1. What Things Can Be Asked in Prayer?

338. The general rule in this question is a proposition taken, not indeed according to the very words but according to the sense, from St. Augustine: It is lawful to pray for that which it is lawful to desire.⁶⁵

Applications of the rule. a) It is lawful to ask in prayer not only for goods in general, but also in particular. The contrary doctrine proposed by Socrates,⁶⁶ Wycliffe, the Illuminati, and the Quietists is false and contradicts Sacred Scripture, in which we are commanded to ask also for particular goods. The most manifest example is the Lord's Prayer itself, in which seven particular and determinate petitions are contained.

b) It is lawful to ask determinately and absolutely for goods necessary to eternal salvation, such as the required grace and all other means necessary to salvation. The reason is that no one can abuse these goods and that God truly wishes us to ask for them, admonishing us: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God."⁶⁷ Indeed, it is not only lawful but also better to ask for goods of this kind in an absolute manner, because in this manner we pray more attentively and because we are accustomed to pray for and desire goods the more fervently the more particularly they are regarded.⁶⁸ Hence the doctrine of the Quietists is false which teaches that even spiritual goods necessary to salvation are to be asked for only conditionally, namely, under the condition that God has predestined us to eternal salvation, and that man ought to renounce even eternal life if God has thus decreed. The falsity of this doctrine is evident from the fact that God sincerely wishes all men to be saved,⁶⁹ and that no one is reprobated to hell before foreseen demerits. Graces gratuitously given and charisms, e.g., the gift of tongues, miracles, etc., may not be asked for absolutely in prayer, but only conditionally, because these graces are not means directly useful to the eternal salvation of the one possessing them, but rather benefit other men.

c) It is lawful in prayer to ask also for temporal goods, not indeed so that we establish our end in them, but as certain aids by which we may be assisted in attaining eternal beatitude.⁷⁰ This is also confirmed by the practice of the Church, which asks in prayers, e.g., for rain, fair weather, health, etc. But when we ask temporal goods from God, we ought always to add at least the implicit condition that we do not expect our prayers to be heard if the temporal goods are obstacles to our eternal salvation. Since temporal goods in fact are often obstacles to salvation, they are to be sought through prayer cautiously and not too avidly.

d) It is also lawful in prayer to ask for physical evils both for oneself and for another, provided, however, that they are asked for as means of obtaining spiritual goods of great value. Thus St. Paul desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ; thus the saints not rarely asked for poverty, infirmity, persecutions, etc. Nevertheless, prayer of this kind is to be made with great caution, especially if there is question of asking for the physical evil of one's neighbor, because deceptions will very easily be present and because the intention of the one praying is not rarely not so pure.⁷¹

e) It is not lawful in prayer to ask for a morally evil thing, e.g., assistance in perpetrating theft or fornication. For such a prayer would be a grave sin, at least speaking objectively, because he who wished to have the most holy God as a cooperator in a sin, even one light in itself, would commit grave irreverence toward him.⁷²

⁶⁵ This proposition is found according to its sense in Ep. 130 (otherwise 121), c. 12, ad Probam (Migne, Patr. lat. 33, 503).

⁶⁶ In St. Thomas, S. theol. 2, 2, q. 83, a. 5.

⁶⁷ Matt. 6:33.

⁶⁸ Cf. St. Thomas, IV, dist. 15, q. 4, a. 4, quaestiunc. 3.

⁶⁹ Cf. 1 Tim. 2:4.

⁷⁰ S. theol., l.c., a. 6.

⁷¹ Cf. Billuart, De orat. a. 5.

⁷² Cf. Noldin, De praeceptis n. 142.

339. Scholion. On the Lord's Prayer. St. Thomas⁷³ demonstrates excellently that in the Lord's Prayer all things whatsoever which we can lawfully ask from God by praying are contained in perfect order. Since the Lord's Prayer is the best and most frequent among all prayers, it is very expedient that pastors of souls diligently instruct the faithful concerning the beauty and suitability of this prayer. Therefore the Roman Catechism,⁷⁴ intended for parish priests, has an ample commentary on the Lord's Prayer.

⁷³ S. theol. 2, 2, q. 83, a. 9. The source prints q. 82, an evident typographical error.

⁷⁴ Part IV, c. 9.