← The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast
The Fear That’s Keeping You from Prayer (And How to Overcome It)
00:07:02
Are you afraid to approach God? Jesus says, "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them... But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you." Matthew 6:5-6 Fr. Mike reminds us that God sees us, notices us and cares for us. Don't be afraid to approach the throne of grace. Tickets are on sale now for Fr. Mike Schmitz's Parables Tour at www.AscensionPress.com/FrMikeTour!
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I can be afraid that God doesn't hear me. I can be afraid that he does hear me. I open my heart to the Lord and pour out like, here, God, here's my desires, here's my needs, here's the depth of who I am. And that he doesn't answer my prayer the way I want him to answer my prayer. This is the revolutionary. This is like the thing that like, literally revolutionizes the world and prayer. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension Presents. I was recently contacted by someone who said they were really troubled because they have a friend and their friend found it very difficult to pray. Obviously prayer is difficult, but for them, the difficulty was they were afraid to approach God. And so they were saying, do you have any words of counsel for this person? And I thought, well, yes, but also, before I offer anything, the important question to ask is why exactly does your friend experience fear? The reason that they were afraid to pray is because of their image of God. And their image of God is essentially that God can't be trusted. The image of God is essentially that. I've said this so many times that they might have heard that God loves them, but they believe at a minimum that God merely tolerates them. How could you possibly approach a God like that? It makes perfect sense that someone would experience a degree of some kind, at least some kind of fear when it comes to the prayer. Why? Because we are approaching the true and living God. Right? Scripture goes again and again and talks about how like, no, it is a fearful thing to approach the living God. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of. Of the living God. And at the same time, Scripture also reveals something very important because. Because this person is. Is coming out of a. A view of God again, as I said, a view of God where God can't be trusted, where God isn't good, or God doesn't really, really care. God only cares about you to the degree that you, like, do the right thing right, or, or believe the right things as opposed to God as he reveals himself in the Bible. I always talk about how in the Greco Roman Version version of, you know, gods and goddesses. You probably know this. If you read any Percy Jackson books, you know that the gods and the goddesses, they're not good. They're not good and they're not just. And they're not fair. They don't care about you. They don't even know who you are because you are insignificant to them. That's the worldview in which those people lived and so to approach that God or that goddess, that makes complete sense, to do it in fear. I always say in that context, the only two reasons why you would approach the gods or the goddesses is because you are so desperate that you are willing that God would curse you in the hopes he'd bless you. They're fickle. They could just as easily curse you as bless you. Or because you say, okay, here's the deal. If I go to the temple and offer my sacrifice, then I get to keep the God out of my life. So it's either I'm so desperate I'm willing to risk that he might curse me, or if I get proactive about this, I can do what the God wants and then I can go back to live my own life. And I think so, so many times, sometimes Christians have that same vision of God. And yet, if you go back to Matthew's gospel, when Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray, he says. He says, when you pray, we talked about this in so many other videos. He says, when you pray, don't babble like the pagans who think because of their many words they'll be heard, right? That sense that the gods or goddesses, if you say the right thing, if you do the right incantation, if you offer the right sacrifice, all these things, if you do it right, you'll get the God's attention. He says, but when you pray, say this, Abba, Father, every Ash Wednesday, we hear the gospel about how you know when you pray, don't stand on the street corners like the hypocrites do, because they like people to notice them. When you pray, Jesus says, go to your inner room, lock the door, and pray to your father in secret. And your father, who sees in secret will repay you. And when you fast, don't look gloomy like the hypocrites. They like to appear to be fasting, so others can see that. But when you fast, wash your face, not your head, so that you might not appear to others to be fasting except to your father, who is hidden, who sees what is hidden. And your father, who sees what is hidden will repay you. Same thing is true when it comes to almsgiving, right? Don't do that so other people can see it. Do it because your father sees this. Now this is the revolutionary. This is like the thing that like, literally revolutionizes the world and prayer. I used to always read that gospel, hear that gospel and think, oh, this is about God. Jesus is saying, don't show off, right? Jesus is saying, like, you know, don't be those people who stand on the street corners, those people who really care what other people think, those people who want to look good for others. Like I thought that was the heart of the teaching was, you know, that don't show off. I think that's part of the teaching. But I think the heart of the teaching is what Jesus said at the end of each of those three things when he said, when you pray, pray in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you give alms, it's your alms giving me secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you fast, fast in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. What Jesus is emphasizing in each of these things is that even when no one else notices, God notices that even when no one else sees, God sees that even when no one else cares, God sees. God notices and God cares. Jesus, his life, death and resurrection has redeemed the world and made it possible for us to have new life in the power of the Holy Spirit because of the fact that he offered himself up in love and obedience and humility to the Father as a sacrifice that redeemed all of us, Right? Like that's so critical. That is necessary. But if it comes down to one of Jesus teachings that I would say, maybe this is more important than anything else. Now, again, keep that in grain of salt. It might be this. It might be the fact that, yes, ever since the Fall, right, the Fall in the garden where trust in God died in the human heart, we've been wounded by this fear, the same fear that the friend of this person who contacted me experiences. I go to God. I go to God. I can't trust him because he's not good and he's not just. And he doesn't care about me. And Jesus says, actually, you might not realize this, but God is very good. And he's incredibly just. And he doesn't just care about you, he loves you. And even if no one else notices and no one else sees and no one else cares, the Father at all times sees and notices and cares. And so you can approach him, right? You don't have to babble like the pagans, you know, you're not risking getting cursed by God because He loves you. Just turn your gaze to him, turn your heart to him, and realize that this whole time he's been seeing you, he's been noticing you, he's been caring about you, he has been loving you. And talk to him because he already sees, he already cares, he already knows. He already loves. Don't be afraid. But approach the throne of grace for mercy and for timely help anyways, from all of us here at Ascension presents. My name is Father Mike. God bless.