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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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?
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.
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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I cannot agree that someone being abused by a priest is a situation orchestrated by the will of the Lord. Or that mothers paying to have their babies killed is orchestrated by the will of the Lord. If so, why should I pray outside an abortion clinic and get continual verbal abuse? I think that my presence is the will of the Lord, but not the killing of innocents.
Please acept my affectionate greetings, Literalman!
I understand your point of view. What we are discussing is a very important aspect of metaphysical consideration. I will have to try to find scriptural evidence in the Bible in support of the idea that everything that occurs within the material creation is 100% under the control of the Lord. As I say, it would be the heartfelt acceptance of this concept that would enable one to “turn the other cheek.”
One thought that comes to mind is that Saint Francis is said to have written poetry in which he prays, “Oh Lord, please make me your instrument.” Of course he is praying to be used by the Lord for good purposes.
One question that comes to mind, is: Jesus says, during his Sermon on the Mount, that we have to choose whether we are servants of God, or servants of Mammon. In other words, everyone is engaged in service. There is no question of independence. Jesus makes this clear. We are in the service of one or the other. We don’t have to “enlist” in order to become a servant of Mammon. If we are not engaged in service of God with our thoughts, words and deeds…… not officially, but in a consciously heartfelt manner……….to that degree we are in the service of Mammon.
Jesus instructs that the essence of spiritual life, the essence of our relationship with God, is to “love Him with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our strength”. In other words, to be compliant in this way, is not about being a Christian or Catholic in an “offical” sense of the word. It is about abiding in an ongoing heartfelt sense of love for God, our heavenly Father, and engaging in every thought, word and deed, with a heartfelt desire to please Him…… This is a personal feeling in the heart. This is love. Jesus asks us to live on this platform. It is not about offically being a member of one faith or another. Jesus is talking about us cultivating a personal relationship with God.
Now let us decide on something, after due consideration: If God is the creator of everything that be………is He also the creator of Mammon? Can Mammon (or the Devil) be something, or someone, who exists apart from God’s creation?
Another question is: If we accept that God, as the creator, is also the creator of Mammon, why has He done so? And the answer is……..to accomodate the disparate demeanor of our hearts.
Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. But because they succumbed to the “temptation” of misuse of their “free will” therefore they were “deported” from the Garden, and made to abide in the material creation where life is filled with duality (“good ad evil”), and where we have to maintain ourselves by the sweat of our brow, in a hard struggle for existence.
Now we are here. This is the result of “original sin”. And living in sin, we are forgetful of our relationship of loving reciprocation with our Father. Therfore we are all “prodigal sons and daughters.”
Jesus tells us that we are either rightfully engaged in the service of God, or the service of Mammon. However, service of God is more than “good works”. Jesus says that good works alone is not enough. Jesus says that the symptom of being engaged in the service of God is that our every thought, word, and deed are done with a feeling of “love for God with all of our heart, with all of our mind and strength.” We are not officially “enlisted” in service. Jesus is speaking of “devotional service.” And this freedom is in our hands, from moment to moment. Am I acting in love of God…….or am I acting in the service of so many other man-made causes. For example, the wealthy man that Jesus invited to follow him, was a very good person, pious. But he was attached to his wealth and his social position. And Jesus tells us that in spite of his piety, it would be harder for that man to enter the Kingdom of God, than to pass a camel through the eye of a needle. He was a servant of Mammon. Because there in no “in between” position. We are a servant of God, or a servant of Mammon. This means that not every servant of Mammon is evil. The pious are also servants of Mammon. That pious man could not return to the Garden. Because the doorway to God’s kingdom is as small as the eye of a needle for the camel-like man who’s heart is attached to the things of this world……..as oposed to the man who’s heart is exclusively filled with love for our heavenly Father.
But how can this attachment be changed? How can our attachment be transferred from Mammon ot God? Jesus says, that “The truth shall set you free.” And what is that truth? Jesus says, the we must “Accept the yoke that I bear”. Jesus is “yoked” in service to God by the bond of love for his Father. “Yoked”. As much as we love the Lord, He dictates our manner of being from within our hearts. We become requalified. Remade. Not by our own power. But by the influence of the Holy Ghost within our hearts.
We have the responsibility of choice, free will. And in response, God enables us to live in the Garden, or “deports” us into the service of Mammon. Just as the result of transgression in this world is life in a penal institution……..the result of our spiritual trangression is that we are forced to work in the service of Mammon. We see this today in America. The prisons that are run by corporate institutions, force the inmates to engage in labor for earning money for the insitution. The prisoner has no choice. He misused his free will, by choosing to rebel against his constitutional position in society. And now he is forced to serve in prison. In the same way, as much as we are not wholeheartedly engaged in the service of God with all of our heart, we are forced to engage in the service of Mammon. Even the pious man, (by material standards) remains, as jesus says, outside of the Kiingdom of God. He remains imprisoned in the material world.
But…….is the material world outside of God’s creation? No. It is God’s penal institution……for those who are guilty of orignal sin. And as long as we are living in exile from the Garden, we are forced to serve ……in the service of Mammon.
However, there are different categories or modes of service. Therefore jesus speaks of “sewing and reaping”. And, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”, because “what goes around, comes around.”
But, as long as we are in exile from the Garden, because of our misuse of free will, we live in the realm of duality…….the fruit of the treee of ”good and evil”…… “piety and impiety”. Both exist outside of the Garden. And both are engaged in the service of Mammon. Both are “sewing and reaping”. Both are like camels wishing to quench their thirst in the desert of life, outside of the Garden of love of God. And Jesus says that we are forced to choose who is our master. Mammon or God, our heavenly father. One who is a servant of Mammon is also a servant. of God. But now he is serving in God’s penal institution. Just as the man in prison is also a servant of the state…..but now he is serving in prison, instead of serving in freedom.
Therefore we are always servants of God, whether we are in the Kingdom of God, or abiding in the prison of “good and evil”, the material world.
But there are differnt grades of prisoners. There are those who are more rebellious and resentful. And there are those who are having a change of heart. They are behaving nicely in the prison. They are not free yet. But because they are behaving nicely, they are granted parole. And Jesus is God’s parole officer. If we remain submissive to living in his custody, we can remain in freedom. And if we break parole, we are again in prison of duality, outside of the freedom of the Garden of Eden. But that submissiveness is not a question of piety. It is aquestion of love. The pious man could not give his heart to jesus, because he was attached to his wealth and social position.
To be a servant of Mammon is not a choice. The choice is whether we want to be loving servants of God…… or not. For those who choose not to be servants of God, they are forced to be servants of Mammon. Mammon is God’s prison house. And those who are servants of Mammon are are forced into that service as God puts them out of the Garden of Eden. Once they are enlisted in the service of “good and evil” they cannot refuse the dictates that arise within their hearts. But it is God who has placed them there. Their only chance to be free of the dictates of their hearts that arise in the prison of “good and evil” is to surrender to Jesus, God’s parole officer. It is Jesus who removes the anchor of material desire that God has placed in our hearts, in response to our spirit of rebellion. In this sense God forces all of us to be servants of Mammon. But He also allows us to take the path to freedom if we agree to surrender to His parole officer.
I am only writing, Steve, in response to being notified of your message, without giving the matter a great deal of thought. Therefore my presentation herein may not be very well expressed. But I perhaps it will make sense to you to some degree.
With affection and respect, Peter
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Another angle of vision comes to mind. What causes sin? We say “the Devil”. But in truth, the Devil has no Absolute power. We are created by God. And the purpose of being, of our existence……is to love God. This is God’s will, and this is Jesus’s instruction to us…….. to love God ”with all of our heart.”
We can blame the Devil for our sinful propensities. But in fact, the Devil cannot come close to us if we are embracing Jesus. It is not possible. But God has created us with free will. We can choose to come closer to Him, or we can turn our backs on Him. And the moment we turn our backs…….that is when the Devil, with a smiling face, appears before us, offering us every manner of temptation. He says: “Do this and you will be happy.” Then, one man robs a bank. Another man rapes. Another man kills. Another commits adultery. Another man covets.
But can I blame the Devil? It is me who has turned my back. Scripture has informed me of my constitutional position in relation to God. I am His loving servant. But I have turned my back. So the Devil moves in to take up the slack. Therefore I have to accept resonsibility. By serving the Devil, I am hell-bound. But the responsibility is mine.
Now, an important question arises. Does God, the creator of all that exists, have the power to bind the Devil, to stop him from tempting and misdirecting us? Is God powerless to interfere? No. God is fully aware of the Devil, and allows the Devil to have the power to mislead us. Otherwise the Devil would not have the capacity to act in this way. Therefore the responsibity is ours. We are not innocent victims. To walk within the “Law” is to “walk within the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil.” Why? Because “Thou art with me. I will fear no evil.” If I stay close to God, abide in His presence, the Devil cannot approach me.
Therefore we have to understand that God runs things in this way. He gives us instruction and He gives the Devil permission to act. And He gives me freedom to choose and responsibiity for my choice. And ,when I am in the hands of the Devil, and I do all manner of sinful things, God allows me to do these things. He doesn’t prevent me from my sinful deeds. He watches. But there may be hell to pay.
Therefore if my reasoning is correct, it is God that allows the priest to act as a pedophile, and it is God that allows abortions to take place. It is not His instruction that we do these things. But it is only by His permission, and because of our misuse of our little independence, our little free will, that we become instruments of the dictates of the Devil. But it is God who sanctions, who gives authoritative permission for the Devil to influence us in this way. But ultimately the responsibility is ours. In this sense we are controlled either by the Devil or by God. And the choice is ours, moment to moment. We are servant or God, or servant of Mammon. It is not that God wants me to be sinful. But if I turn my back on God, it is God who places me under the jurisdiction of the Devil. God does this so that I can choose my destiny…….heaven or hell. In this way He gives me my freedom of choice. It is God who has organized universal affairs in this way. He doesn’t directly force me to be sinful. But it is according to His adminsitrative power that if I turn my back on Him, I become as servant of the dictates of the Devil. It is in this way that our sins are indirectly orchestrated by the will of the Lord.
But Jesus has compassion on all of us. Even on those who wish to kill him. And he asks God to forgive them. And he asks us to also adopt this spirit. Because they are in the hands of the Devil, and “they don’t know what they are doing.”
So it is not directly the will of the Lord that people act sinfully. But it is the will of the Lord that those who turn their back on Him will be captured and harnessed under the control of the Devil. And it is also the will of the Lord that the process of “sewing and reaping” goes on, and that all of us receive our due. Therefore when our punishment comes, we should think, “Actually I deserve more pusnishment than this, but God has given me only a token.” Thinking in this way, we can turn the other cheek.