persons who are habitually sad and gloomy, and who cannot mingle with
others without getting into difficulties or dissolving into tears. For
devout folk are cheerful, and are full of joy in their souls; and this
not solely by reason of the principal cause, as is stated in the text,
but also by reason of a secondary cause--the thought, namely, of their
own failings. For the sadness of devout folk is _according to God_, and
joy accompanies it; whence S. Augustine's remark: "Let a man grieve, but
let him rejoice at his grief."[96] Therefore it is that we read of the
Saints that they were joyful and bright; and rightly so, for they had
begun upon earth their "heavenly conversation"[97] (_on_ 2. 2. 82. 4).
_S. Augustine:_ For Thee do I yearn, Justice and Innocence, Beautiful
and Fair in Thy beauteous light that satisfies and yet never sates! For
with Thee is repose exceedingly and life without disquiet! He that
enters into Thee enters into the joy of his Lord; he shall know no fear,
and in the Best shall be best. But I have deserted Thee and have
wandered away, O Lord, my God! Too far have I wandered from Thee, the
Steadfast One, in my youth, and I have become to myself a very land of
want! (_Confessions_, II. x.).
FOOTNOTES:
[79] VIII. 9 and X. 29.
[80] xxxv. 20-21.
[81] 2 Paral. xxix. 31.
[82] _Ethics_, V. i. 3.
[83] _Of the Divine Names_, chap. iv., part i., lect. 10.
[84] _Sermon VIII.: On the Passion of Our Lord._
[85] S. John xix. 15.
[86] _Commentary on S. Luke_ ix. 55.
[87] _De Trinitate_, ix. 12; xv. 23.
[88] Ps. lxxii. 28.
[89] Ps. cxx. 1, 2.
[90] S. Luke xv. 13, 16.
[91] Ps. lxxvi. 4.
[92] Ps. xli. 3.
[93] Lam. iii. 19.
[94] Ps. i. 19.
[95] _De Homine_, xii.
[96] _De Vera et Falsa Poenitentia_, xiii.
[97] Phil. iii. 20.
QUESTION LXXXIII
OF PRAYER
I. Is Prayer an Act of the Appetitive Powers?
Cardinal Cajetan, On Prayer based on Friendship
II. Is it Fitting to Pray?
Cardinal Cajetan, On Prayer as a True Cause
S. Augustine, _On the Sermon on the Mount_, II. iii. 14
" _On the Gift of Perseverance_, vii. 15
III. Is Prayer an Act of the Virtue of Religion?
Cardinal Cajetan, On the Humility of Prayer
S. Augustine, _On Psalm_ cii. 10
" _Of the Gift of Perseverance_, xvi. 39
IV. Ought We to Pray to God Alone?
S. Augustine, _Sermon_, cxxvii. 2
V. Should We in our Prayers ask for anything Definite from God?
S. Augustine, _De Catechizandis Rudibus_, xxv. 47
" _Confessions_, X. xxix.
" _Confessions_, XI. ii. 2
VI. Ought We in our Prayers to ask for Temporal Things from God?
S. Augustine, _On Psalm_ xxxvii. 10
" _Confessions_, I. xx. 2
" _Confessions_, IX. iv. 12
S. Thomas is miraculously relieved from Toothache
S. Augustine, _Sermon_, lxxx. 7
" _Sermon_, cccliv. 8
VII. Ought We to Pray for Others?
VIII. Ought We to Pray for our Enemies?
S. Augustine, _Sermon_, xv., on _Psalm_ xxv. 8
IX. On the Seven Petitions of the Lord's Prayer
Cardinal Cajetan, On the Grouping of these Petitions
S. Augustine, _Confessions_, VII. x. 2
" _Sermon_, lvii., _on S. Matt._ vi. 7
" _Sermon_, lvi. 9, _on S. Matt._ vi.
" _Sermon_, lvi. 8, _on S. Matt._ vi.
" _Of the City of God_, xix. 27
S. Thomas's Rhythm, _Adoro Te Devote_
X. Is Prayer Peculiar to Rational Creatures?
XI. Do the Saints in Heaven Pray for Us?
Cardinal Cajetan, On the Saints in Limbo
XII. Should Prayer be Vocal?
Cardinal Cajetan, On the Conditions of Vocal Prayer
S. Augustine, _Confessions_, IX. iv. 8
" _Confessions_, X. xxxiii. 50
" _On Psalm_ cxviii., _Sermon_ xxix. 1
XIII. Must Prayer necessarily be Attentive?
Cardinal Cajetan, On the Varieties of Attention at Prayer
S. Augustine, _On Psalm_ lxxxv. 7
" _On Psalm_ cxlv. 1
S. Thomas, _On Distractions, Com. on 1 Cor._ xiv. 14
XIV. Should our Prayers be Long?
XV. Is Prayer Meritorious?
S. Augustine, _On Psalm_ xxvi.
" _Ep._ cxxx. _ad Probam._
XVI. Do Sinners gain Anything from God by their Prayers?
XVII. Can We rightly term "Supplications," "Prayers,"
"Intercessions," and "Thanksgivings," parts of Prayer?
Cardinal Cajetan, On the Prayer of the Consecration
S. Augustine, _Of Divers Questions_, iv.
I
Is Prayer an Act of the Appetitive Powers?
S. Isidore says[98]: "To pray is the same thing as to speak." Speaking,
however, belongs to the intellect. Hence prayer is not an act of the
appetitive, but of the intellectual faculties.
According to Cassiodorus, on those words of the Psalmist: _Hear my
prayer, O Lord, and my supplication, give ear to my tears_,[99] prayer
means "the lips' reasoning." Now there is this difference between the
speculative and the practical reason, that the speculative reason merely
apprehends things, while the practical reason not only apprehends
things, but actually causes them. But one thing is the cause of another
in two ways: in one way, perfectly--namely, as inducing a necessity--as
happens when the effect comes entirely under the power of a cause; in
another way, imperfectly--namely, by merely disposing to it--as happens
when an effect is not entirely under the power of a cause.
And so, too, reason is in two ways the cause of certain things: in one
way as imposing a necessity; and in this way it belongs to the reason to
command not merely the lower faculties and the bodily members, but even
men who are subject to us, and this is done by giving commands. In
another way as inducing, and in some sort disposing to, an effect; and
in this way the reason asks for something to be done by those who are
subject to it, whether they be equals or superiors.
But both of these--namely, to command something, or to ask or beg for
something to be done--imply a certain arrangement--as when a man
arranges for something to be done by somebody else. And in this respect
both of these acts come under the reason whose office it is to arrange.
Hence the Philosopher says[100]: "Reason asks for the best things."
Here, then, we speak of prayer as implying a certain asking or petition,
for, as S. Augustine says[101]: "Prayer is a certain kind of petition";
so, too, S. John Damascene says[102]: "Prayer is the asking of fitting
things from God."
Hence it is clear that the prayer of which we are here speaking is an
act of the reason.
Some, however, think that prayer is an act of the appetitive powers,
thus:
1. The whole object of prayer is to be heard, and the Psalmist says that
it is our desires which are heard: _The Lord hath heard the desire of
the poor._[103] Prayer, then, is desire; but desire is an act of the
appetitive powers.
But the Lord is said to hear the desires of the poor either
because their desire is the reason why they ask--since our
petitions are in a certain sense the outward expression of our
desires; or this may be said in order to show the swiftness with
which He hears them--even while things are only existing in the
poor man's desire; God hears them even before they are expressed
in prayer. And this accords with the words of Isaias: _And it
shall come to pass that before they shall call I will hear, as
they are yet speaking I will hear._[104]
2. Again, Denis the Areopagite says: "But before all things it is good
to begin with prayer, as thereby giving ourselves up to and uniting
ourselves with God."[105] But union with God comes through love, and
love belongs to the appetitive powers; therefore prayer, too, would seem
to belong to the appetitive powers.
But the will moves the reason to its end or object. Hence there
is nothing to prevent the reason, under the direction of the
will, from tending to the goal of charity, which is union with
God. Prayer, however, tends towards God--moved, that is, by the
will, which itself is motived by charity--in two ways: in one
way by reason of that which is asked for, since in prayer we
have particularly to ask that we may be united with God,
according to those words: _One thing I have asked of the Lord,
this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life._[106] And in another way prayer
tends towards God--by reason, namely, of the petitioner himself;
for such a one must approach him from whom he asks something,
and this either bodily, as when he draws nigh to a man, or
mentally, as when he draws nigh to God.
Hence the same Denis says: "When we invoke God in prayer we are
before Him with our minds laid bare." In the same sense S. John
Damascene says: "Prayer is the ascent of the mind towards God."
_Cajetan:_ Prayer demands of the petitioner a twofold union with God:
the one is general--the union, that is, of friendship--and is produced
by charity, so that further on[107] we shall find the friendship arising
from charity enumerated among the conditions for infallibly efficacious
prayer. The second kind of union may be termed substantial union; it is
the effect of prayer itself. It is that union of application by which
the mind offers itself and all it has to God in service--viz., by devout
affections, by meditations, and by external acts. By such union as this
a man who prays is inseparable from God in his worship and service, just
as when one man serves another he is inseparable from him in his service
(_on_ 2. 2. 83. 1).
"And now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, and we are clay: and Thou
art our Maker, and we are all the works of Thy hands. Be not
very angry, O Lord, and remember no longer our iniquity: behold,
see we are all Thy people."[108]
II
Is It Fitting To Pray?
In S. Luke's Gospel we read: _We ought always to pray and not to
faint._[109]
A threefold error regarding prayer existed amongst the ancients; for
some maintained that human affairs were not directed by Divine
Providence; whence it followed that it was altogether vain to pray or to
worship God; of such we read: _You have said, he laboureth in vain that
serveth God_.[110] A second opinion was that all things, even human
affairs, happened of necessity--whether from the immutability of Divine
Providence, or from a necessity imposed by the stars, or from the
connection of causes; and this opinion, of course, excluded all utility
from prayer. A third opinion was that human affairs were indeed directed
by Divine Providence, and that human affairs did not happen of
necessity, but that Divine Providence was changeable, and that
consequently its dispositions were changed by our prayers and by other
acts of religious worship. These views, however, have elsewhere been
shown to be wrong.
Consequently we have so to set forth the utility of prayer as neither to
make things happen of necessity because subject to Divine Providence,
nor to suggest that the arrangements of Divine Providence are subject to
change.
To bring this out clearly we must consider that Divine Providence not
merely arranges what effects shall take place, but also from what causes
they shall proceed, and in what order.
But amongst other causes human acts are causes of certain effects. Hence
men must do certain things, not so that their acts may change the Divine
arrangement, but that by their acts they may bring about certain effects
according to the order arranged by God; and it is the same with natural
causes. It is the same, too, in the case of prayer. For we do not pray
in order to change the Divine arrangements, but in order to win that
which God arranged should be fulfilled by means of prayers; or, in S.
Gregory's words: "Men by petitioning may merit to receive what Almighty
God arranged before the ages to give them."[111]
Some, however, maintain that prayer is futile, thus:
1. Prayer seems to be necessary in order that we may bring our wants to
the notice of Him to Whom we make the petition. But our Lord says: _Your
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things._[112]
But it is not necessary for us to set forth our petitions before
God in order to make known to Him our needs or desires, but
rather that we ourselves may realize that in these things it is
needful to have recourse to the Divine assistance.
2. Again, by prayer the mind of him to whom it is made is prevailed upon
to grant what is asked of him; but the mind of God is unchangeable and
inflexible: _The Triumpher in Israel will not spare, and will not be
moved to repentance; for He is not a man that He should repent._[113]
Consequently it is unavailing to pray to God.
But our prayers do not aim at changing the Divine arrangements,
but at obtaining by our prayers what God has arranged to give
us.
3. Lastly, it is more generous to give to one who does not ask than to
one who asks, for, as Seneca remarks: "Nothing is bought at a dearer
price than what is bought with prayers."[114] Whereas God is most
generous.
God, indeed, bestows on us many things out of His generosity,
even things for which we do not ask; but He wishes to grant us
some things on the supposition that we ask for them. And this is
for our advantage, for it is intended to beget in us a certain
confidence in having recourse to God, as well as to make us
recognize that He is the Author of all good to us. Hence S.
Chrysostom says: "Reflect what great happiness is bestowed upon
you, what glory is given you, namely, to converse in your
prayers with God, to join in colloquy with Christ, and to beg
for what you wish or desire."[115]
_Cajetan:_ Notice how foolish are some Christians who, when desirous of
reaching certain ends attainable by nature or art, are most careful to
apply such means, and would rightly regard their hopes as vain unless
they applied them; and yet at the same time they have quite false
notions of the fruits to be derived from prayer: as though prayer were
no cause at all, or at least but a remote one! Whence it comes to pass
that, having false ideas about the causes, they fail to reap any fruit
(_on_ 2. 2. 83. 2).
_S. Augustine:_ But some may say: It is not so much a question whether
we are to pray by words or deeds as whether we are to pray at all if God
already knows what is needful for us. Yet the very giving ourselves to
prayer has the effect of soothing our minds and purifying them; it makes
us more fit to receive the Divine gifts which are spiritually poured out
upon us. For God does not hear us because of a display of prayer on our
part; He is always ready, indeed, to give us His light, not, indeed, His
visible light, but the light of the intellect and the spirit. It is we
who are not always prepared to receive it, and this because we are
preoccupied with other things and swallowed up in the darkness resulting
from desire of the things of earth. When we pray, then, our hearts must
turn to God, Who is ever ready to give if only we will take what He
gives. And in so turning to Him we must purify the eye of our mind by
shutting out all thought for the things of time, that so--with
single-minded gaze--we may be able to bear that simple light that shines
divinely, and neither sets nor changes. And not merely to bear it, but
even to abide in it; and this not simply without strain, but with a
certain unspeakable joy. In this joy the life of the Blessed is truly
and really perfected (_On the Sermon on the Mount_, II. iii. 14).
_S. Augustine:_ He could have bestowed these things on us even without
our prayers; but He wished that by our prayers we should be taught from
Whom these benefits come. For from whom do we receive them if not from
Him from Whom we are bidden to ask them? Assuredly in this matter the
Church does not demand laborious disputations; but note Her daily
prayers: She prays that unbelievers may believe: God then brings them to
the Faith. She prays that the faithful may persevere: God gives them
perseverance to the end. And God foreknew that He would do these things.
For this is the predestination of the Saints whom _He chose in Christ
before the foundation of the world_[116] (_Of the Gift of Perseverance_,
vii. 15).
"Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth; and till now I will
declare Thy wonderful works. And unto old age and grey hairs, O
God, forsake me not, until I shew forth Thy arm to all the
generation that is to come."[117]
III
Is Prayer an Act of the Virtue of Religion?
In Ps. cxl. 2 we read: _Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy
sight_, and on these words the Gloss remarks: "According to this figure,
in the Old Law incense was said to be offered as an odour of sweetness
to the Lord." And this comes under the virtue of religion. Therefore
prayer is an act of religion.
It properly belongs to the virtue of religion to give due reverence and
honour to God, and hence all those things by which such reverence is
shown to God come under religion. By prayer, however, a man shows
reverence to God inasmuch as he submits himself to Him and, by praying,
acknowledges that he needs God as the Author of all his good. Whence it
is clear that prayer is properly an act of religion.
Some, however, maintain that prayer is not an act of the virtue of
religion, thus:
1. Prayer is rather the exercise of the Gift of Understanding than of
the virtue of religion. For the virtue of religion comes under Justice;
it is therefore resident in the will. But prayer belongs to the
intellectual faculties, as we have shown above.
But we must remember that the will moves the other faculties of
the soul to their objects or ends, and that consequently the
virtue of religion, which is in the will, directs the acts of
the other faculties in the reverence they show towards God. Now
amongst these other faculties of the soul the intellect is the
noblest and the most nigh to the will; consequently, next to
devotion, which belongs to the will itself, prayer, which
belongs to the intellective part, is the chief act of religion,
for by it religion moves a man's understanding towards God.
2. Again, acts of worship fall under precept, whereas prayer seems to
fall under no precept, but to proceed simply from the mere wish to pray;
for prayer is merely asking for what we want; consequently prayer is not
an act of the virtue of religion.
Yet not only to ask for what we desire, but to desire rightly,
falls under precept; to desire, indeed, falls under the precept
of charity, but to ask falls under the precept of religion--the
precept which is laid down in the words: _Ask and ye shall
receive_.[118]
3. Lastly, the virtue of religion embraces due worship and ceremonial
offered to the Divinity; prayer, however, offers God nothing, but only
seeks to obtain things from Him.
In prayer a man offers to God his mind, which he subjects to Him
in reverence, and which he, in some sort, lays bare before
Him--as we have just seen in S. Denis's words. Hence, since the
human mind is superior to all the other exterior or bodily
members, and also to all exterior things which have place in the
Divine worship, it follows that prayer, too, is pre-eminent
among the acts of the virtue of religion.
_Cajetan:_ In prayer or petition there are three things to be
considered: the thing petitioned for, the actual petition, and the
petitioner. As far, then, as the thing petitioned for is concerned, we
give nothing to God when we pray; rather we ask Him to give us
something. But if we consider the actual petition, then we do offer
something to God when we pray. For the very act of petitioning is an act
of subjection; it is an acknowledgment of God's power. And the proof of
this is that proud men would prefer to submit to want rather than humble
themselves by asking anything of others. Further, the petitioner, by the
very fact that he petitions, acknowledges that he whom he petitions has
the power to assist him, and is merciful, or just, or provident; it is
for this reason that he hopes to be heard. Hence petition or prayer is
regarded as an act of the virtue of religion, the object of which is to
give honour to God. For we honour God by asking things of Him, and this
by so much the more as--whether from our manner of asking or from the
nature of what we ask for--we acknowledge Him to be above all things, to
be our Creator, our Provider, our Redeemer, etc. And this is what S.
Thomas points out in the body of the Article. But if we consider the
petitioner: then, since man petitions with his mind--for petition is an
act of the mind--and since the mind is the noblest thing in man, it
follows that by petitioning we submit to God that which is noblest in
us, since we use it to ask things of Him, and thereby do Him honour.
Thus by prayer we offer our minds in sacrifice to God; so, too, by
bending the knee to Him we offer to Him and sacrifice to Him our knees,
by using them to His honour (_on_ 2. 2. 83. 3).
_S. Augustine:_ I stand as a beggar at the gate, He sleepeth not on Whom
I call! Oh, may He give me those three loaves! For you remember the
Gospel? Ah! see how good a thing it is to know God's word; those of you
who have read it are stirred within yourselves! For you remember how a
needy man came to his friend's house and asked for three loaves. And He
says that he sleepily replied to him: "I am resting, and my children are
with me asleep." But he persevered in his request, and wrung from him by
his importunity what his deserts could not get. But God wishes to give;
yet only to those who ask--lest He should give to those who understand
not. He does not wish to be stirred up by your weariness! For when you
pray you are not being troublesome to one who sleeps; _He slumbereth not
nor sleeps that keepeth Israel._[119] ... He, then, sleeps not; see you
that your faith sleeps not! (_Enarr. in Ps._ cii. 10).
_S. Augustine:_ Some there are who either do not pray at all, or pray
but tepidly; and this because, forsooth, they have learnt from the Lord
Himself[120] that God knows, even before we ask Him, what is necessary
for us. But because of such folk are we to say that these words are not
true and therefore to be blotted out of the Gospel? Nay, rather, since
it is clear that God gives some things even to those who do not ask--as,
for instance, the beginnings of faith--and has prepared other things for
those only who pray for them--as, for instance, final perseverance--it
is evident that he who fancies he has this latter of himself does not
pray to have it (_Of the Gift of Perseverance_, xvi. 39).
"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise
to my God while I have my being. Let my speech be acceptable to
Him; but I will take delight in the Lord."[121]
IV
Ought We To Pray To God Alone?
In Job v. 1 we read: _Call, now, if there be any that will answer thee,
and turn to some of the Saints._
Prayer is addressed to a person in two ways: in one way as a petition to
be granted by him; in another way as a petition to be forwarded by him.
In the former way we only pray to God, for all our prayers ought to be
directed to the attaining of grace and glory, and these God alone gives:
_The Lord will give grace and glory._[122] But in the latter way we set
forth our prayers both to the holy Angels and to men; and this, not that
through their intervention God may know our petitions, but rather that
by their prayers and merits our petitions may gain their end. Hence it
is said in the Apocalypse: _And the smoke of the incense of the prayers
of the Saints ascended up before God from the hand of the Angel._[123]
And this is clearly shown, too, from the style adopted by the Church in
her prayers: for of the Holy Trinity we pray that mercy may be shown us;
but of all the Saints, whomsoever they may be, we pray that they may
intercede for us.
Some, however, maintain that we ought to pray to God alone, thus:
1. Prayer is an act of the virtue of religion. But only God is to be
worshipped by the virtue of religion. Consequently it is to Him alone
that we should pray.
But in our prayers we only show religious worship to Him from
Whom we hope to obtain what we ask, for by so doing we confess
Him to be the Author of all our goods; but we do not show
religious worship to those whom we seek to have as intercessors
with us before God.
2. Again, prayer to those who cannot know what we pray for is idle. But
God alone can know our prayers, and this because prayer is frequently a
purely interior act of which God alone is cognizant, as the Apostle
says: _I will pray with the spirit. I will pray also with the
understanding_;[124] and also because, as S. Augustine says[125]: The
dead know not, not even the Saints, what the living--not even excepting
their own children--are doing.
It is true that the dead, if we consider only their natural
condition, do not know what is done on earth, and especially do
they not know the interior movements of the heart. But to the
Blessed, as S. Gregory says,[126] manifestation is made in the
Divine Word of those things which it is fitting that they should
know as taking place in our regard, even the interior movements
of the heart. And, indeed, it is most befitting their state of
excellence that they should be cognizant of petitions addressed
to them, whether vocally or mentally. Hence through God's
revelation they are cognizant of the petitions which we address
them.