The Lie That Says Your Prayers Do Nothing

I once preached this at a 6:30 communion service, at a time of year when 6:30 feels like the middle of the night. The people in that room had gotten themselves up much earlier than they had to, in order to receive the Eucharist. This was aimed at them — people who were willing to give up sleep in order to be there. God has an opportunity to bring forth great works through that kind of cooperation in the building of the Kingdom.

That comes at a price, however. Jesus has competition on this earth. The battle is over souls. Over the souls of those who will die today, over the souls of those you will interact with, over the souls driving around the city. There is a battle raging, and the battle is for your soul as well.

Think about it. If there really is a battle going on, and you are someone with whom Jesus could do great works, is it reasonable to assume that the competition would do nothing to neutralize the threat you represent? When I use the word competition, do you know what I’m talking about? The devil.

One of my favorite parts of the Bible is the part where it says that the Church is built on rock. That tells us that the Church cannot be destroyed. It can be bashed on, but it can’t be destroyed. Then it goes on to say that the gates of hell will not prevail. That bit about the gates of hell not prevailing is not the same thing as saying that the Church will not be destroyed. The Church being built on rock says that the Church will not be destroyed. In Matthew chapter 16, in the story of Peter and the rock, when Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail, he is talking about what you are going to do with the gates of hell.

All this grace that comes in the Eucharist — is that grace given so that you can somehow make it through your day interacting with perfect saints? Why would you need grace for that? We can hope that someday we’ll be in heaven and we will be with the perfect God and the perfect saints. Is that going to require special graces to get through that experience? No.

The grace is so that you can grow in virtue, so that you can interact with others who have their own lack of virtue, and so that you can live this day in the peace of knowing that God is actively working with you and through you to bring about the Kingdom.

So, back to this thing that Jesus says about the gates of hell not prevailing. What does it look like when a gate doesn’t prevail? I remember when I was a kid, I took on the responsibility for caring for a neighbor’s dog. This dog was very active, and didn’t like being alone in its back yard while its family was away. So it took repeated running jumps at the gate and would continually bash into it until the gate broke. Then the dog would be on the loose, and I had no way to do my job of keeping this dog safe.

That is what it looks like when a gate fails. Gates are designed so that someone controls the gate, and others are either allowed to pass or prohibited from passing. The gates of hell will not prevail at doing what? Keeping you out.

That’s a weird thing to say, isn’t it? We don’t want to go there, of all places. Right, we don’t want to be sent to eternal damnation. That’s not what this is talking about. It is talking about the present battle on earth. Through the grace we receive from Jesus, from his Bride, the Church, we’re going to do some damage to the enemy. We do that by praying, by being kind to mean people, by living our lives as Christian witnesses.

In Luke chapter 12, in the story of the servants waiting for their master, Jesus tells us to be ready. We don’t know when we’re going to be held accountable. It is very important to Jesus that we stay focused on the mission. I was talking that morning to people who had already gotten up before dawn. How could Jesus be worried about any of them?

Guess what. If the enemy knows that you’re going past his gate and doing damage to his cause, you’re going to attract some attention. And not from the B team either. The A team is patient, and they have plenty of perseverance. You might eventually believe some of their lies. The lie that says, “Your prayers do nothing.” The lie that says, “You are failing.” The lie that says, “God pays no attention to you.”

As long as you remain in Christ and live his teachings, then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. For people who are already trying, I do recommend frequent use of reconciliation. Not because I think you sin too much. But because the enemy will make use of any foothold you give him. And the sacrament of reconciliation takes that away. At the same time, reconciliation will help you be ready when the bridegroom comes unexpectedly.

If you have been showing up, and the sentence in your head is that your prayers do nothing, start by writing the three sentences down as sentences, not as facts. Your prayers do nothing. You are failing. God pays no attention to you. Those are the lines. They arrive after you have already been faithful. That is the pattern in this homily. The people at 6:30 were not the careless ones. They were the ones who got the attention.

Then separate the feeling from the work. You can feel that a prayer did nothing and still have prayed. You can feel that you are failing and still be in the work. You can feel unseen and still be seen. Do not wait for the feeling to leave before you pray the next time. Pray the next time. That is the staying-ready Jesus asked for.

If a real failure is sitting in the week — a harm you did, a promise you broke — do not call that one of the three lies. Take it to reconciliation. The point of that sacrament, in this homily, is not that faithful people sin more than other people. It is that a foothold does not have to stay a foothold. Name the actual thing. Leave the three sentences in the other column.

Kindness to a mean person, and one more prayer you cannot measure, are the ordinary ways this homily says the gate gets tested. You do not have to feel the gate move. You do have to refuse the sentence that says the trying was wasted.

This is a pastoral reflection, not clinical care and not a substitute for it. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call 988 or local emergency services.

Drawn from a homily first preached in 2018.