David Arias

It seems that to affirm the unchangeability of God’s providence is to deny the efficacy of prayer. That is, to say that God’s providence is unchangeable seems to imply that petitionary prayer is a superfluous and unnecessary act which has no effect whatsoever… It’s interesting that none other than St. Thomas Aquinas offers a sound theological answer to this argument of the process philosophers some seven hundred years before they penned their arguments. St. Thomas asks whether or not it is becoming to pray (utrum sit conveniens orare)…

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Originally published in Homiletic & Pastoral Review, 2003. Online article at Catholic Culture, republished here with thanks.