Question III: Whether prayer is necessary

HERETICS, who hate the mean of virtue, are wont to be drawn to extremes. The Massilians indeed, according to Damascene, heresy 80, held that Prayer suffices for salvation even without the Sacraments; on the other hand, the Pelagians, according to D. Augustine heresy 88, said that prayer is useless. This error was most ancient, of which Ecclus. 16. The ancient giants did not pray for their sins, who were destroyed, trusting in their own strength.

THE SAME error was followed by the Albigenses, according to Bernard of Luxembourg, who took away the divine Providence, and also others who admitted providence, but said it introduces an absolute necessity into things, badly understanding that which D. Gregory discusses in the Dialogues, book 1, cap. 8, according to D. Bonaventure book 2 of the Pharetra, cap. 45, where he says: Those things can by no means be obtained by prayer which were not predestined. For he explains himself sufficiently, adding: but those things which holy men accomplish by praying are so predestined that they are obtained through prayers. Therefore the divine Providence is not changed by prayer; as some murmur according to D. Thomas.

THE SAME error was followed also by John Wycliffe, according to Waldensis Tom. 3, cap. 1. Luther indeed, who asserts the same necessity, nevertheless admits prayers.

FOR truly he sometimes, in order to exalt faith, destroys prayer, as Valentia relates, disput. 6, question 2, puncto 3.

I ASSERT first, that Prayer is useful for salvation.

IT IS PROVED most abundantly by D. Bonaventure, de profectu Religiosi, book 2, cap. 66, and eleven others.

FOR it placates the anger of God, Exodi 32, where Moses placated God by Prayer. It obtains the forgiveness of sins, Matth. 18. I forgave thee all thy debt, because thou didst ask me. Matth. 6. Forgive us our debts. It removes scourges. Num. 11. Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up, which was done as a figure, that it might also show that the fires of temptations are extinguished by prayer. It drives out the vices of the heart, Psalm 58. Disperse them in thy strength. It liberates those placed in dangers, Psalm 49. Call upon me in the day of tribulation. It defends from dangers, Matth. 24. Pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath. It vindicates against the enemies of the faith, 2 Paral. 32. Ezechias and Isaias prayed against Senacherib, and the Hebrews were delivered. It makes difficult things easy, Iosue 6. While the people shouted, the walls of Jericho fell down: It procures familiarity with God, Psalm 144. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him. Isa. 58. Thou shalt cry, and he shall say: Behold, I am here. It obtains the gifts of the Holy Ghost, Act. 2. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Lucae 11. The Father will give the good spirit to them that ask him. Likewise the gift of wisdom, Iacobi 1. If any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, etc. Likewise the grace of preaching, Ephes. 6. Praying for me, that speech may be given me in the opening of my mouth. Likewise the revelation of secrets. Hierem. 33. Call to me, and I will declare to thee great and firm things. Likewise the power of miracles, Isa. 5. Elias prayed that it might not rain. Likewise for the raising of a child, 3 Reg. 17. It confers temporal succors, Psal. 144. The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord, and thou givest them meat in due season. It relieves from miseries, 3 Reg. 8. If famine should arise, or pestilence, etc. It gives all useful and necessary things, Rom. 8. For what we should pray for as we ought, etc. It confers eternal life, Rom. 10. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Briefly (says S. Bonaventure) it represses all things contrary to salvation, and confers, preserves, and perfects what is necessary. For God wills not only to be prayed to for that which he himself has beforehand disposed to give, but he wills that we merit more by praying, through faith, whereby we believe what we see not; through hope, whereby we trust to obtain the things asked; through charity, whereby we love the hearer more abundantly, according to that Psalm 114. I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer.

HE CONCLUDES that prayer is as it were a mirror, in which our defects and progress may be seen. See S. Thomas the Doctor.

PRAYER finally (says S. Bonaventure) raises and draws the mind away from earthly things more than the other actions; because while those act with Martha amid frequent ministry, this with Mary adhering to the feet of the Lord entreats him alone to be propitious to her.

SINCE indeed many complain that they have prayed and have not obtained graces; he proceeds, cap. 67, to instruct such, saying that God sometimes seems angry, that he may induce us to prolong prayer. David complained, Psalm 29. Thou hast turned away thy face from me. Iob. 30. Behold, I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand, and thou dost not regard me. Therefore he asked, Hierem. 17. Be not thou a terror to me, my hope in the day of affliction. And Psalm 142. And enter not into judgment with thy servant. Isaix 63. The multitude of thy bowels, and thy mercies upon me, have restrained themselves.

HENCE D. Bernard, epistle to the brethren of Monte Dei: We must persevere in obsecrations, but in all humility and patience, because they bear fruit only in patience. For as it were he feels a kettle of bronze above him, while in praying he perceives no drop of devotion, as of heavenly dew, beating upon it; and the iron ground of his heart, while by no irrigation of psalms or prayers it is softened to the fruit of compunction; but like the woman of Chanaa he reckons that the averted face of the Lord reproaches him his sins, as it were the filth of a dog, and he thinks himself unworthy of the bread of the children.

SOMETIMES, intent on something else, God seems not to attend to the affections of the one praying. Hence he cried, Psalm 56. Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my deprecation. Sometimes he seems to attend to the one praying, but by keeping silence not to consent, that he may lift up those prayers, Iob. 9. Though he should hear me when I call, etc. I believe not, that is, I know not certainly, whether he will hear my voice.

BUT God will hear him who hath not hesitated in his heart, but hath believed; because whatsoever he shall say, let it be done, it shall be done to him, Matth. 21. All things whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive. And James, cap. 1. But let him ask in faith, wavering nothing. He brings forward indeed the parable of Lucae 11, of him who at night imports a friend, and although the friend be in bed, yet on account of his importunity he will arise.

ELEGANTLY indeed, cap. 61 and 68, he discourses how, under the form of thanksgiving, prayer obtains all things necessary, while, introducing various personages of the poor, it offers itself to God. Sometimes it introduces the person of a servant, and entreats its Judge. Iob. 10. Condemn me not, like that Publican of Lucae 18, who with downcast face, striking his breast, said: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. Behold, from a servant he becomes the son of adoption: This man went down justified into his house. Sometimes, as a poor man, it asks daily bread. Sometimes, under the appearance of a friend, it offers itself to God as it were his very like, as in Genes. 18 Abraham prays for the Sodomites; Moses for the people, Exodi 32. Lest, I beseech, the Egyptians say: He craftily led them out. Let thy anger cease, and be appeased. And Numer. 14. Lest the Egyptians hear that thou hast slain so great a multitude, as it were one man, and say: He could not bring them into the land for which he had sworn. Sometimes, as a spouse most holily desiring to be joined to God, it cries: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.

SOMETIMES, as a son trusting in paternal charity, it sounds of command. Thus Moses, Exodi 33. When thou shalt have said: I have known thee by name, and thou hast found grace before me. If therefore I have found grace in thy sight, show me thy face, and that I may know thee; and look upon this nation. And cap. 34. If I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, I beseech thee, that thou walk with us, and take away our iniquities and sins, and possess us.

SOMETIMES, forgetful of itself, above all things it yearns for the glory of God. Rom. 9. Great sorrow to me, etc. I myself wished to be an anathema, etc. Exod. cap. 32. I beseech thee, O Lord, thy people hath sinned a great sin; either forgive them this offense, or blot me out of thy book which thou hast written. Great confidence of a man toward God (says S. Thomas the Doctor). He does not ask to be blotted out of the book of God, but with that confidence whereby he presumes that he is not to be blotted out of the book of life, he asks that that be remitted, not doubting that he shall be heard; whence also he obtained what he asked. After this, cap. 69, he deduces very many utilities of prayer, nay, from these its necessity.

I ASSERT therefore secondly, that Prayer is necessary.

IT IS PROVED by S. Thomas the Doctor there, from that Lucae 18. We ought always to pray, and not to faint. And 1 Thessal. 5. Pray without ceasing; in all things give thanks. Hence Psalm 33. I will bless the Lord at all times.

BROADLY he proves it at the words cited of Lucae 18, from that Eccles. 18. Be not hindered from praying always, and be not afraid of being justified even unto death. Eccles. 3. He that loveth God shall pray for his sins, and in the prayer of days he shall be heard. Then he enumerates ten effects of prayer, or goods necessary to salvation, from which he derives the necessity of prayer.

FIRST indeed prayer obtains the relaxation of the divine sentence: thus Isaix 38, Ezechias prayed to the Lord, and it is added that God recalled his decree. And Sap. 18. For that man hastening and without complaint to pray for the people, bringing forth the shield of his servitude, prayer, and alleging deprecation by incense, withstood the anger.

SECOND it obtains remission of punishments for sins, Matth. 17. This kind of devils is not cast out but by prayer and fasting. Thus sins also are remitted, Psalm 31. I said: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord; and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.

THIRD it preserves from deadly falls, Matth. 26. Watch ye, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.

FOURTH it repairs the strength of nature for salvation, Iacobi 5. The prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord will lift him up.

FIFTH it preserves peace, and life in tranquil salvation, Prima Timot. 2. I desire first of all that obsecrations, prayers, postulations, and thanksgivings be made, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all piety and chastity.

SIXTH it guards the tranquillity of conscience, Philip. 4. Be nothing solicitous: but in every prayer and obsecration with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts.

SEVENTH it enkindles in the service and grace of God. In figure of this, 3 Reg. 18. Elias: I will call upon the name of the Lord: and the God who shall hear by fire, let him be God. Whence Act. 1. that they might obtain the Holy Ghost: They were persevering in prayer with one accord.

EIGHTH it teaches and illumines the mind to know things above. We have an example of this in Salomon 3 Reg. 3. and Iacob. 5. If any of you want Wisdom, let him ask, etc.

NINTH it obtains the admittance of the heavenly gate, Iacob. 5. Elias was a man passible like unto us: and with prayer he prayed that it might not rain upon the earth, and it rained not for three years and six months. And again he prayed: and heaven gave rain. Hence then the cloud was seen, as the footprint of a man. Pagninus, as the palm of a man; that is, the pure hand opening heaven, according to the precept of the Apostle: Lifting up pure hands to God.

TENTH it obtains finally the eternal reward, Matth. 6. But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee. And Psalm. 60. For thou, O my God, hast heard my prayer; thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name.

IN FIGURE of these ten goods, and these ten virtues of prayer, the Sun at the prayer of Ezechias (says S. Thomas the Doctor) is read to have gone back ten degrees. From which it is gathered that prayer prevails over inferior nature, prevails over the virtue of heaven, commands spiritual nature, draws the Holy Spirit, calls upon the Son of God, and appeases the Father, and by this it has a kind of dominion over the universe. Such S. Thomas the Doctor.

CHRIST demonstrated this necessity to us by his own example in all his illustrious works, as S. Bonaventure observes on 3 Lucae, at those words: And it came to pass, Jesus being baptized, and praying. He proves, moreover, from this that precept of the same Lord, cap. 18. Lucae: We ought always to pray, and not to faint. Thus Christ prayed Lucae 3. to give form to those coming to baptism. In the solitude of the desert he prayed, cap. 5. He himself withdrew into the desert and prayed, that he might prescribe the manner of the contemplative life. In preaching, cap. 6. And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, that he might give the Norm to preachers. In the working of miracles, Ioan. 11. Father, I give thee thanks, that he might give form to those working. In the passion: He went forward and fell on his face, praying. Matth. 26. that he might give form to those bearing evils. In the administration of his body: Taking the chalice, he gave thanks. Lucae 22. that he might leave the Rule to those handling the Sacraments. In death, Lucae 23. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and saying this, he expired, that he might be the exemplar of the dying, and so in the whole of life even to the last breath he might show prayer necessary.

HE OBSERVES also on 22. Lucae, that Christ prayed three times, and came to arouse the disciples to prayer: Arise, pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

HE prayed three times, to show the necessity of prayer to the God who is Three, against the triple kind of temptation, the Concupiscence of the flesh, the Concupiscence of the eyes, and the Pride of life. And it ought to be according to the striving of the triple power, and according to the triple Theological virtue, FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY: and on account of the triple good to be attained, namely pardon, grace, and glory. And, Goodness, discipline, and knowledge, as it is said Psal. 118. But he visited three times, to show that prayer moderates and composes the Irascible, the Concupiscible, and the Rational.

HE CONFIRMS the necessity of prayer S. D. on 11. Lucae, in the exposition of the Lord's Prayer; for Christ handed down the form of praying, explaining the petitions to be made, which truly show it to be necessary. For he asks the sanctification of the divine name, which we ought necessarily to desire. He asks glory, which is the last end. He asks obedience to the divine commands: Thy will be done. He asks grace, and the spiritual rampart of the helps of God, the most august food giving strength: Our daily bread. He asks that he forgive us the sins we have committed, and preserve us henceforth from them, and from all evil.

HE URGES gravely in opusc. de perfectione ad sorores, cap. 5. the necessities which we have, that we may be delivered from temptations. Therefore he says Christ earnestly admonished the disciples, Matth. 26. Marci 14. Lucae 22. Watch ye, and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Truly, among all things, perseverance even unto the end is necessary.

EMINENTLY S. Thomas the Doctor, on 11. Lucae, at those first words: And it came to pass: as he was in a certain place praying, shows that one must never cease from prayer; for Christ too Lucae 22. Being in an agony, he prayed the longer, and truly he did this for the instruction of our infirmity, to show how much we need prayers. Therefore Rom. 8. The Spirit helpeth our infirmity, and again he brings forward the places cited above, prima Thessal. 2. Lucae 6. et 18. Eccles. 18.

FROM which, and other testimonies with which the works of the Seraphic Doctor are sprinkled, it is gathered that the precept of prayer, which is affirmative, indeed does not oblige always, but in necessity, especially of pressing temptations, in which grave danger impends, when one undertakes a weighty and perilous work; and whenever one must dispose oneself to grace, that sins may be expelled. Thus teach also Valentia disp. 6. quaest. 2. puncto 3. Medina quaest. 11. de oratione. Sylvester verb. oratio numero 8. Filliuc. tract. 28. cap. 2. quaest. 5. Less. l. 2. cap. 37. dub. 3. Dian. p. 3. t. 5. resol. 16. Sylvius quaest. 83. art. 2. Becan. ibi, quaest. 1. Bassaeus v. Oratio, adding that the obligation must be adverted to: but in danger not to be distinguished from an indirect volition of fault.

THE BEST argument, however, for proving the necessity of prayer is that adduced quaest. 2. from D. Bonav. 5. part Brevil. cap. 10.

MOST BRILLIANTLY also the holy Fathers expounded this necessity of prayer, whom S. Thomas the Doctor cites l. 2. Pharetrae, cap. 45. and in other places alleged Lucae 18.

D. CHRYSOST. l. 1. de orando Deum: Just as this body of ours, if the soul be not present, is truly dead and fetid: so the soul, unless it stirs itself up to pray, is dead and wretched, and heavily stinking.

D. HIERONYMUS, after serm. D. Bonav. de B. Virg. Frequent prayer extinguishes the assault of vices: but instant prayer obtains pardon of sins, according to that Eccles. 3. He that loveth God shall pray for his sins, and in the prayer of days he shall be heard, etc. and that Matth. 17. This kind of devils is not cast out but by prayer and fasting, he says: By fasting the plagues of the body are healed; by prayer the plagues of the mind.

D. Aug. at those words, Psalm 118. Goodness, and discipline, and knowledge, etc. conc. 17. He to whom God propitiously inspires the delight of good, to whom there is given by God the charity of God, and for God the charity of neighbor, ought to pray instantly, whereby this gift may be so increased in him that he not only despises the other delights but also bears any whatsoever passions.

Likewise D. August. or Gennadius, de Ecclesiast. dogmat. cap. 56. We believe that no one comes to salvation unless God invite: no one, when invited, works out his salvation unless God assist: no one merits help unless he pray.

D. Isidorus, de summo bono l. I. cap. 23. sent. 1. The Symbol of Faith, and the Lord's Prayer suffice for the little ones of the Church, for the whole law, to grasp the kingdoms of heaven; for all the breadth of the Scriptures is concluded in the same Lord's Prayer, and the brevity of the Symbol.

D. Bernard, serm. 57. In doubts the unique remedy, or refuge, is prayer, and frequent groaning to God; and that God deign to show us by his breathing what, when, and how he wills us to do.

And in the sermon on the four manners of praying: In all our actions and observances much vigilance of soul is needed, but especially in prayer.

VERY MANY other testimonies S. Thomas the Doctor has everywhere in his opuscula.