Petition vs. discernment

(Editor's note: Fr. Tanseco's column was run last Sunday with a number of egregious typesetting errors. It is now re-run without any errors. Our apologies.)

Today’s Gospel reading is all about prayer – but what kind of prayer? Many of us spend so much time and energy in prayers of petition, but is this really mature, adult prayer? As one wise anecdote goes: "In your country, it is considered a miracle when God does man’s will. In our country, it is considered a miracle when man does God’s will."

When man does God’s will, instead of arm-twisting God through prayer to do my will. This is the prayer of discernment — the truly mature, adult prayer. In the prayer of petition, I am in control, often through the multiplication of rosaries, novenas, etc. In the prayer of discernment, I let go in faith, listen in the silence of my heart to God’s will – which is the Law of Love and all that it entails — then faithfully carry it out in action.

After all, who is more important – I or God? What a stupid question, you might say. Of course, God is the all-important, all-loving One. Then it follows that what He has to tell me is far more important than what I have to tell Him.

When Mary was told by the angel that as a virgin, she was to conceive a child, what was Mary’s response? Did she petition God to please save her from that unspeakable scandal? Her one, recorded prayer was: "Be it done to me according to your word." (Lk. 1: 38). In the same way, the prayer that we hear from Jesus before the crucifixion was the perfect human prayer. Discerning the coming tragedy of his mortal life, the human Jesus prayed: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will but as you will." (Mt. 26: 39)

Thus, in Luke’s Gospel for today, Jesus teaches us how to pray. "When you pray, say: ‘Father, hollowed be your name, your kingdom come’" (Lk. 11: 2). And Matthew’s longer version adds: "Your will be done on earth as in heaven." (Mt. 6: 10).

The Lord already knows all our needs before we even ask Him. In His own time and in His own way, God who loves us unconditionally will fulfil our needs and lead us to Himself, provided we likewise give our best in loving Him and the neighbor.

The secret is precisely in giving our best — and this is where the prayer of discernment is crucial. The spiritual act of listening to God in the silence of our hearts is easier said than done. As we gradually allow God to be the only absolute in our life, and everything else as relative – we learn to be more and more free to follow His will in our moments of decision-making, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution.

It is in the spirit of all this that we must understand the final passage in today’s Gospel reading. "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; whoever knocks, is admitted." (Lk. 11: 9-10).

As I once pointed out in this column, note that the transitive verbs have no objects. Ask and you shall receive what – exactly what you are asking for? It does not say. Seek and you will find what — exactly what you are looking for? It does not say either. Jesus’ clincher is found in verse 13: "If you with all your sins know how to give your children good things, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

Thus, we can now complete the hanging verbs of verses 9 and 10: "Ask and you shall receive Me; seek and you shall find Me; knock and I will open to you. For whoever asks, receives Me, whoever seeks, finds Me; whoever knocks is admitted by Me."

The Lord is offering to us no less than Himself, his Presence, his Spirit, his providence over us. But very often, we ask for less important things. Prayer of petition.

Prayer of discernment is thus the answer to our journey through life. As individuals. As families. As communities. As a nation.