Praying 'n Sinful

[M.SIGGA]

A couple questions folks:

If a person falls into serious sin does God still hear their prayers? before they go back to Confession?

If someone is outside the state of grace, is special grace given by God to lead people back into full communion and a state of grace (includes Catholics in a state of mortal sin)?

Pax Christi

[hyperdulia again]

I can't answer the first. But actaul, not sanctifying, grace is what pushes man to the confessonal after serious sin.

[M.SIGGA]

what is the difference btw actual and sanctifying grace?

[hyperdulia again]

Actual grace is what pushes man to commit any positively good act, and restarins him from evil, sanctifying grace is the grace of holiness--sacramental grace, the grace that lives in our souls, it is what we mean hen we say we are in a "State of Grace".

[cathqat]

God hears all prayers. It is God who gives you the grace to pray.

[M.SIGGA]

thanks for the replies, but does the Church provide a definite teaching?

[Archangel Raphael]

[quote name='cathqat' date='Jan 15 2005, 04:21 AM'] God hears all prayers. It is God who gives you the grace to pray. [/quote]
I agree.

M. SIGGA, think of it this way: It's alright to go to Confession of course so the priest will hear you out and interceed for you in prayer. But also too remember, Christ is the High Priest, and asking Him for forgiveness is just as effective (even better in my opinion) as confession to an earthly priest. But either way is fine, just remember God isn't limited

[franciscanheart]

I'm not sure if the Church gives a definite teaching on your first question but I would be taken back if God did not hear all prayers. If anything I would believe that God would listen even more carefully for those who are praying to Him in such a state because He longs for us to ask forgiveness and take Him back as our Father - to love and serve Him all the days of our lives.

[cathqat]

OK, if you really need evidence that it is God who first gives us the grace to pray...

Second Council of Orange, Canon 3. "[i]If anyone says[/i] that the grace of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but [i]that it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle who says the same thing[/i], 'I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me' (Rom 10:20, quoting Isa. 65:1)."

The first section on prayer in the Catechism is called "Prayer as God's gift" (2559-2561). Evil and fear, not God, tempt people to resist "the idea that prayer is a free and unmerited gift" (2728, 2732-2745).

Likewise that God hears all prayers (which is certainly not the same as giving us whatever we ask, rather giving us what is best for us): "All our petitions were gathered up, once for all, in [Jesus'] cry on the cross and, in his resurrection, heard by the Father," (CCC 2741).

If you struggle with this, I highly recommend reading what the Catechism says about prayer.

[M.SIGGA]

[quote name='cathqat' date='Jan 15 2005, 03:43 PM'] If you struggle with this, I highly recommend reading what the Catechism says about prayer. [/quote]
Thanks. I don't struggle with it, but when I leave for my spring semester of college, where my Catechism is right now, I will check it out. I was seeking an explaination of what the Church teaches in comparison to a particular teaching I became familiar with while attending a Protestant school.

[cathqat]

[quote name='M.SIGGA' date='Jan 15 2005, 10:17 PM'] I don't struggle with it, but when I leave for my spring semester of college, where my Catechism is right now, I will check it out. [/quote]
Cool