The Catholic Church teaches that we should ask God for all that we need and that prayer strengthens our relationship with God.
Sometimes it may seem that our prayers are not heard or that God is not even listening.
But God is always listening and answers every prayer according to his will. He may answer our prayer exactly how we want, He may make us wait, or He may give a different answer.
We do not know the mind of God or understand his ways but by continuing to talk and listen to Him and trust in Him will bring us closer to Him.
Is God really listening?:
We should not expect to get what we want:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him.”
Matthew 7: 7-11
Prayer is part of a relationship with God:
Drawing man closer to God:
In the first place, we ought to be astonished by this fact: when we praise God or give him thanks for his benefits in general, we are not particularly concerned whether or not our prayer is acceptable to him. On the other hand, we demand to see the results of our petitions. What is the image of God that motivates our prayer: an instrument to be used? or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2735
God answers every prayer:
God’s ways are not our ways:
God answers prayers in his own way:
With these words Jesus makes it understood that God always responds, that no prayer will remain unheard; why? Because He is Father, and does not forget his suffering children. Of course, these affirmations disconcert us, because many of our prayers seem not to obtain any results. How often have we asked and not received — we have all experienced this — how many times have we knocked and found a closed door? Jesus advises us, in those moments, to persist and to not give up. Prayer always transforms reality, always. If things around us do not change, at least we change; our heart changes. Jesus promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to each man and to each woman who prays. We can be certain that God will respond. The only uncertainty is due to time, but let us not doubt that he will respond. Perhaps we will have to persist for our whole life, but he will respond.
Pope Francis, General Audience, January 9, 2019
We do not always see the fruit of our prayer in this life:
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