Typically, I don’t take requests regarding the subject matter of my homilies; this is because the Lectionary sets the agenda for preaching at Liturgy.  This Sunday it happened, however, that the Scripture readings provide a response to a request I received recently. 

The request was for a homily responding to the question, “Why doesn’t God answer all my prayers?”  My usual response to this question is to say that God answers all prayers.  Upon further reflection, however, I think I should widen the scope of the response and say that all the various gods and goddesses, including the One, True God answer all prayers directed to them.  I’ll explain this response by providing three examples. 

1.) When one prays to gods such as money, fame, success, happiness, personal liberty, power, possessions, or any other false god, the false god to whom one prays, always responds with the sort of response appropriate to a false god.  The “false gods” on my list are, arguably, good things, but they are finite.  As finite, created things, false gods can only provide finite, created responses to prayer.  As those responses are finite and created, they cause predictable disappointment and despair.  As it is with effort, limited prayer always gets limited results.  Furthermore, limited results are never satisfying and, consequently, they feel like one’s prayers remain unanswered. 

2.) As distinct from those who pray to false gods, some people imagine they are praying to the One, True God when they pray for limited, created, or finite results.  These prayers receive the same limited answer received by those who pray in the first example above.  This kind of self-defeating prayer results from viewing eternal things such as truth, beauty, and goodness as commodities limited in scope or availability.  Religion that is practiced for the purpose of obtaining particular created results often degenerates into superstition.   

Saying prayers, doing devotional acts, doing penances can become something like down-payments or bribes intended to coerce a particular outcome from God.  The dishonesty of coercion as a mode of prayer, coupled with the finite scope of one’s desires leads ineluctably to the experience of thinking one’s prayers are unanswered. 

3.) There is, of course, the universally available possibility of authentic prayer directed to the One, True God.  This prayer, like all others, is always answered, but it is answered in an entirely different fashion from examples one and two above.   

God’s single desire is to lead all people to repentance, reform, and sanctification in order that all can begin to experience in this life the eternal redemption promised to the faithful.  God answers every prayer, and the answer is always the same; the answer always consists of what leads one to greater repentance and holiness.  Although the experience of receiving an answer to one’s prayers always entails some created experience of God’s presence, it doesn’t, however, always afford one the created experiences one desires. 

There are two equally valid ways of interpreting the fact that we do not always receive every created thing we ask for in prayer; choose the one that makes more sense to you.  First, one can say that God knows our needs in a way that exceeds infinitely our own capacity to know our needs; based on Divine knowledge, then, God chooses, in God’s mercy, to grant us what we truly need rather than all we truly desire.  Second, alternatively, one can say that, as we live in a finite universe, there is no evidence to support the expectation of perfect happiness, fulfillment, or satisfaction in this life.  For the faithful, the imperfect satisfaction that all people experience in this life is a very poignant reminder of where we are to place our faith and hope, namely, in the Eternal.  As Augustine wrote, our hearts are restless until they rest in God.  Therefore, we cannot be surprised that we remain somewhat restless throughout this life. 

This Sunday’s Gospel reading narrates a day in Jesus’ preaching ministry in the towns and villages surrounding Capernaum.  The Gospel says about Jesus, “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt. 9:36)  Most often, the Gospel’s statement of Jesus’ expression of pity for the crowds is explained in somewhat sentimental terms.  Although I think it’s legitimate to understand this statement as expressing Jesus’ compassion for the lost, it might also be legitimate to understand the statement as an expression of sadness.   

It’s a very sad thing to see the consequences of someone putting faith in finite things or in her or his ability to coerce a particular outcome from God.  Those who pray falsely are, indeed, like sheep without a shepherd because they have chosen not to follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  As a result of their waywardness, they never experience any degree of rest for their souls, regardless of how fervently they pray. 

The only satisfying remedy for the restlessness of the human heart is to find rest in the renewed life the Good Shepherd makes possible for those who put their trust completely and solely in God.  Those who follow the Good Shepherd are obliged, in turn, to lead others to this renewed life.  If there’s going to be any remedy for the troubled and abandoned, it’s up to us, the baptized, to hear Jesus’ lament and heed his call to go out as laborers to gather God’s harvest of faithfulness. (Mt. 9:37-38)