Catholics know that they should pray to God if they need something because of many examples in the Bible. Prayer is communicating with God, not to change his mind, but as a way to work with Him in his perfect plan.
Not bound by time or space, God is all-knowing. God’s will and his providential plan are perfect and unchanging.
God already knows everything that man needs but may wait for man to humbly acknowledge his dependence through prayer, giving man an opportunity to cooperate in his divine plan.
Prayers of intercession or petition should not be attempts to control God or alter his plan. Prayer does not change God but it changes man by bringing his will into harmony with God’s perfect and holy will.
God wills certain outcomes in his plan. At the same time, his will allows certain causes, including prayer, to help bring about those outcomes. Man’s prayers do not change God’s plan because they are already mysteriously factored into it.
Human words fall short of describing God and his actions so some Scripture stories may make it seem like God changes his mind, but these are actually incidences where God is drawing man closer to Him.
By allowing man to pray and communicate with Him about their needs and desires, God lets Catholics develop a relationship with Him, strengthen their faith, and receive grace necessary for salvation.
Prayer does not control God:
God knows exactly what each person needs:
Then going out He went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him. When He arrived at the place He said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.” After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, He prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from Me; still, not my will but yours be done.”
Luke 22: 39-42
The humble recognition that man needs God:
“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer, Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 2559
God waits for man to cooperate in his plan:
Becoming coworkers with God through prayer:
Effects and causes are both part of God’s plan:
Indeed, God protects and governs the universe which He has created by His providence, reaching from end to end with strength, and arranging all things gently. For all things are naked and open to his eyes, even those things which are made by the free action of creatures.
Pope Pius IX, Dei Filius, 24 April 1870
God does not change his mind:
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