We Catholics and so many of our neighbors are praying a lot these days. 

We are all praying for an end to the COVID-19 crisis, for the protection of our families, for the (prudent) restoration of public Mass and other social and commercial activities. We are praying for “front-line” workers, who are taking great risks in order to serve those in need. And we are praying for the relief of all the secondary harm wrought by this crisis — mental health challenges, loneliness, economic dangers of various kinds, and so much more.

Now is a good time to perform a spiritual “pulse check” and make sure our prayers are offered with a key ingredient it is easy to overlook: faith, strong faith, faith that expects God to act powerfully, in whatever way is best for us.

Back before you could watch any movie you want any time you want to watch it, there were certain movies that came on television only once a year, and so it was a big deal whenever these movies were broadcast. One of my family’s favorites was always The Wizard of Oz, which was broadcast once a year from 1959 to 1991. We almost never missed watching it together when I was a boy.

I presume nobody needs a reminder of what The Wizard of Oz is about, but I would only highlight that Dorothy and her friends spend most of the movie traveling a long way and overcoming lots of challenges in order to present their needs to the Wizard of Oz and to ask for his help. 

They took all this trouble despite the fact that they knew next to nothing about the Wizard and had never seen him themselves. One of the most dramatic moments in the movie comes when they finally meet the Wizard, and he turns out to be far less impressive and powerful than they had been led to believe. In fact, the only way he can help them is by turning their needs into metaphors and giving them token gifts and little motivational speeches.

Very often our approach to prayer is just the opposite of what’s going on in The Wizard of Oz. Rather than doing much, and expecting much, only to be let down, we often do little, and expect little when we bring our needs to Jesus. And unlike the Wizard, who turns out to be a pretty big disappointment, Jesus is far greater, and can do far more, than anything we can imagine.

I mention all of this because I think that very often our approach to prayer is just the opposite of what’s going on in The Wizard of Oz. Rather than doing much, and expecting much, only to be let down, we often do little, and expect little when we bring our needs to Jesus. And unlike the Wizard, who turns out to be a pretty big disappointment, Jesus is far greater, and can do far more, than anything we can imagine.

You’ll remember that in the movie the appearance of the Wizard is deceiving because the intimidating image of a supernatural being Dorothy and her friends see at first turns out to be nothing more than a projection operated by an ordinary middle-aged man. Again, we’re dealing with just the opposite when it comes to Jesus. 

Though He appears to us as a man — and in fact truly is a man — Jesus is also the Son of God. He is infinitely greater than His appearance indicates. The same is true of the Holy Eucharist, in which Jesus comes to us under the even more humble appearances of bread and wine. What we see with Jesus is not what we get. What we get is much, much more powerful than what we see!

What is the key to seeing Who Jesus really is? Only faith gives us the “eyes” to penetrate the humble appearances under which Jesus comes to us, so that we can see beyond what our senses can detect. We need to have the faith of those in the Gospels who believed in Jesus and begged Him for help and healing. They saw in Jesus Someone with the supernatural power to save them. 

Perhaps you have noticed that in the Old Testament there are relatively few outright healings. There are examples of miraculous cures, for example, of Aaron’s wife Miriam in Numbers 12 and Naaman the Syrian in 2 Kings 5. But Jesus came to establish a new covenantal relationship between God and His people, and one of the signs of this new covenant is miraculous healing.

The problem is that although we know we can bring our needs to God, sometimes we place artificial limits on what God can do in our lives. How do we do this?

First, people often say that “God has more important things to worry about than my problems.” That is almost certainly true, in the strict sense. But it is also true that God knows everything and is all-powerful. He is not like an overworked clerk at the Secretary of State’s office, asking you to take number 457 while He’s currently serving customer number 15. Jesus tells us over and over again to ask for the help we need, and He means it. He assures us that whenever we ask in His name for God’s help, God will help us.

Second, we can have a tendency to write off God’s power to help us by thinking only that “God works in mysterious ways” or that “God wants me to suffer” or by taking what I might call the “Publisher’s Clearinghouse” approach to God’s power. Perhaps you remember the old Publisher’s Clearinghouse commercial jingle: “Miracles can happen, can happen for you. Publisher’s Clearinghouse, the house where dreams come true.” It’s a nice jingle, but not too many people really think that kind of “miracle” — winning millions of dollars — is going to happen for them. Don’t we often look at God’s power to perform miracles the same way? Yes, God does work in mysterious ways. Yes, we do believe in the power of suffering in union with Jesus. Yes, it is true that miracles won’t always happen for us. But God always has the power to act in our lives, and we can be sure He will do what is best for us. Maybe what is best for us in a certain situation is God’s help in dealing with our suffering gracefully rather than eliminating our suffering. But it also might be that God’s plan is to grant what we pray for in a very literal, perhaps even miraculous way. In any case, we need to pray with faith, expecting God to act powerfully when we call upon Him.

Third, and finally, there is a “funny” way that even very devout Catholics can simply forget to ask God explicitly for what they need. Say you’re having a very difficult time forgiving someone who’s hurt you. You work and work at it, get frustrated over and over again by your failures to forgive, and you end up confessing the same sin every time you go to confession. Sometimes a person in this situation fails because he or she is trying to go it alone, without simply asking God for help! Sometimes, it’s the simplest thing in the world that we forget to do. I know I’ve done this. I’ve forgotten simply to ask God in prayer for the grace I need to heal a particular wound or overcome a particular problem.

Maybe what is best for us in a certain situation is God’s help in dealing with our suffering gracefully rather than eliminating our suffering. But it also might be that God’s plan is to grant what we pray for in a very literal, perhaps even miraculous way. In any case, we need to pray with faith, expecting God to act powerfully when we call upon Him.

Every celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass provides the most powerful opportunity we will ever have to offer our intentions to God, to ask for His help. And I’m not only talking about the Prayers of the Faithful, although those are obviously important. 

Each of us has an opportunity to place our needs on the altar, along with the bread and wine that become the Body and Blood of Jesus, asking God to hear our prayers and to give us the help we need. 

Obviously, most of us aren’t able to attend Mass these days, so what can be done about that? Catholics around the world are making a “spiritual communion” each Sunday, asking God for the graces of Holy Communion at a time when they can’t receive Christ sacramentally. We can also make an act of offering our intentions to the Father along with the Offering of Christ’s Body and Blood. 

Imagine placing your intentions on the altar at your parish church. Try to do this at a time when you know Mass is being offered. Our Father knows we wish we were at Mass, and He will surely honor our prayers to Him. We should also offer our lives in an act of sacrifice and thanksgiving. 

The Mass is not first about receiving something. It is about offering God the Sacrifice of Christ and our own lives along with Him. Yet God loves us so much that He wants us to ask Him for the good things we need, even at this time of self-offering. God loves us and wants what is best for us even more than we want it for ourselves and those we love. 

We should never miss a chance to ask God for His help and mercy, and we should always approach Him with great faith — knowing that He loves us, trusting in His power, and remembering that He longs to give us what will help us the most, especially what will most help us to go to heaven and live with Him forever.