p. 8On Prayer

Of all possible human occupations and actions prayer is the most sublime, the most noble and the most excellent, for it is a familiar intercourse between God and man. At prayer God speaks to man, and man to God. In prayer we raise our mind and heart to God Himself, the chief Good, in order to honor, adore and love Him, to praise and thank Him, to bewail our sins in His presence, to crave pardon for them, and to express holy resolutions of amendment and fidelity, and, finally, to petition Him for all that is necessary or useful for His glory, and for the temporal and eternal welfare of ourselves and of our fellow-men. The whole life of the angels and saints in heaven is a constant prayer. The Heart of Jesus, the heart of Mary, the heart of the saints on earth, were continually united to God in prayer. Some men have gone so far in their pride as to assert that in praying man dishonors himself. This is both false and absurd, for it is precisely by prayer that man exalts himself. The voluntary abasement of the heart in prayer, the humility adoring God in love and imploring Him to grant what He is not bound to give, and what He will grant only to prayer, is the very step by which man is enabled to ascend to noble sentiments, to virtue, to the image and likeness of God, who is the true and only source of human greatness. Prayer is the language of our wants, the practical acknowledgment of our dependence on God, the exercise and clear proof of our religion, the bond uniting us to divine love, the pulsation of religious life and sentiment.

The prayerless Christian is a man without God, without religious worship, without religion and without hope. Happy, then, is the soul that wishes to pray and can pray. A thousand times unhappy is he who despises and neglects prayer. As a man prays, so he lives. He lives badly that prays badly; he that prays not at all, lives not humanly, but only vegetates. Prayer is to an uncorrupted heart like a second nature—an imperative and sweet habit. A friend takes pleasure in thinking of his friend, and finds delight in a hearty and confidential talk with him. A good child delights in thinking of his beloved father, and has no difficulty in opening his heart to him. How, then, can it be difficult for a Christian to think of God, his gracious Father, of Jesus Christ, his most p. 9loving Redeemer, to express to Him his feelings of reverence, love and gratitude, and to beseech Him, with childlike and affectionate confidence, to grant him His help and His grace. He who reflects on this will not be astonished at this admonition of St. Paul, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. v. 17).

Prayer is not so difficult as many imagine. A truly Christian soul can surely find no great difficulty in presenting to God in prayer her weakness, her shortcomings, her wants, her desires, her sufferings and trials. Experience tells her loudly enough, that all the efforts of her ingenuity alone cannot console her in her difficulties and afflictions, or enable her to escape the evils that oppress her. Prayer is so easy that, if we so wish, we can always and in all places raise our heart devoutly to God; to do this there is no need of many words or of choice phrases, for, to converse with God, all that is required is to direct our thoughts to Him, and to speak to Him sincerely and familiarly, and He will listen to us and grant us His favors. And this we can do whenever and wherever and as often as we wish. Nevertheless, the prayers we offer up in church are more pleasing to God. He will there, if we may so speak, listen more attentively to the cry of the afflicted, and will more easily grant our petitions. “My eyes shall be open, and My ears attentive to the prayer of him that shall pray in this place” (2 Paral. vii. 15). The church is specially destined and dedicated to prayer and divine worship: “My house is a house of prayer” (Luke xix. 46). Everything therein raises our affections to God, and our prayers there are strongly supported by those of our fellow-Christians. Another advantage of our churches is that they are “the house of God,” the place where Jesus Christ, through whose merits alone every good thing is imparted to us, dwells personally as God and man in the Sacrament of His love, in order to receive the homages and supplications of His children, and to nourish them with His graces and blessings. Hence the prayers offered up in church are specially salutary and profitable.

In order to raise our thoughts to God and speak to Him sincerely and familiarly and in a way pleasing to Him and useful to ourselves, we should, as the apostles once did, address this petition to Him, “Lord, teach us how to pray” (Luke xi. 1). He will teach us by His example, by His words and by His grace. After His baptism He withdrew into a desert and there spent forty days in prayer. During His ministry He would often, after a day of labor and fatigue, retire to some solitary place to spend the night in prayer. He prayed on the mount of His transfiguration, before raising Lazarus to life, at the Last Supper, in the garden of olives, on the cross. He told His disciples that “it behooveth always to pray and not to faint” (Luke xviii. 1); “watch ye and pray” (John iv. 2); “ask, and you shall receive” (Mat. vii. 7). He ascended into heaven, as St. Paul writes to the Hebrews, in order to appear before the face of God in our behalf, and “He liveth always, in order to pray for us” (Hebr. vii. 25; Rom. viii. 34).

It is not only a self-evident and expressly and strictly commanded obligation to love God, to offer Him due homage, to thank Him for benefits received, and to crave pardon for the offences committed against Him, and all this is done through prayer, but prayer is also absolutely necessary to all who have attained the use of reason as a means of obtaining the graces necessary p. 10for salvation. For without grace, without the divine assistance, we can do nothing profitable to our salvation: “Without Me,” says Jesus Christ, “you can do nothing” (John xv. 5); nay, even the desire of doing good is not our own work, for St. Paul says: “Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God” (2 Cor. iii. 5). For this we need grace, since we are helpless of ourselves. Without divine grace we cannot have faith, hope and charity, nor repent of our sins, overcome temptation, and avoid sin, discharge our duties in a manner pleasing to God, exercise any Christian virtue, carry our cross, and suffer piously and meritoriously, or keep our resolutions and promises to God, nor, what is of the utmost importance, persevere in good until the end. The most necessary and indispensable means of obtaining all these graces, in the ordinary dispensation of divine providence, i.e., whenever God does not work a miracle to help us, is prayer. God, indeed, imparts some graces without being asked; among these is the grace of prayer, and the gift of faith, and baptism to infants incapable of praying for it. But, because adults have to obtain salvation by their own cooperation, God has made the granting of further graces dependent on prayer. He wishes to draw more closely to Himself our mind and heart, and render our desires more earnest and ardent, by more deeply impressing upon us our own weakness and helplessness. Hence He bids us pray in these words, “Ask, and you shall receive” (John xvi. 24). Prayer is, then, in the designs of God, the channel, the ordinary means of grace for us. Hence we should consider it as something unusual, extraordinary, accidental, to receive something without having asked for it, or to find something without seeking it. But since it would be presumptuous and imprudent to depend on chance for our salvation, it behooves us to pray for the necessary graces. The greatest and most important graces, especially the forgiveness of sins and sanctifying grace, are not given to us directly through prayer alone, but through the reception of the sacraments; but without prayer we cannot worthily receive the sacraments, nor appropriate their effects to ourselves, nor perseveringly cooperate with them.

It is contrary to sound reason to say or think that it is superfluous to lay our wants in prayer before God, who, being omniscient, already knows them, and who, being the ineffable Goodness, is ever ready to supply them; for we do not pray merely to inform God of our needs, for “our p. 11Father in heaven knoweth that we have need of all these things” (Mat. vi. 32). Nor do we pray because we doubt His goodness and strive to soften His hard-heartedness by our supplications, for “God loveth us with an everlasting love” (Jer. xxxi. 3), and is far more ready to give to us than we are eager to ask and receive. Nor do we imagine that our prayers will cause divine providence to alter its decrees. But rather we pray, because it is the eternal divine decree that we should through prayer obtain and appropriate those graces and benefits which, out of His eternal love, God has destined for us. Do not men themselves require that he who desires their help should at least mention it to them? And would not he be undeserving of assistance, who would be too proud, too obstinate, too light-minded, to ask for it? There are three principal reasons why we should receive only through prayer the graces and gifts God has in store for us. First, we, as rational beings, should by prayer acknowledge God as the Giver of all that is good. Secondly, we, as free beings, should by prayer open and prepare our heart to receive grace. Just as in order to see we must open our eyes to the light, as in order to nourish ourselves we must eat our food, so should our soul, by means of prayer, appropriate divine grace to itself. What we have obtained by most earnest and persistent prayer, we esteem more highly and put to greater profit. Finally, aware of the necessity of prayer, we should be induced to keep God always in view, to converse with Him reverently and with childlike confidence, and thereby unite ourselves always more and more closely to Him.

For the very reason that God has imposed prayer as an indispensable obligation upon us, we should not entertain the least doubt of its power and efficacy. For why would God prescribe prayer, if He did not really intend to grant us what we pray for? Could He be so cruel as to excite us to hope for favors, and at the same time deceive us? Could He be so hard-hearted as to refuse and withhold the very things He commands us to ask of Him? The clear, express and solemn words of our divine Saviour leave us no room for doubt on this subject: “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Therefore I say unto you: all things, whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you. Amen, amen, I say unto you: if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you” (Mat. vii. 7; Mark xi. 24; John xvi. 23). Our Lord makes no exception either as to the person asking, or as to the thing asked. After this solemn assurance of our Saviour, we no longer have to rely merely on the free divine goodness to obtain from God all that we pray for, but also on the divine veracity and fidelity, which cannot possibly fail. Moreover, since our divine Redeemer, as the apostle teaches, prays for us in heaven as our Mediator, and the Holy Ghost in us supports our prayers “by ineffable groanings,” and since the Most Blessed Virgin Mary adds her powerful intercession for us, and our glorified brethren in heaven cause their influence with God to be felt in our behalf, and the prayers of the Church also and of all the just benefit us, we can easily understand how it is that the masters of the spiritual life so greatly exalt the power and efficacy of prayer. “If thou wishest,” says St. Bonaventure, p. 12“to endure adversity patiently, be a man of prayer; if thou wishest to conquer temptation and mental anxiety, to overcome the emotions of the passions, to discover the wiles of Satan and escape his snares, to live cheerfully in the service of God and walk undisturbed in the way of cares and tribulations, be a man of prayer. If thou wishest to lead a spiritual life and resist the lusts and desires of sensuality, to banish proud and evil thoughts, to fill thy soul with holy and good thoughts and aspirations and devout sentiments, be a man of prayer. If thou wishest to strengthen thy heart in God’s service with a manly spirit and steadfast resolutions, to extirpate thy faults and to enrich thyself with virtues, be a man of prayer.”

“Prayer,” says St. John Chrysostom, “is a haven for the tempest-tossed, an anchor for those that are at the mercy of the waves, a staff for the tottering, a treasure for the poor, security for the rich, a preservative against and a cure of disease, and a protection of health. Prayer insures our spiritual goods against loss, and quickly changes the evils that oppress us. It enables us to resist all allurements to sin, and to bear up manfully with loss of goods and adversity. Prayer is a place of refuge against sadness, the basis of cheerfulness, the cause of constant joy, the source of true wisdom. He who can pray earnestly, however great his poverty, is richer than all others; but he who neglects prayer, were he even seated on a throne, is the poorest of all. … Prayer is the most powerful of weapons and an inexhaustible treasure. … What cannot be effected by wealth, art and skill, by the experience of physicians and by the greatest influence, has been successfully achieved by the prayer of a poor and destitute person. … The power of prayer has already extinguished the power of fire, tamed the fury of wild beasts, put an end to wars and conflicts, dispelled storms, expelled the evil spirits, opened the gates of heaven, burst asunder the bonds of death, and averted injury and misfortune.”

According to the testimony of Holy Scripture and of history, all those who have prayed properly have always obtained whatever they asked. Often the Lord rescued them from desperate situations, and this not unfrequently by astonishing miracles. In prayer the saints had everything in their power; they raised their voice, and nature altered its course. “Sighs ascended to heaven,” says St. Augustine, “and miracles descended.” By prayer David obtained the pardon of his sins, Solomon the spirit of wisdom, Ezechias the prolongation of his p. 13life, Manasses the soothing of God’s wrath, the Machabees the most decisive victory over the enemies of their nation, the apostles the successful and rapid spread of the Gospel, and the Church her triumph over the most bloody persecutions and the most fearful storms.

But besides obtaining for us gifts and graces, prayer bears manifold heavenly fruits, among which the following are the principal. First, in prayer our mind is always more and more enlightened, and we learn to know God better, to detach our heart ever more and more from all that is earthly and mean, and to raise it towards that which is more noble and heavenly, and we become more and more conversant and united with God, and make progress in perfection. Secondly, in prayer we exercise very many virtues, and especially faith, hope, charity, humility, and since it is necessary to overcome sloth, sensuality and inconstancy, in order to pray well, we exercise also self-denial and constancy. Thirdly, prayer, when offered in the state of grace, is highly meritorious, and increases sanctifying grace and the heavenly reward. Fourthly, by prayer we become always more and more similar to God. Just as we contract the manners of those with whom we frequently associate, so also the soul that associates much with God in prayer, becomes like God. “Since those who associate with the learned and the wise,” says St. John Chrysostom, “soon acquire a tinge of learning and education, what must happen to him who has frequent intercourse in prayer with God—the sublimest and eternal Wisdom! How wise, how virtuous, how temperate and holy will he not soon become!” Fifthly, prayer consoles us in suffering, calms anxiety, and fills with joy and a foretaste of heavenly bliss. On the contrary, he who does not pray leads a God-forsaken, sad and gloomy life, and becomes gradually more and more similar to irrational animals and to the evil spirits, which neither do nor can pray.

It is clear that all this does not apply to that kind of prayer which consists only in the motion of the lips and the sound of the voice. The prayer that truly gives honor to God and obtains His grace, is an exercise of both mind and heart, and of the heart especially, for it is the heart principally that prays. The prayer that remains within the mind and heart is called mental prayer. When the devout prayer of the heart is expressed in words, it is called vocal prayer.

Mental prayer is the most excellent form of prayer. We should, nevertheless, not depreciate or neglect vocal prayer, which, when united with interior devotion, is pleasing to God and very profitable to us in several ways. First, it comprises an essential part of divine service and pays to God the homage which our whole being, our body as well as our soul, owes to God. It is meet and just that we praise God, not in our heart only, but also with our lips. Secondly, it pertains to human nature to express in words the sentiments of the heart. Thirdly, when vocal prayer is becomingly said, our mind is recollected and our devotion nourished and increased. Fourthly, in both the Old and New Testaments God approved and commanded vocal prayer. Jesus Christ said vocal prayers and taught the most excellent of vocal prayers to His apostles. The Church herself prescribes in the Divine Office many vocal prayers to be recited daily by the clergy and by religious. Some persons recite many vocal prayers; this is very well, provided their heart is moved and their piety and devotion p. 14promoted thereby. But a mere motion of the lips, without sincerity and devotion of the heart, is displeasing to God and bears no fruit. Others say but few vocal prayers; this is far better, if it is done with the intention of devoting more time to mental prayer. In this kind of prayer there is no need of restriction as to the length of time spent therein, provided only that we make it as well as we can.

The prayer we offer in secret is specially wholesome and powerful, first, on account of our greater recollection; secondly, because we thereby shun all danger of hypocrisy; thirdly, because it indicates a special love of prayer and a lively faith. We should, then, pray much in secret and in solitude, according to our Saviour’s admonition, “When thou prayest, go into thy chamber, lock the door and pray in secret to thy heavenly Father” (Mat. vi. 6).

Prayer said in common and in public possesses special efficacy, already on account of the union of faith, hope and charity of many, and also particularly on account of our divine Saviour’s promise: “I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father who is in heaven. For where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them” (Mat. xviii. 19, 20). Hence, every one should gladly pray in common with others, both in public in the church and at home with the inmates of the house at morning and night prayers and other family devotions. From this it follows that it is profitable to us and pleasing to God to join pious confraternities, in order to share in the prayers of others, to recommend one’s self to their prayers, as St. Paul does in every one of his epistles to the Christians of his day.

We should and may pray only for what is good and pleasing to God. But only that is good and pleasing to Him which conduces to His honor and to the salvation of ourselves or of our fellow-men. In the first place, there are certain divine gifts that are conducive to God’s honor and our salvation always and under all circumstances. These are divine grace, the forgiveness of sins, Christian virtue and justice, perseverance in the state of grace, a good death, and eternal happiness. Secondly, there are things that may either promote our salvation or lead to our ruin, and of which we do not know whether, in our case, they are profitable or injurious to God’s honor and our salvation. Such are temporal goods, e.g., health, success in our undertakings, temporal prosperity, and deliverance from physical evils and p. 15sufferings either of body or of soul. We should, first of all, and frequently and unconditionally pray for those divine graces that are always conducive to God’s honor and our salvation. These prayers are always granted. We should, before all, pray for the forgiveness of our sins and for all the graces necessary to obtain it, and then for victory over temptations to sin. We may also pray to be wholly free from temptations; but, as temptations in themselves are not evil, and may be useful and even necessary to strengthen our virtue and maintain us in humility and watchfulness, God does not always grant this prayer, but then He will always give us the grace to overcome the temptation, if, on our part, we make use of the proper means. We have a remarkable illustration of this in St. Paul, whose prayer to be freed from a great temptation was not granted, in order that he might have the merit of combating it and of perfecting himself in virtue. “There was given me,” he writes, “a sting of my flesh, an angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which thing I thrice besought the Lord, that it might depart from me. And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for virtue is made perfect in infirmity” (2 Cor. xii. 7–9). Finally, we should pray for all the Christian virtues, especially for those we need the most and of which we are most destitute. Let us often pray for an increase of faith, hope and charity, for true humility, chastity in accordance with our state of life, meekness and the graces necessary to fulfil the duties of our state, for the grace always to receive the sacraments worthily, the grace of prayer, the love of Jesus Christ, a childlike confidence in the Mother of God, and especially for the last and greatest of all graces,—the grace of final perseverance and a holy death.

As to temporal goods and deliverance from temporal and physical evils, we may pray for them also with confidence, yet under this condition, “If such be the will of God, if it be conducive to God’s honor and profitable to our salvation.”

First of all and before all we should pray for ourselves, for our own salvation, and then for our neighbor’s salvation also, just as for our own, for we should love our neighbor as ourselves. In a special manner we should pray first for those with whom we are connected, not only as fellow-beings, but also by special ties and duties, viz.: for all related to us, such as our parents, our children, brothers and sisters, relatives, friends, those subject to us, and then for our spiritual and temporal superiors. Parents, pastors, and teachers should bear in mind that, without fervent prayer, they cannot effect anything for the salvation of those intrusted to them. Secondly, we should pray for those who stand in greater need of our prayers, that is, (1) heretics, unbelievers and sinners, for all who are in great danger of their salvation. Hence there is nothing more exalted, or more charitable and meritorious, than the prayer for the conversion of sinners.—(2) The innocent in danger of sin and seduction, especially for the youth who are nowadays so exposed to spiritual dangers.—(3) The dying in the agony of death. There are men dying at every second of time.—(4) The suffering souls in purgatory, who so greatly long for our suffrages and are so worthy of them. In the third place, since our salvation and that of all men depends chiefly on the propagation and prosperity of the true religion,—the Church of God on earth,—we ought always fervently to pray for the holy Catholic Church, for her head, our p. 16holy Father the Pope, for our Bishop, for our pastors, and for the clergy and the religious orders. We should implore God to preserve His Church from all internal and external enemies, from schisms and scandals, and beseech Him to give His people good, pious, zealous priests, and increase faith, charity and all Christian virtues in our parish, and generally among all Christians.

When thou wishest to pray, first collect thy thoughts according to the admonition of the Holy Ghost, “Before prayer prepare thy soul, and be not as a man that tempteth God” (Eccl. xviii. 23). Banish all foreign thoughts, and, by a short and fervent act of faith, place thyself in the presence of God, considering that God is present near thee, in thy very heart, and knows its every thought and affection. In the next place, since God hears only such as have a pure, or at least a penitent, heart, and since the prayer of the impenitent is “an abomination before Him” (Prov. xxviii. 9), accustom thyself before prayer to awaken within thee a short but fervent act of contrition and divine love, and to humble thyself before God, “Thou shalt not, O God, despise a contrite and humbled heart” (Ps. l. 19). Then in thy prayer speak to God with all reverence and with the utmost confidence. With reverence, speak as a lowly sinful creature to thy Creator and sovereign Lord. This reverence should pervade thy interior and, at the same time, be expressed in thy exterior deportment. Hence, whenever possible, pray kneeling and with joined hands. It is especially in church that thou shouldst take a modest and respectful posture, for, on the one hand, thou art obliged to do this out of due reverence to thy Saviour present in the Blessed Sacrament; and, on the other hand, it is not enough that thou refrain from giving scandal to those present, but thou art bound also to edify them by thy conduct.

The principal power of prayer, however, consists in a childlike confidence; hence our Saviour taught us to address God as—Our Father. And St. Paul says, “You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba (Father)” (Rom. viii. 15). Hence not as distrustful servants with a severe master, but as children with a most loving father, or with their tender mother, should we speak with God, with our Saviour. And even the greatest sinner, if he be truly contrite, may and should go to God with a similar childlike confidence, and, like the prodigal son to his father, should thus speak to God. “Beloved Father, I have, indeed, sinned grievously, and deserve nought but punishment; but p. 17Thou art still my Father, forgive me; I will earnestly strive to amend my life.” In the next place, we should endeavor to pray with fervor and recollection. Distractions, to which we have not given occasion and which we do not like, but try to banish, should not disturb us. It does not depend entirely upon us to be free from all distractions; the inconstancy and weakness of our mind is so great, that it is almost impossible for us to attend to the meaning of the words we pronounce for any length of time without distraction. Sensible unction and continuous devotion in prayer are a great delight; but he who combats the distractions and perseveres in prayer, notwithstanding dryness of spirit, obtains many graces and great merits. In general, good Christians should not be uneasy or despondent, if, as they imagine, prayer does not succeed with them, or if they experience therein no interior consolation or enjoyment. The fruit of prayer does not make its appearance during, but after, prayer. He who, by means of prayer, becomes better, stronger in virtue, more humble, more patient, more faithful in the duties of his state, more considerate and charitable towards his fellow-men, has prayed well, very well indeed, however dry and distracted he may have been. “The very apprehension that we may not pray well,” says St. Augustine, “is an excellent prayer.” Finally, in order to be heard, we should pray in the name of Jesus Christ; that is, we must hope and desire that our prayers be heard, not on account of our worthiness and merits, as the proud pharisee desired, nor on account of the excellence of our prayer, or as if we had a right to be heard, but solely and only on account of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Saviour. Let us before concluding our prayers beseech the heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, through His bitter passion and death and His precious blood shed for us. Let us turn also to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Himself, for He says to us, “If you ask Me any thing in My name, that I will do” (John xiv. 14). Let us, in consideration of our unworthiness and weaknesses, beseech the holy angels and the saints, and especially the holy Mother of God, whose influence with her Son is unlimited, to assist us by their intercession, and then we may confidently expect to receive what we pray for.