Chris Pratt reveals the deal he made with God — and what he’s doing for Lent

Big-time actor Chris Pratt, on the media circuit promoting his new Netflix film “The Electric State,” recently spoke to the Christian Post about his faith, the evangelical nature of his platform, and the unnerving moment that prompted him to strike a lasting deal with God.

While Hollywood script-readers frequently churn the waters ahead of a big premier with superficial insights into their personal lives that they or their handlers reckon might turn out select demographics and fill theater seats, Pratt’s simultaneous Lenten outreach and relatively consistent messaging over the years suggest that there might be something to his recent divulgences to the Post.

Pratt, one of the highest-grossing actors of all time, who was on at least one occasion rolled into Time magazine’s top-100 list of influential people, told the Christian Post that his priority is Christ.

“I care enough about Jesus to take a stand, even if it cost me. It could cost me everything, but I don’t care. It’s worth it to me because this is what I’m called to do; it’s where my heart is,” said Pratt, who told Men’s Health magazine in 2022, “I’m not a religious person,” and claimed that “religion has been oppressive as f**k for a long time.”

“I’m a father of four. I want to raise my children with an understanding that their dad was unashamed of his faith in Jesus, and with a profound understanding of the power of prayer, and the grace and the love and the joy that can come from a relationship with Jesus,” added the actor.

Pratt noted further that while similar expressions of faith aren’t common in the entertainment industry, he has no intention of hiding his own, quoting Matthew 5:14-16: “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

While the actor has apparently suffered no break in his faith, Pratt indicated that he has repeatedly strayed from the straight and narrow.

‘My heart softened, and my faith hardened.’

“I’d make promises, but I didn’t keep them,” said Pratt, a father of four who remarried in 2019. “I said, ‘God, save me in this moment, and I’ll give you my life.’ And then He did, and I was unburdened from the weight of my shame, my guilt, and my sin. And then months later, maybe a year later, two years later, I’m off doing the same stuff that got me down the wrong path in the first place. The sinful, broken nature of humans was living in my heart.”

After making and breaking his share of promises, Pratt apparently found one that he had to keep for the sake of his own flesh and blood.

Pratt revealed at the March of Dimes Celebration of Babies in 2014 that when his first wife, Anna Faris, gave birth to their son, Jack, in August 2012, the baby boy was nine weeks early, weighing just 3 pounds, 12 ounces, reported Variety.

Pratt and Faris were told that their boy might have special needs and possibly would require surgery to correct his eyes.

“He had all of these issues going on,” Pratt told the Post. “I prayed hard to God. I was in a season of transition spiritually at that time and didn’t quite fully understand. I made a deal with God again: ‘I’m sorry, God, here I am again, asking for your grace again.'”

“He really saved my son,” continued Pratt. “And that was the moment [my faith] was cemented. My heart softened, and my faith hardened. That was the moment that I was like, ‘Moving forward, I’m going to give my platform to God.'”

Pratt indicated in the time since, he attempted to use his celebrity status and influence both to “affirm the people who are believers in Christ” and to “reach out to the people who have no idea who God is.”

‘If people don’t understand me, I’m going to pray for them.’

This year, Pratt has teamed up with Mark Wahlberg, “The Chosen” actor Jonathan Roumie, Sister Miriam James Heidland, and Fr. Mike Schmitz on the Pray40 challenge, an initiative championed by the Catholic prayer and mediation platform Hallow to encourage people to pray every day during Lent, which began on March 5, Ash Wednesday.

Pratt, whose wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, was baptized Catholic but met Pratt at the evangelical Zoe Church in Los Angeles, indicated that he came across the Hallow app’s “Bible in a Year” podcast a few years back and “did the whole thing.”

“It gave me a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the Bible,” said Pratt. “It totally strengthened my walk with Jesus.”

“I thought, if I partner with Hallow, maybe I can amplify what is ultimately a really beautiful thing. This ‘Bible in a Year’ podcast, the prayers, meditations, it’s all soul food,” added Pratt.

According to the Hallow site, Pratt will join Wahlberg in sessions focused on fasting. Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Catholic Church’s prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, will apparently lead Saturday sessions that focus on meditation in silence, and Fr. Schmitz will lead Sunday homilies.

Last year, nearly 2 million joined the Pray40 challenge.

Pratt indicated that he is certain “there’s going to be blowback” from his open profession of faith and promotion of prayer.

Actress Elliot Page attacked Pratt in 2019 for allegedly belonging to a church where homosexuality was not universally embraced as an acceptable preference. He was also mocked for his Christian faith and not attending a Biden event with other Marvel stars in 2020.

When faced with such criticism, Pratt indicated, “I am just going to rely on God. … I was called by God to do it, and if people don’t understand me, I’m going to pray for them, and then I’m going to go back and hang out with my kids and play tag.”

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