If God Loves Me How Come I Don't Win the Lottery ?

After all, I went to 400 masses last year, pray the rosary, relatively speaking I am not that bad of a person. I even placed the lottery tickets under my infant of Prague statue and knelt and prayed to win.  I would think it is the least God could do to cut me a break.

And I know that I would do a lot of good things with that money...

And I would also do a lot of evil with it. When I reflect what my evil inclinations are, and we all have them, I have to admit that winning an enormous amount of money and having greater freedom that comes with it would not be a good thing for me. God knows what is best for me.

Also, I know that I am a very selfish person. I learned that being broke in and of itself is not actual poverty. At one time I thought that being poor was a virtue. But that was a self-serving egotistical way of excuse making.

God knows what is best and I accept that. But I will continue to play the lottery. Someone is going to win it and maybe the person who does needs it more than I do.

Maybe it is because God loves you that you don't win the lottery. In his omniscience He knows what having all that money would do to you.

Maybe God is saying, 'Where's the gratitude ?"

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7 to 11?  You can't be serious.  Nobody calls it that.

The name of the chain is "SEVEN ELEVEN."  If you ask anyone where the nearest '7 to 11' is, they either won't know what you're talking about, or they'll think you're from planet Clare.


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The only guaranteed way to win.............

Snip from Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence



Let me show you a good way to ask for happiness even in this world. It is a way that will oblige God to listen to you. Say to him earnestly:  Either give me so much money that my heart will be satisfied, or inspire me with such contempt for it that I no longer want it.

Either free me from poverty, or make it so pleasant for me that I would not exchange it for all the wealth in the world. Either take away my suffering, or -- which would be to your greater glory -- change it into delight for me, and instead of causing me affliction, let it become a source of joy. You can take away the burden of my cross, or you can leave it with me without my feeling its weight. You can extinguish the fire that burns me, or you can let it burn in such a way that it refreshes me as it did the three youths in the fiery furnace. I ask you for either one thing or the other. What does it matter in what way I am happy? If I am happy through the possession of worldly goods, it is you I have to thank. If I am happy when deprived of them, it gives you greater glory and my thanks are all the greater.

This is the kind of prayer worthy of being offered to God by a true Catholic. When you pray in this way, do you know what the effect of your prayers will be? First, you will be satisfied whatever happens; and what else do those who most desire this world's goods want except to be satisfied? Secondly, you will not only obtain without fail one of the two things you have asked for but, as a rule, you will obtain both of them. God will give you the enjoyment of wealth, and so that you may possess it without the danger of becoming attached to it, He will inspire you at the same time with contempt for it. He will put an end to your sufferings and even more He will leave you with a desire for them which will give you all the merit of patience without having to suffer. In a word He will make you happy here and now, and lest your happiness should do you harm, He will let you know and feel the emptiness of it. Can one ask for anything better? But if such a great blessing is well worth being asked for, remember that still more is it worth being asked for with insistence. For the reason why we obtain little is not only because we ask for little but still more because, whether we ask a little or we ask a lot, we do not ask often enough.

God always knows that is best conducive to the salvation of your soul.

And yes, I agree this thread is a little funny.  

For what little it's worth I recall some sort of prophecy of a time or sign of the times when significant wealth is simply not going to be in the hands of good Catholics. If that is the sign of the times then.. that would be one possible reason why. If I notice it in my records I'll try to remember to mention more of it to see if I am recalling correctly. Perhaps someone else recalls.

Also, that God provides for spiritual requests in prayer quite directly, such as requests for growth in virtue, but material requests are not heeded to or weighted at all like the spiritual. They don't rate the same way for good reason. St. Alphonsus Maria said something about this if I recall correctly. Food, water, shelter that's one thing. Superfluity -- man was not made for superfluity.

If He doesn't give the money to some good person who would manage it better, just think about who He gave the money to when He was traveling with the apostles, and how important He thought it was then to the success of His kingdom.

Virtue doesn't need money to be successful. Certainly one can practice almsgiving but the widow gave the most, one recalls -- and the wealthy tend to give out of their superfluity rather than what cuts.

God doesn't give folks what folks request because it's not what's good for them. And all the good and taking care of good things in this world is in His hands. He can take care of anything like that when He wishes. If He doesn't wish to, He doesn't wish to.

So what's good for you is not to win the lottery at this time but to learn the spiritual lessons that you can learn while not having that much money.

Those might be particular lessons you don't want to learn, or don't realize you have to learn.

I do tend to think God gives repeat classes until you pass, over and over again, as it were, remedially until one registers and comprehends it. So that we respond badly because it's a repeat and we don't want to change well.. is just again a sign of a need for a 180 flip in approach before the next hammer comes down to wake one up to that fact.

There're a lot of good writings on holy poverty in the saints and Desert Fathers.

'In order to enrich us with true riches, Jesus Christ chose to be a poor man, as the Apostle writes, For your sakes He became poor, that by His poverty ye might become rich. He chose to be poor in order to teach us by his example to despise earthly blessings; and thus to enrich us with heavenly blessings, which are infinitely more precious, and which last forever. Wherefore he declared that whoever did not renounce every species of attachment to this earth could not be his true disciple.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

'St. Bernard says that poverty was not to be found in heaven, it existed only on earth; but that man, not knowing its value, did not seek after it. Therefore the Son of God came down from heaven to this earth, and chose it for his companion throughout his whole life, that by his example he might also render it precious and desirable to us: "Poverty was not found in heaven, but she was well known on earth, and men knew not her excellence. So the Son of God loved her, and came down from heaven to take her to himself, that we might learn to value her when we see how he regards her."'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Money isn't even real. It's created out thin air, not backed by anything. The only thing that gives it value it's people's "faith" in the issuer.

Reading up on fractional reserve banking and how money is created will get you praying.

I will use that line the next time I am at the check out at Walmart, see how they feel about me trying to leave without paying.

The lottery is a tax for fools.

Have you any idea how short the odds of winning are?  You are more likely to guess a random stranger's telephone number.

If I want to lose money I will just go outside and throw it away in the street and save myself the bother of queuing at the local 7 to 11.

Anyone who plays the lottery needs to have their brains tested.  Payday lenders buy location data on where the most lottery tickets are sold in order to get the best return from their advertising. You might as well write to them directly and say, "I am a mug, here is my address".

Don't complain about the rich exploiting the poor if you dress up in a sheep costume with a sign that says "sheer my fleece please".  Which is exactly what you are doing when buying a lottery ticket.

It's just about the stupidest way to gamble your hard earned cash.

I feel the same way.

I know of a different expression: "The lottery is a tax on people bad at math."

Better to spend your time and money making incremental improvements to yourself, and earning sure-fire hundreds of dollars than banking all your hope on "hitting the big one" in the lottery.

Those who play the lottery usually have a "loser mentality" rather than one of self-improvement, goal setting, and hard work.