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So my title is, why pray?

Aquinas on the metaphysics of prayer.

And I'd like to start by referring to the famous Protestant literary scholar and

apologist, C.S. Lewis, who published an essay, a very lucid essay, a very witty essay in

1945, in which he addressed a kind of common objection

to the practice of petitionary prayer.

That's what I want to focus on,

this petitionary prayer.

Of course, this practice is not confined to Christianity,

but at least in relation to the Christian conception of God, it might seem not to make much sense.

The problem is very simple. He puts it very simply. If God is all wise and all good, as we believe,

then what's the point of asking him for things?

He's already perfectly aware of our true needs,

and he already wants to provide for them.

Many of our requests will be ignorant and misguided,

and the others, it seems, will be unnecessary and superfluous.

So why bother? He tells us, Lewis tells us that in his time, in his experience, in his

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