Prayer and providence

What we mean, in the last resort, by "an answer to prayer," is that from the beginning of time, before He set about the building of the worlds, God foreknew every prayer that human lips would breathe, and took it into account. That, and nothing less, is the staggering claim which we make every time we say the "Our Father".

-- Msgr. Ronald A. Knox, Caliban in Grub Street