The Importance of Praying For Ordinary Things

Fellas, let’s talk about what we’re praying for. You do ask for things when you pray, right? St. Louis de Montfort says that asking for nothing is a great pitfall to avoid when praying one’s rosary. This is usually pretty easy to do, also, if we remember to do it: simply tell God that the prayers we are offering are for some specific intention, if it please Him to grant it. If your mind begins to drift in prayer, this can even help you to remain focused, by calling to mind that you have asked God for this favor from Him and so the least you can do is pay attention in the act of asking. Indeed, Christ assures us that if we ask our Father for an egg, He shall not hand us a scorpion. This is mostly a metaphor but hey, if you really need an egg, you could do far worse than asking the Lord who has formed every bird that flies beneath Heaven.

St. Louis de Montfort

 

What should you pray for? Probably whatever you need most at this moment, for starters. Everything you have and are has come to you from God, so it’s not like it would be a change of pace for Him to give you something. Your mind is incapable of imagining most of reality (only a little bit of which is material) so it’s not like you are capable of making a request God does not understand. You can ask for a safe drive home for yourself or your loved ones. You can ask for a job. You can even just ask for the strength to somehow get through to the end of an awful day you are having, if you should be so afflicted. St. Louis suggests that you ask in particular for whatever virtues you find yourself struggling with.

What if God does not give you what you ask for? First you must keep in mind that God always hears your prayers: there is nothing in the impossibly brief instance that is your earthly life that is hidden from the Divine Sight. Hopefully you are asking Him for something which is truly a good, even if it is a fairly low order one (if you are asking Him for something you know is evil you need to stop and go to Confession). You might even be asking Him for something which is pretty huge, and this is indeed fine to ask of the Lord who has measured the heavens in a span: St. Teresa of Avila says “you pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.” But God is not a vending machine: if you ask Him for what you think you need, and in doing so place your trust in Him that He will give you what you need, then He in His love will give you what you actually need, whether you realize that immediately, or a year from now, or on the Day of Judgment when all things that have happened in Heaven and on earth are laid bare to all. Whenever you do realize, be sure to thank Him.

Do not make the mistake of thinking there are things that you can do “on your own” and that you should only trouble God with requests to miraculously heal chronic diseases. You can accomplish nothing worth accomplishing without His help, whether or not you realize you are receiving it. God is perfectly deliberate; every breath that you draw has been prepared to you since before time by His will. Every moment you continue to exist is at His forbearance. Every good thing that comes to you has been granted to you because He loves you.

Hannah, who asked God for a son.

He knows everything you need before you ask, it is true; but this also does not mean you should not ask Him for things. The beasts and plants receive all that they need from Him as well, but He has raised you above them by giving you the chance to contemplate Him, as the angels do. He waits for you to pray to Him so that in asking for lesser things you might be helped in raising your mind to the best thing, His infinite Self. It was the Lord of Heaven made flesh who told you “Ask, and you shall receive.” Remember this.

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What Are We Doing Here

Listen up my good Catholic little brothers, we need to have a talk. I notice a lot of you fellas are feeling a little under the weather lately. Looks like a bunch of you all done come down with something- something called “tfw no gf”. I think we need to talk about what we’re gonna do about this problem.

First, I’ll tell you what we’re not going to do about it. We’re not gonna talk about it with girls. Nothing turns a woman off more quickly than you telling her how quickly you turn other women off. Women are social creatures (just like us, although in some different ways) and when you start saying all the other zebras stay away from you they’re going to figure the other zebras must know something’s up.

Second, and I don’t even need to tell you guys this, we’re not gonna look at porn. If you think “tfw no gf” is bad, imagine “tfw nothing good and you burn forever in the darkness and there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Don’t bullshit yourself on this either- if you’re looking at it because it’s sexually arousing, you’re using it as porn, whether or not that’s its primary function. Cancel that HBO subscription, quit surfing for indecent anime fan-art, unfollow that “Beautiful Women in Renaissance Paintings” twitter account. Better to be a little bit of a prude and save yourself from reminders of all the sex you’re not (and shouldn’t be) having than to be cultured and worldly and miserably hornt. If you do start thinking about it, say the St. Michael prayer immediately- remember that you are lowly and weak and you need help from God and His servants to become strong. The devil is much stronger and smarter than you, but St. Michael stands forever before the Eternal throne, ready to beat the devil’s ass in the name of God.

Third, we’re gonna recognize that nobody owes you a gf. Not women, not God, not the pope. The Vatican doesn’t have a waifu factory for all the nice boys who tweet about the Mass of Ages. Hopefully you don’t consciously think this, but when you get “tfw no gf” you need to examine yourself and ask “why do I think I should have a gf?” These kinds of thoughts can creep up on us- the devil wants to turn you into a tool. God wants to make you great and holy and a shining beacon of His love. Trust your Father to give you everything you need, whether or not that includes a gf.

Fourth, we’re gonna work on ourselves and one another. The best thing you can do is stop wanting a gf and realize that celibacy is the superior state, and become a paragon of chaste Catholic masculinity by entering the priesthood or religious life. If you guys are like me and you can’t cut that, then we’re gonna need to learn to be good bfs, by which I mean we’re going to learn to need to be good husbands (if a girl wants you to be her bf but would never want you to be her husband, it’s time to check the f*ck out, bro). This is something it takes a lifetime to learn, but we can start today. The first thing you need to do is realize that as the man of the house you will need to be a font of holiness in the lives of the people around you. Conveniently, this is also what you should try to be right now as a single dude. Fellas, we gotta start living lives of prayer, fasting, and works of charity, and we gotta start increasing our devotion to the sacraments of Penance and Communion.

Last, we’re going to read this blog. I know a lot of the advice you guys get about how to deal with women as Catholic men (or just as men in general) is garbage, so myself and maybe some other married men are gonna try to be here to help you get real. We’re going to try not to mince words here- the salvation of souls is the highest law. I will pray for you- please pray for me.