As a catholic, do you believe luck exists? Why, why not?
- Yes, I do
- No, luck doesn’t exist
- I’m unsure
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I define luck as when something random happens. For instance, I won not one, but two 50/50 drawings as local sports events last year. I never gamble unless the loss goes to charity (which both of these did).
At Christmas time, I enter as many board game give-aways as possible and a few years ago, I won the grand prize! This was luck. These give-aways do not cost money. It is usually is a way for these content creators to gain a following.
It doesn’t mean that I don’t give God the glory. I still do (even though, I never Pray that I win, because I do not view God as a magic genie).
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Peace to all,
So ture, play is safe, with no loss for the family.
Placing choice in the hands of chance is the fail for luck also when the loss creates hardship in any form, i believe.
Peace always,
Stephen
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Ecclesiastes 9:11 says that time and chance happen to them all (that is, everybody).
A few years ago I discussed this with a good friend who is a devout Baptist. We both rode commuter trains, and sometimes one of them would break down and be an hour late. I said that I thought it was an example of chance happening to us. I didn’t think that God chose for 500 people on one train to be on time for work and school that day and for 500 people on another train to be late. It happened, God knew it was going to happen, but I don’t think that God assigned this fate to any of the passengers.
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I agree, however, I don’t get road-rage since I now think of God possibly protecting me by having this slow person cut in front of me. Who know what could have happened had this person not slowed me down. Sure, I might be late for work (again), but I count it as a blessing none-the-less. Could be unlucky or it could be God’s intervention. I don’t know, but I give Him the glory anyway.
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if so, do you believe that it is okay to pray for good luck?
if so do you believe that it is okay to pray for good luck?
Peace to all,
Question: If you flip a coin twice and it lands on heads both times, what is the chance the coin lands on heads on the third time?
30%, 40% or 73.4% ?
To me, logically: who needs luck from a possible chance of a failure from luck alone.
Placing choice in the hands of chance is luck, possibly a failure from bad choice.
Placing choice in the hands of choice of the Will of The Father is faith and will logically never fail in all cases, I believe.
Superstition is praying or placing belief in false God, and luck is praying to the Will of A False Father, other than God, I believe.
Answer: 50/50, always, the coin flip has the same chance.
Peace always,
Stephen
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That’s a good question. I don’t pray for luck. Time and chance happening to me are, I believe, things that happen to me that God didn’t ordain. But they aren’t necessarily random events. They mostly result from human decisions or natural causes. To me, praying for luck would be like asking God for a private miracle for my convenience.
What Stephen Andrew describes is what I would call luck. I wouldn’t pray for luck in gambling; I don’t gamble.
What Cade describes is, to me human behavior, and many of us don’t know which humans we will encounter each day or how they will behave. They (and I) keep my guardian angel busy.
I pray for protection for myself and others. I pray for blessings for us. Unexpected things happen, and sometimes, I think, God intervenes. But mostly, I think, He gives us grace to live with the troubles or blessings we have,
A very thought-provoking follow-up question! I would say Praying to God that you hope for a certain outcome would be okay, but accepting that if you are not “lucky” that God still cares about you.
It’s kind of like Praying for your favorite sports team to win a specific game. I guess you could Pray that they are lucky, but I think a better Prayer would be that they are well-rested, focused, and that they may glorify God by their gifts & talents (win or lose).
I also think about how stage performers will sometimes say, “break a leg” as a form of “good luck” or superstition. Prayer is asking for supernatural grace. Superstition is asking for chance to be on your side. Whereas Prayer invites God into your life. Superstition does not. So to Pray for good luck is more like a Prayerful superstition, which is kind of like serving two masters.
What is the difference between luck and blessing? We might be unlucky in some ways and lucky in other ways. We might be entirely unlucky, but very blessed in ways we might not even recognize.
I think we both realize that luck is out of our control. Those who believe in superstition are trying to manipulate outcomes. Whereas Praying for luck is asking God to manipulate outcomes. So Praying for luck is better than believing in superstition, but simply sharing with God our desires (whether ordered or disordered), and trusting in God’s decision is even greater than Praying for luck, because it is about a relationship with our loving Father who listens to our silly plans than it is about control.
Sorry for repeating myself, but I am thinking this through as I type : )
One more thought. We speak of God’s permissive will and God’s active will and the differences of these, but the idea that “everything happens for a reason” is not actually Scriptural. Another common phrase that makes human beings feel better, but is not in the Bible is “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 is saying that “God is faithful” in difficult moments, not that he actively wills them. This falls under the permissive will of God. But, this is a deeper conversation that may need it’s own thread.
My final thought, God can bring blessings out of bad luck, even if our fallen human nature wants to only focus on the bad luck. So, my Prayer is that we might recognize God’s blessings in times of the bad.
Great conversation! Thank you for your question(s). You are a blessing to many here. Keep faith & hope in Jesus and He will bless you (maybe in ways you cannot see in the moment, but our journey with the Lord is sometimes like that).
“Not a blade of grass moves except by the will of the Lord.” This is the activity of the the all-pervasive Holy Ghost. Although God abides in heaven, seated on His throne, surronded by the heavenly host, He expands Himself as the Holy Ghost for conducting the affairs of the material world. Those who receive Him with open hearts, are guided by Him, and that is their good luck. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” And those who live in forgetfulness are also guided by Him, but not in ways that bring them closer to Him, and that is their bad luck. So luck is always with us. But our luck is not separate from God’s dispensation. If we open our hearts to God, we are close to Him and feel His presence our lives. And if our hearts are closed to His presence, He keeps us in forgetfulness, and that is our bad luck. But in either case, we are makers of our good or bad fortune. Because God has created us with free will to choose. And Jesus encourages us to choose correctly. Therefore it is stated that, “Man proposes and God disposes.” There is one hymn titled: “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”. Only one who accepts this understanding can embrace all that comes his way, saying, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”, even when faced with the greatest adversity. Jesus teaches us in this way by his own example.
God sustains everything. If God ceased to exist, not would exist. Every breath is a gift.
Hello and I ask the Holy Spirit to guide my day always God’s Will Only so I believe my Blessings are lucky for me I became a convert in 2009. I am open to the Roman Catholic beliefs if this is not a good way to think let me know please I am still learning the Catholic Way. Spiritual guidance I accept to progress . 
… Your thoughts ?
Praying for luck reminds me of the movie Bruce Almighty (which did have a few crude moments in it). Bruce thinks he can do a better job than God himself. One incident in the movie is that he is impatient with the volume of prayers, so he converts them into (I think) emails, and says Yes to All. Then there are loads of unhappy people who were praying to win the lottery but, because they all won, their share was tiny.
I would say that God’s blessings on us are intentional. We might casually use the word “lucky” when things go well for us or “unlucky” when they don’t, but I agree with Cade’s attitude, which is to give the glory to God whatever happens.
One thought is: If God is the “prime mover” of everything, this sheds light on the instruction of Jesus that we should “turn the other cheek”. When we feel offended, if we understand, that the “slap” is delivered from God who is acting from within the heart of the offender, then we can turn the other cheek, offering it to be slapped as well……just as Jesus accepted his crucifixion as the will of God. God is in everyone’s heart giving direction and guidance. Knowing this we pray for His guidance. We pray to be “remade” as servants of God, rather than servants of mammon. The understanding is that if God is within our hearts guiding our actions, giving us intelligence and inspiration……..He is also within the heart of the sinner. God is always in control. But we have the responsibility for how we use our free will. Our only protection from the original sin in our hearts is to pray always for God’s love and protection. If we cleave our hearts to God, He guides us to join Him in heaven. And if we turn our backs on God, He guides us to go to hell. God is always in control…….but He gives us this little free will.
Peace to all,
So true, Peter1, I believe.
If we logically wish for luck then we may become again from the will of a different father.
Gos always says, “I will ““Choose”” The Living Sacrifice.”
The Sacrifice in the Christ through The Host in the New Living Sacrifice for Salvation of the Souls awaiting from the Bosom of Abraham becoming through the Flesh in the Christ becoming again for all Creation in One Holy Spirit Family One God in being.
The Will of The Father is for The Son becoming through the Christ from Sacrifice through Penance becoming forgiven for all mankind becoming again for all Creation in One Holy Spirit Family One God in being, I believe, OMNiLogically.
Peace always,
Stephen
Greetings Stephen!
It is not easy to understand your form of expression. We write because we have a desire to share. But if we wish to share, we have to speak in a language that can be understood by others.
Please pray for me, that I will abide in a living sense of communion, ongoing.
Your friend,
Peter
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The concept of “luck” is simply atheistic. The scientist says that things happen “by chance”. But nothing happens by chance. Everything is orchestrated by the will of the Lord. This is the understanding of David, as he expresses his heart in the 23rd psalm. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want……”.
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Praying for luck……….Jesus says that the highest rule, the highest spiritual orientation is to, “love the Lord Thy God, with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our strength.”
What is “love”? To be loving is to take pleasure in the happiness of another, without desiring anything in return. If we only love as long as we get what we want, that kind of love is “conditional”. This is not real love; it is a business deal. Love means that all we wish for is the pleasure of God.
Therefore Jesus says that we have to choose between God an mammon. To love God with a desire that He fulfills our material desires, is to worship God, with the hope that He fulfills our desires to enjoy mammon.
What we have to understand as a living experience, is that when we actually love God purely, our heart become so filled with spiritual happiness, that all of our material desires evaporate.
Saint Francis came from a wealthy home. But he left it all behind, to worship God, while running barefoot in the snow.
Jesus forsaw what awaited Him. He prayed to God telling Him that he was not looking forward to it; but that all He desired was whatever God wills for him. “Not my will, but Thy will be done.”
This means that God is in control, even of the seemingly unfortunate things that happen in our lives…… and that we accept them as the will of God……….while feeling wealthy beyond compare, because of the love of God in our hearts.
This is not an official position of acceptance of our faith. “Now I am saved.” It is acceptance that is based on the joyment of a living sense of reciprocation of love with the Lord.
Spiritual life is not for the enhancement of our material life; spiritual life is to free us from our attachment to material things that can never endure. “Yeh though I walk in the valley of the sahdow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” “The truth shall set you free.”
Why do the monks and nuns of the church live so simply? It is because their lives are a demonstration of the the understanding that the teaching of Jesus is that we have to choose between God and the things of this world.
I don’t claim to be on this level of spiritual purification. But I write like this to strengthem our sense of direction. It is only love of God that frees the heart from the love of the temporal things of this world. I believe that Jesus instructs us not to look for our happiness in such things, but to understand that “great is your reward in heaven.”
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