Question VII: Who ought to pray — Bontempi, Palladium Theologicum V

1.

I say with D. Thomas, artic. 16, that every man, while he leads this life, can and ought to pray, at the time when the precept of praying binds, as I said quaestione 3. For every man is either a sinner or just: If just, he needs prayer to persevere and not be led into temptation: But if he is a sinner, he needs prayer to ask for grace; and I showed the necessity of prayer sufficiently quaestione tertia.

To whom and for whom we pray

2.

NOTE that which I said quaest. 4, that he who wishes to merit, or to satisfy by his prayer, ought to be in grace; and in this sense D. Bonav. de profectu relig. cap. 71 expounds that text Ioan. 9. We know that God heareth not sinners; he hears them not, namely, unto merit, or to release souls from Purgatory, as D. Bonavent. teaches in 4 dist. 45 art. 2 quaest. 2, where he expounds this passage thus. Or understand the sinner as one who is pertinacious; for he has often heard even sinners, as the same Holy Doctor notes, there alleged, and ad 7 Lucae, where he considers that the sinful woman was heard. Similarly Luke 10, the Publican, Luke 23 the Thief, etc., as Valentia also observes p. 6 after D. Bonavent. on that passage Ioan. 9, where D. August. is brought in, tract. 44, asking: If God hears not sinners, how did he hear the publican and the sinful woman? In vain would the publican have prayed: God be merciful to me a sinner. And S. August. answers: As one unskilled in speech, not as one seeing fully, this is to be understood, that sinners are called so in a twofold way, either as sinners in act and affection. And such God does not hear, inasmuch as they are such: For there is no comely praise in the mouth of a sinner. Or they are called sinners who acknowledge their sins and reckon themselves sinners, Matth. 9: I came not to call the just, but sinners. And such he hears, as the Publican. John adds there out of the mouth of the blind man: But if anyone be a worshiper of God, him God heareth.

To whom and for whom we pray

3.

A QUESTION is moved here, moreover, by the Holy Doctor: Paul was a worshiper of God, and was not heard, 2. Corinth. 12. And he answers that the Apostle was heard unto his utility, even if not unto his wish, because, as S. August. says, lib. de unitate Ecclesiae cap. 16, and tract. 73 in Ioan: God sometimes hears propitiously, sometimes angrily, as sinners abiding in their sin, as is said Isa. 59: Your sins have hid his face from you, that he may not hear; because, as is said Sap. 2, perverse thoughts separate from God, neither indeed is prayer appeasing where the person is unworthy. Therefore he observes that God in Genes. 4 first looked upon Abel, and then upon his offerings; but did not look first upon Cain, and then upon his offerings.

To whom and for whom we pray

4.

From these things you have that Vuicleph spoke insipidly, in error 26 condemned in the Council of Constant. sess. 8, saying that the prayer of the predestined avails nothing; which was rejected above. Truly pertinacious sinners, not praying with a right mind, are heard by God angry, as D. August. says, Tract. 73, alleged above, where he says: It is to be feared, lest God, what he could not give propitious, give in anger many things. For then the very prayer is a mockery of God, as Valentia says loc. cit. with D. Bonav. in Pharetra, p. 2 cap. 46, from D. Chrysost. homil. 15 in Matth. in the imperfect work. And such are the prayers which the Scriptures and Fathers alleged in quaestione 4 justly condemn.

To whom and for whom we pray

5.

THEN I say that the Saints in Beatitude pray for us, as I shall show 3. p. Tract. de purgat.

To whom and for whom we pray

6.

THE DAMNED, however, can ask. For thus the rich man in the feast asked that he be sent to his brethren, and that they send Lazarus to him, as the Holy Doctor observes Lucae 16, where he calls that petition a postulation, and will not call it a prayer, because it is not an act of the virtue of Religion, but from a perverse affection of envy toward Lazarus, and a carnal affection toward his brethren, whom he did not wish to descend into hell, moved not by charity, but by love of himself, lest punishments be increased for himself. See the Holy Doctor.

To whom and for whom we pray

7.

I SAY thirdly that the souls in Purgatory pray, asking for suffrages. The Holy Doctor indicates this in 4 distinctione 45 articul. 3 quaestione 2 in corpore, from which it is deduced that they ask even of God, that he send them to the more fervent Faithful, and inspire them to offer suffrages for them.

To whom and for whom we pray

8.

THE SAME Alens. taught, 4 p. quaestione 91 membr. 4, and proves it from Blessed Gregory lib. 4 Dialogorum, where he relates that souls ask the living for aids.

To whom and for whom we pray

9.

I SAY fourthly, that it is probable that the souls of Purgatory pray for us. So Medina quaestione 5 de oratione, Valentia in the place cited. Thus Jeremias, now deceased, is said to pray much for the people, and while he was in Limbo, 2. Machab. ult., and Hierem. 15 it is said: If Moses and Samuel shall stand, etc. Therefore they were wont to pray.

To whom and for whom we pray