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Can Prayer and Free Will Co-exist?

Written by

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur

in

Does prayer interfere with the gift of free will?

This question was posed by a very intelligent self-described non-religious person. He was trying to sort out how prayer would work. If one prayed to God to intervene in human affairs, God would then have to force a person to act and that person would no longer have true freedom. It is a very interesting question and one worth pondering. What exactly is the relationship between prayer and free will?

We do believe that God has given us free will. It is, in fact, our greatest gift. It is what sets us apart from the rest of creation. God, had He willed it, could have created us without this gift. We could have been programmed to do only what was right and good and true and have lived forever in the Garden of Eden enjoying our paradise. Instead, God wanted us to have the freedom to choose. He didn't want us to love and serve Him because we were forced to, but rather because we chose to. He gave us intellect and understanding and the ability to use them. He gave us the gift even though He knew (given His omniscience) that humanity would make some very bad choices. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that "by free will one shapes one's own life" (1731).

So, then, we certainly do have the ability to choose between good and evil, as well as to make many choices a day that have no great moral significance. Where, however, does our true freedom lie? If we accept that God is an intelligent being (the most intelligent being) who has a plan for His creation, our true freedom lies in following that plan. It is in aligning our will with His that we achieve the greatest happiness and the greatest purpose in life. "The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to 'the slavery of sin'" (CCC 1733).

In the "Our Father," we pray "Thy will be done." This is the only prayer of petition guaranteed to be answered. God knows what we need and what is good for us. We may pray with great fervor for something that we truly believe to be good for us — for example, for a loved one to get well, or for the gift of a spouse or a child — and yet, God may have other plans. Think of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane — "Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it" (Mk 14:36). There is a mystery to prayer and a mystery to the ways of God. Yet, prayer helps us align our wills with God's and helps us to accept what does happen even when we do not understand the reason why. "Our Father knows what we need before we ask him, but he awaits our petitions because the dignity of his children lies in their freedom. We must pray, then, with his Spirit of freedom, to be able truly to know what he wants" (CCC 2736).

Yet, there are certainly times when prayers are answered the way we hope. God does intervene in history and often uses people as his tools to do it. Does this somehow encroach on that person's free will? For example, think of a doctor performing surgery. He is there with the purpose of healing the person. In his mind are all his years of education and practice. If God helps guide his hands or allows him to remember a bit of medical knowledge tucked away in the deep recesses of his brain which allows him to save the person, has He interfered with the doctor's free will? The answer is "no." The doctor had already made the choice to heal. God simply helped him do it better.

Even when the interference is perhaps more direct — for example, urging a person to intervene in a situation that the person might have otherwise ignored — that person still needs to make a choice to obey the urge. The person still has free will. Every decision we make is influenced. We are a product of our upbringing, our education, our exposure to the media, etc. All these forces come to bear on any decision we make, whether we realize it or not. God, also can (and should) influence our decisions for the greater good. So, yes, we have free will, but that will is ultimately free only when it chooses as God would want us to choose. Prayer brings our free will, and can help to bring other's free will into alignment with God's will.

Comments

  1. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Great article, Patrice!

  2. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    I am quite sure that I missed the whole point of this article.

    Just because a smart agnostic (or whatever he or she is) asks the question does not raise the question to a level of validity. It would be like a child asking why God did not make the sun blue.

    Is not this a pointless article because Holy Mother Church clearly teaches us that we have both Free Will and Prayer? Did not our Lord God teach us how to pray?

    Call me obtuse, sorry.

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    Guest

    I think that we can always use reminders and clarifications of what it means to pray in the context of free will vs God's will.

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    I'd say the point of it is to ensure we have an answer for the question.  I'm intelligent, and a former agnostic, and have believed that free will is a good thing all my life.  Though I never got around to asking this particular question myself, I understand the mindset from which it arises.  

    And given the amount of heresy that has arisen out of misunderstandings regarding free will and predestination, I would say it's appropriate to treat all questions on those subjects seriously. 

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    This is excellent for our Lenten reflections because what so many of us really want is to be "in charge" and to know that having free will means we get the things we want, even if it is just obtaining the knowledge that we are "in charge."  Why else would we be so bothered by the whole free will/God knows everything question?  Shouldn't we, like Job, figure we serve a God who knows best?  And honor Him as such?

    There is currently an internet article about Joel Osteen, one of those incredibly popular "Claim it and it is yours, God wants us all to be mega-rich (or at least He wants me – Joel- to be mega rich)" preachers.  His popularity stems from his message that through prayer everyone can certainly attain all the goods God intends for us to have.

    There is no room in our secular world for us Catholics who are being called to understand that free will, this great gift of God, is simply given so that using it we conform to His will which may or may not be one of great health and wealth. I'm not saying I embrace all my crosses with enthusiasm, because I do not, but I do believe that as Catholics we should be setting the standard for what it means to have and use free will.  We have it to honor God and we ought to be doing everything we can to that end, which would include praying that we discern His will and are recipients of His mercy and peace.

    http://www.BezalelBooks.com

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    This is a solid defense of a Catholic doctrine.  If someone questions why we believe in, for example, the Atonement ("How could Jesus die for the sins of others?") and our only defense of the doctrine is, "How dare you question a teaching of the Catholic Church," we aren't going to get very far. There is nothng invalid about this question of free will and prayer — great saints and doctors of the Church, like Augustine, would not have spent time pondering and writing on these issues if they were "invalid."

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    In a discussion with a Lutheran friend one evening, he took exception that I would have the audacity to believe in "free will".  He tied it somehow to "works salvation".  Go figure. 

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    Guest

    Right on! If God knows everything, even before we pray, why pray? I've heard that one before from the mouths of babes and it's a thinking question that requires a straight answer. What would you say to a 12 year old asking that one? or a 21 year old? Not just a "check the catechsim" although that's definitely appropriate especially if there's one sitting on the classroom shelf or in the library at school or at home….Always be ready to explain the hope…per St. Peter.

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