County. If you have a question you were afraid to ask, now is the time to ask it! Simply email your question to [email protected] with the “Question Afraid to Ask” in the subject line.