Luther and Lewis

But our Lord says, Be of good cheer; it will indeed be a terrible sight, but it is not against you but against the devil and the unbelievers. To you salvation is come and the joy of redemption, for which you have so long been sighing and praying, that My kingdom might come to you, cleansing you from all your sins and redeeming you from all evil. And what you have so long been praying for with all your heart shall then be given to you.—Martin Luther, Sermon on Populus Sion, 1544

Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person. Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, and the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. In it God shows Himself to us. That He answers prayers is a corollary—not necessarily the most important one—from that revelation. What He does is learned from what He is.—C. S. Lewis, Business of Heaven, p. 286.