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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
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Q&A

Why weren’t my prayers answered if the Memorare says never a soul was left unaided?

Catholic Answers Staff

Question:

In the Memorare the claim is made that the Virgin Mary has never left unaided a soul who asked her intercession. But when I prayed the Memorare for my intention, the situation for which I prayed got worse, not better. This has shaken my faith. What happened?

Answer:

The wording of the Memorare is not intended to oblige the Blessed Mother or God to answer your prayer in the exact manner that you specify. It is a statement of utter trust, said with faith that the Blessed Mother and God will always answer the prayers of the faithful, even if the answer given is not the one for which the supplicant hoped.

It is possible that the Blessed Mother did help you in your particular trial. Perhaps she obtained for you the grace to carry your burden with courage and patience. Perhaps she obtained for you the grace to delve more deeply into your Catholic faith through prayer, which is what you did in fact do. By all means, keep praying the Memorare for your intention, keeping in mind Jesus’ example of prayerful supplication for the relief of trials: “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).

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