Tractatus I: PRIMUS DE VIRTUTIBUS THEOLOGICIS

Quaestio I: What Prayer is

What Prayer is.

LEST anyone wonder at so great a variety of descriptions of Prayer; since this is a distinguished act, it is best completed out of the concurrence of several entire causes; the Doctors composed descriptions from many of these conditions.

The Saintly Doctor brings many descriptions of Prayer, 3. part. centil. sect. 46. The first from D. Augustine lib. de spiritu, et anima, cap. 50. Prayer is the direction of pious affection to God. For prayer ought to proceed from a pious affection, that it be of valid origin. Therefore the same S. Augustine also, serm. 130. de tempore: What is prayer, but the ascent of the mind from earthly things to heavenly, the inquiry into things above, the desire of things invisible.

D. DAMASCENUS lib. 3. de fide cap. 24. Prayer is the ascent of the mind to God. For it is necessary that the soul of the one praying fly from earthly things to God.

The Saintly Doctor brings ANOTHER description from Damascene, in the place cited: Prayer is the expression of desire directed to God for the sake of obtaining a good, or removing an evil, formed by the word within, and without; or it is, a petition of fitting things from God.

MAGISTERIALLY, however, he says it can be defined thus: Prayer is the showing forth of our will to him from whom we hope to obtain that which we desire. Which alludes to the definition of D. Basil, homil. 5. de variis: Prayer is a petition of a certain good, which is poured forth to God by the pious.

VALENTIA says this definition, together with that adduced from Damascene, is optimal, disput. 6. quaest. 2. puncto 3. The Saintly Doctor adds another from D. Gregory lib. 33. moral. cap. 21. which rather described a certain perfection of prayer: To pray truly is to sound forth groans in the compunction of love, and not composed words.

IN the explanation of the terms of Theology, the Saintly Doctor adds that common description of prayer: It is the ascent of the mind to God, (explaining) or it is the expression of desire directed to God, for obtaining a good, or removing an evil, formed by the word within, and without.

IN the Diaeta salutis, tit. 2. cap. 5. he brings that definition of Prayer from Damascene 3. de fide, cap. 24. which Valentia calls optimal: Prayer is a petition of fitting things, and he adds the other one brought above.

HE EXPLAINS, however, on those words of Luke 6. He went out into the mount to pray: And he was passing the night in the Prayer of God, why prayer is described as the ascent of the mind to God, from Damascene in the place cited, namely, because the one praying ought to be separated from the earth, and from noise. Therefore the saints seek solitudes, and mountains. Thus Christ: He went out into the mount. Therefore Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill, Exodi 17. and Christ Matth. 14. Having dismissed the crowd, he went up into the mount alone to pray, and Abraham Genes. 22. said to the boys: wait here with the ass (that is, in the Valley:) But I and the boy, hastening thither, after we have worshiped, will return to you. Thus also Iudith, cap. 12. She went out by night into the valley of Bethulia, and baptized herself in the fountain of water, and as she came up, she prayed to the Lord God of Israel.

The Saintly Doctor ADNOTES, however, ad cap. 18. sap. on those words: For hastening to deprecate for the people, an allusion to Num. 16. where Aaron, running to the multitude, which he saw being slain by God, interceded. To deprecate, therefore, he says is properly for removing evils; but to pray is for obtaining goods, yet he says one is often confused with the other.

He EXPLAINS also in 3. dist. 17. art. 2. quaest. 1. ad 3. in what way Prayer is understood to be an ascent to God, namely, because we beseech God, who is above us, asking for mercy, which is above us, or revealing misery, which is below us, that he may free us from this, and raise us to that. He explains also another elevation, which is not intrinsic to prayer, namely, by which we climb, or ascend, from one consideration to another, to the consideration of God, and from the consideration of the creature to the consideration of the Creator.

From the definition of Prayer gather first, that Prayer is an act of the practical intellect, as the Saintly Doctor often indicates, while he defines it the elevation of the intellect, as it is called postulation, or petition, which is the expression of the practical intellect; for it is thus described by D. Augustine lib. de verbis Domini, serm. 5. Therefore epist. 121. he says: Let much speaking be far from Prayer, but let much praying not be lacking, if fervent intention perseveres. For to speak much in praying, is to spend on superfluous words a necessary thing. But to pray much, is to knock at the door of God, whom we beseech, with a long and pious excitation of the heart. For often this business is transacted more with groans than with speeches: more with weeping than with breath, as D. Bonavent. relates, lib. 2. Pharetrae, cap. 45.

HENCE he says also that affection concurs to render Prayer efficacious. S. Augustine indicates this, serm. 126. de tempore, cited by D. Bonavent. in the place cited, while he says: What is prayer, but the ascent of the soul from earthly things to heavenly, the inquiry into things above, the desire of things invisible?

YET it proceeds from the mouth pronouncing, or from the heart, as Chrystost. says in the imperfect work on Matth. homil. 13. and prayer from the heart is better expressed than from the mouth, as D. Isidorus says lib. 3. cap. 7. sent. 4. and cap. 8. sent. 2. When we pray, we speak with God; when we read, God speaks with us. Speech indeed is of the intellect. Hence by him prayer is also called oris ratio, on Psalm 38.

D. Bernardus concludes BOTH in Prayer, epist. de vita solitaria: Prayer is the affection of man adhering to God, and a certain familiar and pious address, and the state of an illumined mind for enjoying God as long as it is permitted. The Saintly Doctor relates this and other things in the Pharetra, in the place cited.

HENCE see that the question is about the name, while it is contended: Whether ratio (oration) is an act of the intellect, as the Holy Doctors teach, Caietanus ad art. 1. D. Thomae, Valentia puncto 1. and others; but not rather of the will, as some Nominales think, and Medina quaest. 1. de Oratione.

From the same definition the Saintly Doctor gathers secondly, in 3. the place cited, ad 2. et 4., that Prayer is of the inferior to the superior, whence it comes about that Christ, inasmuch as he is God, did not pray; but inasmuch as Pontiff he asked according to human nature; and inasmuch as King, God heard: Against certain heretics, whom P. P. consutani Tract. 2. disp. 1. quaest. 7.

GATHER thirdly, that Prayer is an act of Religion; because while we pray, we protest that we have the greatest need of God, as of our principle, and author, in whom we exhibit to him the greatest cult, and honor, which is the duty of the virtue of Religion, as S. Bonavent. teaches in the places to be cited in p. p. Brevil. cap. ult.

Quaestio II: Of how many kinds is PRAYER

Of how many kinds is PRAYER.

THE SUBJECT of this is the proper theme of the Seraphic Doctor, for he everywhere mingles prayer, everywhere says something about it, or indicates it.

HE DIVIDES prayer, in the little work on the six wings of the Seraph, on the side of those who pray, into public prayer and private. Public is that which is made by the Church in choirs, which was also customary in the ancient Church; as appears from 1 Paral. 25, that we may imitate the Church triumphant, as I said in disputation 2.

PRIVATE prayer is that which is made privately through the familiar recitation of Psalms, the Rosary, Litanies; this he taught to each one, Matth. 6. When you pray, say: Our Father. Likewise it is exercised in solitary meditations and soliloquies, Psalm 76. I meditated in the night with my heart.

On private prayer the holy Fathers have much, cited by D. Bonaventure, book 2 of the Pharetra, cap. 45 and 46.

On public prayer D. Bernard discourses there, epistle 78.

SECONDLY S. Thomas the Doctor divides prayer on the side of the act into Vocal and Mental; the latter is that which is completed by the mere affection of the mind, thus Psalm 26. My heart hath said to thee, etc. Vocal is that which is also expressed by the voice, of which Psalm 141. With my voice I cried to the Lord, with my voice I made supplication to the Lord, which words the Seraphic Patriarch Francis uttered in singing on the last day of his life, as D. Bonaventure relates in his Legend.

THE INSTITUTION of this twofold prayer S. Thomas the Doctor ascribes to God, 5 part of the Breviloquium, cap. 10. For since the first principle is no less good than true; hence it is that he most willingly communicates his gifts. But since with this he is at the same time just, therefore he does not give gifts except to one willing and desiring; he does not give grace except to one giving thanks; he does not bestow mercy except on one acknowledging his misery, so that the liberty of the will may be safe, and the nobility of the gift not cheapened, and the worship of divine honor may remain intact. Hence it is that God wills to be prayed to, that he may bestow gifts. Again, since for desire to tend upward it is necessary that our affection be fervent, and thought gathered into one, and our expectation certain; and since our heart is frequently tepid, frequently dispersed, frequently fearful, hence it is that God willed us to pray not only mentally but also vocally, for the excitation of our affection through words, and for the recollection of thoughts through the sense of the words. He willed also that we pray through the saints, and the saints for us, to give confidence to the fearful, so that what they do not dare, or cannot, obtain by themselves, they may obtain through the efficacious petitions of others; and through this humility is preserved in those who pray; the dignity of the saints is declared in their interceding; and in all the members of Christ Charity and unity are shown forth.

THIRDLY he divides prayer in book 2 de profectu religiosi, cap. 60, into vocal prayers, Psalms e. g. through composed words; into soliloquies through words breaking forth from affection and necessity; and cap. 62 he adds thanksgiving and the voice of praise. He explains, moreover, in cap. 63 the benefits by which we are moved to thanksgiving.

FOURTHLY it is divided by D. Bonaventure in the place cited above, and from the Breviloquium, into obsecration, prayer, postulation, deprecation, and thanksgiving, according to that, 1 Timot. 2. I desire therefore first of all that obsecrations, prayers, postulations, and thanksgivings be made for all men. Of these more fully, opusc. de profectu Relig. book 2, cap. 60.

OBSECRATION, as D. Thomas explains, art. 17, is a prayer by which something is asked with some reason proposed, drawn from some sacred thing on account of which what is asked is obtained, as from the divine goodness, or the passion; Through the cross, etc. So also D. Bonaventure on Psalm 141.

THIS explanation agrees with that interpretation of S. Thomas which D. Bonaventure used in the exposition of the Mass, at those words of the Canon: Da propitius pacem, from D. Augustine epist. 49 to Paulinus, question 5, that the Apostle under the name of obsecration commended those prayers which the Church is accustomed to use in the celebration of the sacrifice of the Mass and the other Sacraments.

IN ANOTHER WAY also S. Thomas the Doctor explains above, that deprecation is intercession for sins; but prayer of postulation for graces and other goods. Cassian does not depart far, collat. 9, cap. 11 and following.

S. THOMAS the Doctor also divides it in the little work de profectu Religiosi, book 2, cap. 73 and following, according to the different motives, as I said in disputation 2. Then according to the different gifts of God, of revelations and visions, of which Alvarez treats at length Tom. 3, and D. Thom. question 175, and we shall treat, when on the Contemplative Life.

Quaestio III: Whether PRAYER is necessary

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.

Quaestio IV: Whether Prayer is not only petitory, but also satisfactory, and meritorious

That an Oratio is not only impetratory (obtaining), but also satisfactory and meritorious.

That prayer is impetratory I have shown so far in question 3.

That it is also meritorious I proved in the first part of the Summa, Tract. 6. de Gratia, disput. 4. quaest. 7., where I showed that all moral works done from grace are meritorious. There I also showed that a work cannot be meritorious without also being satisfactory. Likewise, with St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure, I showed that a work cannot be satisfactory without being meritorious, against Scotus. In particular, that prayer is satisfactory I shall show in the third part, Tract. de Poenitentia, disp. 2. sect. 9. quaest. 13.

Yet I shall say something here: Philip Melanchthon, in the Augustan Confession, title de confessione, and in the Apology, article on confession, mocks those chapters in which Catholics establish satisfaction, and says they are useless ceremonies and human traditions, not commanded by God.

But Kemnitz, in the 2. p. exam., pag. 194, admits the works which are called satisfactory by Catholics, such as Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving in general; yet he says certain prayers and certain fixed almsgivings are useless.

On the contrary, all Catholics agree with the Holy Council of Trent, sess. 14. can. 13., that prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are satisfactory works. For by these there are given to God the goods of the body, of the soul, and the extrinsic goods of fortune:

I assert with St. Bonaventure that Prayer is satisfactory.

It is proved from the Holy Doctor by the first argument, first against the opponents and in the body. That moral work which is penal is satisfactory: but prayer, both vocal and mental, is penal: Therefore. The minor is proved from Ecclesiasticus 12: Frequent meditation is an affliction of the flesh.

It is proved secondly from the Holy Doctor from the usage of the Church, which imposes prayers for satisfaction.

It is proved thirdly from the Holy Doctor, because mournful prayer is that of the contrite petitioner, such as that of the Publican, Luke 18, who on that account went home justified. For this above all disposes one to grace, and therefore it pleases the Divine goodness, inasmuch as it is more a sign of a voluntary penance.

He observes first that vocal prayer, taken by itself and alone, is inferior to mental prayer; and purely vocal prayer is that in which nothing is thought; nevertheless mixed prayer is better, in which one prays with mind and mouth; mixed (I say) out of the vocal kind arousing the mind to affections; for thus mental prayer is aided by vocal prayer.

The Holy Doctor also observes the threefold end for which vocal prayer was instituted. The first is to kindle affection, whence Beda on Matthew 6 to that effect, Pater noster: It is not prayed with those words alone, but with other things contained under the same sense, by which our heart is kindled. The second is for the instruction of the intellect. Whence Beda there: He composed the prayer in brief words, in which there is no need to speak to him who knows all things, but so that he who deals with God might learn the things he should pray for, not the words he should say. The third is for easier remembrance. Whence, on that text, Nolite assimilari eis, the Gloss: With God one must deal not with words but with realities, with the intention of the heart, with simple affection; for what we say we do not teach him, but we remind ourselves of the time of praying. Therefore vocal prayer was instituted on account of mental prayer, in which the heart is more kindled to the detestation of sins and the love of God, and this above all pleases God, such as was the prayer of Manasses, 2 Paralipomenon 33. See also Bellarmine, de Poenit. l. IV. cap. 7., Valencia, disp. 6. quaest. 2. p. 4.

Note, moreover, that for satisfaction it is required that the one praying be in grace, as I shall say in the third part, Tract. de Poenitentia. Thus John 15: Si manseritis in me, et verba mea in vobis manserint: quodcumque volueritis, petetis, et fiet vobis. And 2 John 3: Si cor nostrum non reprehendit nos, fiduciam habemus ad Deum; et quodcumque petierimus, dabit nobis.

On the contrary it is said, Psalm 65: Iniquitatem si aspexi in corde meo, non exaudiet Dominus. And Isaiah 1: Cum multiplicaveritis orationem, non exaudiam: manus enim vestrae sanguine plenae sunt. John 9: Scimus quia Deus peccatores non exaudit. Isaiah 59: Peccata vestra absconderunt faciem eius a vobis, ne exaudiret. Therefore it is concluded, Judith 4: Scitote quia exaudiet preces vestras, si permanseritis. Jeremiah 29: Orabitis, et ego exaudiam vos: cum quaesieritis me in toto corde vestro; as if to say: otherwise I shall not hear you, as St. Bonaventure notes, de profectu Relig. l. 2. cap. 71., where he heaps up authorities to that effect. And on Psalm 108, on the words: Et oratio eius fiat in peccatum, he adds another splendid passage.

It is proved from the Holy Doctor, l. 2. Pharetrae, cap. 45., where St. Gregory describes prayer pleasing to God, homil. 27. in Euang.: Virtus vero orationis est celsitudo charitatis. Et tunc quisque, quod recte petit, adipiscitur, cum eius animus in petitione nec inimici odio suffocatur.

St. Chrysostom, homil. 13. of the imperfect work: As well-made incense delights a man by its fragrance, so the prayer of the just is sweet before God. But do you wish to know its dignity? As soon as it has gone forth from the mouth, the Angels receive it with their hands and offer it before God.

St. Bernard, epist. de vita solitaria: Prayer is the affection of a man cleaving to God, and a certain familiar and pious address, and the standing of an illuminated mind to enjoy God, as long as it is permitted. And serm. 7. in Cant.: We believe that the holy Angels stand by those praying, and offer to God the prayers and vows of men, when however they have perceived pure hands raised without wrath and disputation.

Next indeed the Holy Doctor, cap. 46., reports unacceptable prayer from the Fathers.

St. Gregory, lib. 10. Moral., cap. 11.: Our mind is weighed down with grave confusion in the time of its prayer: if either its own conduct still defiles it, or the grief of another's malice accuses it while under obedience. And in the Regist., ind. 4. cap. 45. l. 9.: That you may make a way to the ear of God with prayers, you must strive with watchfulness that your voices be aided by your deeds: for prayer becomes empty where action is wicked.

St. Augustine, in his sermons: With what brow do you ask what God has promised, when you do not do what God has commanded? First hear the admonitions, and then demand the promises. The same: Forgive us our debts, etc. Nor is prayer efficacious for those whose faith without works is dead; but for those whose faith works through love.

St. Jerome, epist. 14.: With what conscience, I know not, does anyone ask God with that tongue with which he either lies, or curses, or backbites. God hears holy lips, and quickly nods to those prayers which an immaculate tongue pronounces.

St. Chrysostom, homil. 15. imperfect. in Matth.: He who prays and sins does not pray to God, but mocks him.

St. Bernard, serm. 71. in Cant.: The prayer of the sinner shall be abominable; and in vain does he also offer his gift at the altar, who is conscious to himself that his brother has something against him. Finally the Lord did not respect the offerings of Cain; because he did not walk rightly with his brother. He has similar things in serm. 46., saying: I wonder greatly at the shamelessness of certain men who are among us, who, though they have disturbed us all with their singularity, and defiled us with their impatience, nevertheless dare, with an insistence of prayers, to invite the God of all purity to so foul a couch of their conscience. But as it is written in Isaiah 1: Cum extenderitis manus vestras, avertam oculos meos: et cum multiplicaveritis orationem, non exaudiam. See other things there.

Finally he adds the opinion of Seneca, epist. 10.: Then know that you are loosed from all cupidity, when you have come to this, that you ask nothing of God except what you can ask openly. But now how great is the madness of men, who whisper most shameful vows to the Gods, so that if anyone should admonish their ear, they immediately fall silent, and tell to God what they are unwilling for man to know?

Quaestio V: What conditions are required for perfect Prayer

The Holy Doctor enumerates many conditions of prayer here and there, that it may be acceptable to God.

The first condition for its efficacy is that which I pursued above, namely that it ought to go forth from charity, or at least from a good will of returning to God; for God does not hear obstinate sinners.

The second condition is that it be from Faith and Hope: Si habueritis fidem, et non haesitaveritis, dicetis monti, etc. Matth. 17., and Omnia quaecunque credentes petieritis, in oratione recipietis, and James 1: Postulet autem in fide, nihil haesitans.

Next indeed, in speculo disciplinae ad Novitios, p. 1. cap. 12., he requires two things beforehand for prayer, by which as it were on wings the soul is borne to God, namely meditation and knowledge of the Divine goodness and mercy, by which we are lifted up; and consideration of our own unworthiness and misery, that thus we may approach God more eagerly and humbly.

Hence, little by little, he attaches three conditions in the little work de perfectione vitae ad sorores, cap. 5. The first is that, approaching prayer with heart and body erect, you think of your own vileness, how many sins you have committed, how ungrateful you have been to God, O Soul, whither through sin you tend, toward the fires of everlasting death, that thus you may be humbled like the Publican, Luke 18., striking your breast and saying: Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori, and roar with David saying, Psal. 37: Rugiebam a gemitu cordis mei, and with Magdalene wet the feet of the Lord: Stans retro, Luke 7. Thus says St. Isidore, de summo bono l. 3. cap. 7.: When we stand before God in prayer, we ought to groan and weep, calling to mind how grave are the things we have committed, how hard the punishments of hell that we fear.

The second condition is that, acknowledging the goodness and beneficence of God, he render thanks to God, as the Apostle warns: Orationi instantes, vigilantes in ea in gratiarum actione. For nothing more disposes a man to receive new benefits than grateful remembrance of past ones. Therefore St. Augustine, epist. 57.: What better do we carry in the mind, pronounce with the mouth, and express with the pen, than thanks to God? This can neither be said more briefly, nor heard more widely, nor understood more gladly, nor done more fruitfully.

Therefore you ought, O Soul, in prayer itself, to meditate with thanksgiving, because God made you a man, a Christian; because he forgave you innumerable sins; because you would have fallen into many sins if the Lord had not kept you; because he did not permit you to die in the world; because he chose you for the highest and most perfect Religion, and feeds you without labor of your own; and because for you he was made man, circumcised, baptized, etc. See St. Bonaventure. For thanksgiving is useful in prayer, nor can any prayer avail without it; for ingratitude, as St. Bernard says, serm. 51. in Cant., is a burning wind, drying up the fountain of piety, the dew of mercy, and the streams of grace.

The third condition, that attentively your heart think on that alone which it prays for: for it is unworthy that a divided heart come to God. Whence, on that text, Psal. 118: Clamavi in toto corde meo, the Gloss says: Divisum cor non impetrat, quod petit, and this Christ urged, Matth. 6: Tu autem cum oraveris, intra in cubiculum, et clauso ostio, ora Patrem — clauso, namely the heart, says the Holy Doctor, and guarded; for Prayer, as St. Augustine says, l. de spiritu, et anima, cap. 50., is the conversion of the mind to God through a pious and humble affection. Enter with intense desire, whereby the Psalmist: Os meum aperui, attraxi spiritum: for prayer is a bucket by which the grace of the Holy Spirit is drawn up. See wondrous things in the Holy Doctor there.

Moreover, the Holy Doctor commends ad 11. Lucae perseverance in prayer, from the example of Christ, who, Luke 22: Factus in agonia, prolixius orabat: And Paul, Hebr. 5., says: Qui in diebus carnis suae, preces, supplicationesque ad eum, qui posset illum salvum facere a morte, cum clamore valido, et lacrymis offerens exauditus est pro sua reverentia. Whence, Matth. 26., he prayed three times; and he admonished the disciples to pray throughout that whole hour. And Luke 6. it is said: Erat pernoctans in oratione Dei. And cap. 18.: Oportet semper orare, et non deficere. And Eccles. 18.: Non impediaris orare semper. He considers this more subtly there, Luke 11., in that parable of the friend, to whom, in the quiet of the untimely night, the importunate man goes, asking for bread; and he, though he refused within, saying: Noli mihi molestus esse, iam ostium clausum est, et pueri mei mecum sunt in cubili — whose paternal love cannot be lost, as is said in Isaiah 49 — yet he adds: Et si perseveraverit pulsans, surget, et dabit illi, etc.

A MOST SPLENDID example also St. Bonaventure considers, cap. 18. Lucae, in that little Widow, who, often importuning the Judge, merited to obtain justice. See, I beseech you, the Holy Doctor in both places, and you will lick lips anointed with sweetness. See him also on Luke 6 there: Erat pernoctans; and serm. 4. de uno S. Confessore, where he sets down also Thessalonians: Sine intermissione orate, and the Israelites, 1 Reg. 12.: Ne cesses pro nobis orare, etc.

SPEAKING, moreover, of the Ruler whose daughter was dying, Luke 8., the Holy Doctor says: Since therefore he approached the presence of Christ with reverence, asked out of confidence, desired out of indigence, therefore his prayer was heard, according to that, Eccles. 4.: Rogationem contribulati ne abiicias: et non auertas faciem tuam ab egeno. He also comments splendidly on that text, Thren.: Non des requiem tibi, et non taceat pupilla.

AND on the fifth chapter of Luke, on these words: Ipse autem secedebat in desertum, et orabat, the Holy Doctor says: Because he did not seek but fled human glory and fame, according to that, Matth. 14: Dimissa turba ascendit in montem solus orare, in which he gave us the form of withdrawing from the world and approaching God, and therefore prayer ought to be hidden, whence Matth. 6: Intra in cubiculum, et clauso ostio, etc. And St. Bernard, serm. 46. in Cant.: O holy soul, be alone, that you may keep yourself for the one God alone, whom you have chosen for yourself from among all. Flee the public, flee, and your very domestics: Do you not know that you have truly the same Spouse, and one who by no means wishes to indulge you with his presence while others are present? Withdraw therefore, but in mind, not in body; although even in body you do not separate yourself idly, especially at the time of prayer.

THE Holy Doctor confirms these conditions of prayer from the Fathers in the places cited, and in lib. 2. Pharetrae cap. 45. et 46., especially from St. Gregory, in Regist. l. 11. indice 6. cap. 3., and l. 22. Moral. cap. 21., and homil. 27. in Euang.; from St. Augustine, epist. 121. cap. 10., and serm. 126. de temp., and l. 20. de ciuit. cap. 17.; from St. Chrysostom, Opere Imperf. homil. 13.; from St. Ambrose, in Psal. 118. octon. 8.; from St. Isidore, in synon. cap. 4., and de summo bono l. 1. cap. 23., and l. 3. cap. 7.; Damascene, l. 3. de fide, cap. 24.; Bernard, epist. de vita solut. epist. 78. et 201., and in Cantic. serm. 7. et 18., and serm. de 4. modis orandi; and other Fathers.

HENCE, gathering his sails, he infers here and there why the just are sometimes not heard. Thus on Psal. 22: Clamabo per diem et non exaudies. But the just man is not heard for a threefold cause: either because he prays for something perverse and evil. Thus Samuel, 1 Reg. 15., was not heard, praying for Saul. Secondly, on account of the manner of praying; thus, Matth. 20., the sons of Zebedee were not heard. Thirdly, by reason of a greater good; thus Paul, 2 Corinth. 12., was not heard while he prayed to be delivered from the molesting evil spirit.

The Holy Doctor adduces the same causes in l. 2. de profectu Religiosi, cap. 71. He adds others. First, if he hesitates, Iacob. 1. Second, that man may be provoked more to persist, as St. Gregory says, homil. 25. in Euang. Whence Chrysostom, homil. 30. in Genes.: God for this reason delays his benefit, that what he gives may not be cheap to us. Third, that grace may be reserved for a more opportune time: Thus, Exodi 33., Moses was not heard, that afterward he might see the face of God. Fourth, that he may ask for the suffrages of others also; thus, 4. Reg. 19. et Isa. 37., Ezechias sent to Isaias, that he might pray for himself and for the people; and cap. 22., Iosias sent to Holda; and Rom. 15: Obsecro, ut iuuetis me in orationibus vestris. Et Matth. 18: Si duo ex vobis consenserint, etc.

OTHERS, moreover, he says, are not heard because they ask badly, as is said in Iacobi 1.; and therefore he presses the question concerning what things are to be asked for.

Quaestio VI: What is to be sought in Prayer: where the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are expounded

What is to be asked for in Prayer: where the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are expounded.

SINCE we do not know what we ought to ask for, as is said in Rom. 8, the Spirit himself asketh for us, that is, he teaches us to ask. And Christ Matth. 6 and Luke 11 taught that golden Prayer, in which are all the Treasures of Paradise, as I said above quaest. 3. Therefore in expounding it the chief Fathers have been diligent: Tertullian in his book on prayer, Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer, Cyril of Jerusalem Catech. 5, Chrysostom homilies on the Lord's Prayer, the Nyssene in five homilies, Ambrose l. 5 de Sacramentis, cap. 4, Augustine l. 2 de sermone Domini in monte, cap. 5, Cassian collat. 2 cap. 18 et seqq., Chrysologus serm. 67, and the Interpreters of Matthew cap. six.

MORE FULLY than the others our Seraphic Doctor chews, ruminates, and savors it, in 5. p. Breuil. cap. ult. 3. p. Centil. sect. 46 and on cap. 3 of the Rule, where it is imposed upon the Laity: and 3. p. Stimuli Diuini amoris, cap. 17 and on cap. 6 of the Gospel of S. Matthew. See also Suar. de orat. Fill. t. 2 cap. 2, Less. l. 2 cap. 37, Azor. p. 1 l. 9 cap. 34, Bict. quaest. 4.

HE EXPOUNDS certain petitions separately, as in 4 dist. 17 p. 2, the dubiis litt. in Pharetra, l. 2, chapter 45.

THE Holy Doctor prefaces that this prayer is most excellent of all on three counts. First, on account of its author Christ, who composed it. Second, on account of its brevity, so that it can be said more quickly and held more firmly. Third, on account of its fruitfulness, because in a few words it comprehends all things to be desired and asked for.

SINCE therefore this divine prayer contains all petitions, consequently it asks for all evils to be removed and all goods to be given, and this in seven petitions. He divides the evils into punishment and fault. Further, all of them into past, present, and future.

HE divides the evils of fault into the seven capital vices: pride, Avarice, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, and Sloth. Again, some evils are reducible both to punishment and to fault, such as temptations; for temptation as trial, or the very passion of temptation, is a punishment; but falling, and being led into temptation, is of fault. And for deliverance from all of these the golden prayer asks.

AGAIN, since there are seven principal virtues, three Theological and four Cardinal. There are also seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which we are strengthened in the virtues: namely the Gift of Wisdom; of Understanding, of Counsel, of Knowledge, of Piety, of Fortitude, and of the Fear of the Lord.

THERE are also seven Beatitudes: the Kingdom of heaven, the Possession of the land, Consolation; Satiety, the attainment of Mercy, the Vision of God, and the Adoption of God.

FIRST he opposes seven principal gifts to the seven vices, namely, poverty of spirit against pride: Meekness against Anger: Mourning of compassion against the venom of Envy: Thirst for Justice against Sloth: Mercy against Avarice: Cleanness of heart against Gluttony, and Peace against Lust; or with these last two exchanged, cleanness against the uncleanness of Lust, and Peace against insatiable Gluttony.

FURTHER, we can also oppose the seven principal virtues to the seven vices: Faith, by which the intellect is taken captive into obedience to Christ, is opposed to pride. Hope, by which every thought is cast upon the Lord, to Avarice: Charity to Envy: Prudence to headlong Anger: Justice, by which due obedience is rendered to God and right to one's neighbor, to Sloth: Fortitude to flaccid Lust, and Temperance to Gluttony: The Holy Doctor considers all these septenaries as comprehended in the seven petitions, as we shall say presently.

HE PREFACES, moreover, an exordium necessary for the narration: Pater noster. He placed first the name that is sweet and the name of confidence. It is not said Lord; but Father, because he allures us not as servants compelled by fear, but as children by love to the bosom of the Father; for this is the difference between the petition of a servant and of a son. Hence Malach. 1: If I be a Father, where is my honor? and if I be a Lord, where is the fear? For God is invoked as Father because he is the Father who begot the Son, namely like unto himself. God moreover created us in the beginning to his own image. Therefore from creation he obtains the title of Father. Deuter. 32: Is not he himself thy Father, who made, and created thee? Then through the adoption of grace he made us sons of God, Matth. 5: Be ye perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.

FIRST, then, the eternal Father is the begetter of the Son by nature, as Christ himself says: Matth. 11, Ioan. 1 and the following. To display therefore that surpassing confidence which is indeed necessary for prayer, he teaches us to invoke him thus: Pater noster, Qui es in caelis. Hence confidence is increased, while we acknowledge the most loving Father, most powerful to do all things, inasmuch as he is King of heaven and on the throne of majesty commands all things; and: All things whatsoever he would, the same hath he done in heaven, and in earth, as the Holy Doctor expounds with S. Cyprian loc. cit., the Nyssene homil. 2 on this prayer, and others. He is said also to dwell in the spiritual heavens, that is, in the saints, as the Holy Doctor expounds here on cap. 6 of Matth. with S. Ambrose lib. 5 de sacr. cap. 4 and Augustine lib. 2 de serm. Domini in monte, cap. 9. Now the saints (says the Holy Doctor) are called heavens in a fourfold way. First, on account of the sublimity of their life, Paul saying, Philip. 3: Our conversation is in heaven. Second, on account of the clarity of their good works, Philip. 2: Among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, and Matth. 4: Let your light shine before men, etc. Third, on account of their firmness in their purposes, Psalm. 32: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm. Fourth, on account of the seat of God resting in them through grace. Isa. 66: Heaven is my seat. We invoke therefore this heavenly Father also, that we may be mindful to ask of him first the things that are heavenly, according to that: Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

THE exordium being finished, there follows the exposition of the necessities and the asking for the gifts: the asking is made, moreover, that evils may be removed and goods granted. First he asks for the knowledge of the First True One: Second, for the attainment of the Arduous One: Third, for the attainment of the Good.

THE FIRST: Sanctificetur nomen tuum; For since the end is first in intention, therefore in these two first petitions are asked those things that touch upon the end; and afterwards in the following petitions the means to the end.

THEREFORE first we ask that the holy name of God and his majesty be sanctified, not in itself, since it is holiness itself, but in us, through the knowledge of the Divine majesty and the love of it, as the saints expound: Cyprian, Ambrose loco cit., the Nyssene oratione 3, Augustine lib. 2 de sermone Domini, cap. 10 and others.

THE NAME of God indeed is acclaimed holy and terrible, Psalm. 110: Holy and terrible is his name. and Deuter. 28: It is admirable, Psalm. 8: it is Praiseworthy. Psalm. 112. Now the name of God is terrible as regards the Power, which is attributed to the Father; admirable as regards the Wisdom, which is attributed to the Son; Praiseworthy as regards the Goodness, which is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Let therefore the most holy Name of God be sanctified in us, that is, let the Terrible be confirmed in us in the knowledge of the supreme power; the Admirable in the knowledge of the first truth; and the Praiseworthy in the knowledge of the supreme Goodness. He says therefore: sanctificetur nomen tuum, as if to say: give us the Spirit of Faith and of wisdom, that we may know and taste how sweet thou art, and may this generate in us peace, and this against lust, because the Prophet says, Psalm. 37: There is no peace to my bones because of my sins.

THE SECOND petition: Adveniat regnum tuum. The kingdom of God is indeed called the Church militant, as is had in Matth. 13: They shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals. The Gospel also is so called: The kingdom of God is evangelized, Luke 16. The eternal beatitude is also called the Kingdom of God, Matth. 13: the just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The advent of the kingdom is therefore asked: Give us the spirit of understanding, whereby cleansed in heart we may understand in the present that thou reignest through Faith, and may we hope for that arduous good, until we see thee in the Kingdom by sight; in the meantime keeping watch, lest given over to Gluttony we be found drunk and unprepared, distracted by the cares of this age, because wine and drunkenness take away the heart. Osee 4.

THE THIRD petition: Fiat voluntas tua, now we begin to ask principally for the means to attaining the end, namely, the execution of the commandments, above all of Charity, which is the fullness of the law, as the Holy Doctor expounds with D. Augustine cap. 11. The will of God indeed shines forth in creation, Psalm. 103: All things whatsoever he would, the same hath he done. In sanctification, prima Thessal. 4: This is the will of God, your sanctification. In glorification, Ioan. 6: This is the will of my Father, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting. Therefore he asks: Give us the spirit of Counsel, that we may do thy will, above all in Charity toward thee and our neighbor, because he that loveth, hath fulfilled the law; whence mercy toward neighbors follows against avarice, that we may attain mercy, as is said Matth. 5: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

THE FOURTH petition is: Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie.

THE Holy Doctor distinguishes a threefold bread. The first is corporal, of which Genes. 3: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. The second is sacramental, prima Corinth. 11: Whosoever shall eat this bread, etc. There is also the eternal heavenly bread, Ioan. 6: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven, and this is especially called supersubstantialis. Therefore D. Hieron. ad Matth. 6 says supersubstantial bread is that which says: I am the living bread, which surpasses all creatures.

WE ASK therefore for these breads, as D. Augustine says cap. 12 in the quoted sermon: Daily bread, so called; either the necessaries of this life, or the Sacrament of the body of Christ, intending both.

ON these three breads the Holy Doctor takes that of Luke 11: Friend, lend me three loaves. The first bread is for the sustentation of the body: The second for the refreshment of the soul on the way: The third in the fatherland for eternal fruition. He says therefore: Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie; for thus it is to be read from the Hebrew, says Blessed Jerome; and thus the LXX are wont to translate the same name from the Hebrew, for the Hebrew Segula signifies supersubstantial. We ask therefore the nourishment necessary for the body, and all the aids of the soul, above all the most holy bread of the Eucharist, that the soul may be strengthened, and that we may afterwards obtain in the fatherland the bread of Angels.

HENCE we implore the gift of Fortitude, that it may give us strength together with the bread, which confirmeth the heart of man. We ask the hunger of justice, that we may attain the beatitude of Satiety, and in the meantime against sloth let us breathe after justice, because Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall be filled.

THE FIFTH petition: Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. The manner of a great petition: it declares that debts are to be forgiven us: Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. We ask here, moreover, for the medium per accidens of beatitude, that he may remit to us the debts of sins, that we may attain beatitude, as the Holy Doctor notes from D. Augustine lib. 2 de sermon. Domini in monte, chapter 1; and he proves this by that passage Matth. 18 where God is introduced in the parable as unwilling to forgive him who was unwilling to forgive others: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, as I also had compassion on thee? And thus, says the Lord: For if you will forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive also you their offenses; but if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offenses. Wherefore, as the same Saint Augustine says there: Then we are convicted of acting against this rule, if we do not forgive those who ask pardon; because we wish pardon to be granted to us also, who ask it, from the most benign Father. We ask therefore the gift of knowledge, that we may know how to give and build up what we owe, and let us learn to forgive, being moved even by compassion for others, not to mention our own sins, and thus may we have consolation from the indulgence granted to us, inasmuch as we also, against the venom of envy, have through charity toward our neighbor remitted it to him.

THE SIXTH petition is: Ne nos inducas in tentationem.

THE Holy Doctor observes, moreover, that there are many kinds of temptation. For there is the temptation of provocation, of which Exodi 17: And Moses called the name of that place Temptation, because of the altercation of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not? There is the temptation of probation, of which Iacobi 1: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. And Tob. 2: God permitted this temptation to befall him for this reason, that an example of his patience might be given to posterity, as also of the holy Job. There is also the temptation of evil persuasion, Matth. 4: The tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. And prima Corinth. 10: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able. Of this third kind it is understood, that God suffer us not to rush into the temptation of sin, but we pray that he may stretch forth his hand and help, as the Holy Doctor expounds with D. Augustine cap. 14 loco citato, where he says: No one can be without the temptation of probation. Therefore it is not prayed for here that we be not tempted in any way; but that we be not brought into temptation. As if anyone who must be examined by fire should not pray not to be touched by fire, but not to be burnt up. For the furnace proveth the vessels of the potter, and the temptation of tribulation the just men, Ecclesiast. 27. Joseph was tempted by the enticement of lust, but was not brought into temptation. Susanna was tempted, but neither was she induced, or brought into temptation, and many others.

THEREFORE we ask for the spirit of piety and meekness of spirit, that by exercising ourselves in holy works, toward which all piety is profitable, we may flee idleness, the fuel of temptation, and with a meek spirit bear up until the coming of the salvation of the Lord, neither rendering to our neighbor evil for evil, as was said in the preceding petition, let us avoid headlong Anger, foreseeing with prudence and being watchful against perils, and so may we possess the land of the living, which is given to those who patiently endure temptations, as Tobias and Job are said to have possessed it, of whom it is said: Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

THE SEVENTH petition: Sed libera nos a malo, namely of fault, of which Rom. 6: Being delivered from sin, made servants to God. And from the evil of misery, of which Rom. 8: The creature also shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, and above all from the evil of eternal punishment, Osee 13: I will deliver thee out of the hand of death.

HE ASKS therefore for the spirit of the fear of the Lord, whereby fleeing the more eagerly to God he may ask for deliverance from evils, and through the virtue of poverty of spirit let us humbly beseech God, as Blessed Cyprian says. For thus we ask, as D. Ambrose also expounds, to be delivered from the evil Demon, lest by pride he draw us down to ruin.

HE CONCLUDES these petitions saying: Amen, which signifies faithfully, as S. Hieronym. interprets Matth. 6, or truly, as, by the testimony of Jerome, Aquila interprets it, or so be it, as Ambrose explains in Psalm. 40 on the words: fiat, fiat, where the Hebrew has: AMEN.

WHERE the Holy Doctor notes besides that at the end of books the Hebrews are wont to put one of three: either Amen, which signifies truly and faithfully, or Salab, which signifies forever, or Salom, which signifies peace. Finally he adds that Amen is sometimes a name, as Apoc. 3: These things saith: Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God. Sometimes adverbially, as Amen, Amen I say to thee: this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise, Luke 23. Sometimes verbally, as here, that is: may all the things foretold be done for us by thy grace. Hence it comes about that one who only answers Amen, so be it to another praying becomes a partaker of his prayers, which is quite suitable in vocal prayer, that one only pray and another attend. These things the Holy Doctor, from which I also deduce that the same can be taken in two other ways, that the Lord himself JESUS be invoked here as Amen, inasmuch as he never fails those who pray, but may he himself conclude our prayer with a beneficent conclusion, according to his promises, because God is faithful. Therefore from fidelity God is rightly present to those praying; yet it does not follow that he is present from justice, because he grants the things asked not in equality with our prayer, or by just distribution, but by his mercy, as I gather from the Holy Doctor, and Valentia notes disp. 6 quaestion. 2 p. 4 contra Medinam quaestion. 18 de oratione. For thus Daniel chapter 9 cried out: Not in our justifications do we prostrate our prayers before thy face, but in thy many mercies hear, O Lord, etc.

HE observes also, with Valentia, point 5, from D. Bonavent. ad 11 Lucae, who recalled only five petitions, omitting the third and the seventh; because they are contained in the others, as D. Augustin. noted in Enchir. cap. 115 and 116; for the third, that is, fiat voluntas tua, is understood in that one: Sanctificetur nomen tuum, since it is necessary to do the will of God that his name be sanctified in us. Also the seventh: Sed libera nos a malo, is understood in that one: Ne nos inducas in tentationem. Whence D. Augustin. says shrewdly that Luke, by omitting petitions of this kind, rather made them to be understood.

THE Holy Doctor observes also that Luke ends with that petition: Ne nos inducas in tentationem, in which there is doubt as to our state or fall, and therefore he does not add Amen, which is the sign of the certainty of a prayer heard: but Matthew ends in the deliverance from every evil of punishment, and thereby from death, of which prima Corinth. 15: Last of all death shall be destroyed as an enemy, and afterwards there is the certainty of salvation, therefore he ends saying: Amen, to give certainty for that time; but because, as long as we are here, we do not arrive at this certainty, therefore it is said in a low voice by the Priest in Mass. Thus the Holy Doctor ad 6 Matthaei.

HE EXPOUNDS this most sacred prayer in an altogether not dissimilar manner, according to the Gospel of Luke: When you pray, say, with heart and mouth, lest that word of Mark 7 be ever said of us: This people honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. With the heart indeed, but also with the mouth, according to that Psalm. 108: I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. He is invoked moreover as Father by reason of the condition of nature, according to that, Ephes. 3: Of whom all paternity. And Malach. 2: Have we not all one father? He is also Father by reason of the bestowal of grace, Rom. 8: You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, wherein we cry: Abba, Father. The same is had Galat. 4; he is also Father by reason of the consummation of glory, Hierem. 3: Thou shalt call me Father, and shalt not cease to walk after me. Since therefore he is Father in all these ways, he shows that we ought confidently to ask all things of him. Luke however takes these implicitly, as said to the lesser disciples; yet each prefaces the name of Father, that the prayer may fly to God on reverence and confidence as on two wings. Reverence indeed is had from the name of Father, whence Malach. 1: If then I be a Father, where is my honor? And Eccles. 3: The glory of man is from the honor of his father. And confidence is had, according to that Isa. 49: Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the fruit of her womb? Therefore Christ here infers: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father give the good Spirit to them that ask him?

THEREFORE Beda on this passage: The prayer, which grows sweet with the paternal name, gives me confidence for the obtaining of all my petitions

PRESENTLY he begins to expound the petitions: For three things are to be asked of God the Father. The first is the end, which is the consummation of glory. The second the consummation of grace, which is the nearest medium. The third more remote, namely the forgiveness of pardon. And these three are ordered according to the degree and order of greater dignity. To the consummation of glory concur perfect knowledge and perfect reverence, and according to these are the two first petitions. For the consummation of grace there suffices the assiduous succor of heavenly nourishment, and this is asked third. For the forgiveness of pardon two things concur, namely the remission of fault and the removal of punishment, and these are asked in the two last petitions.

BUT since the perfection of reverence is attended to not only in affection but also in effect, therefore Matthew adds: Fiat voluntas tua. Again, because the removal of punishment is attended to not only as regards the removal of temptations but also of afflictions, therefore Matthew joins the seventh to the two last: Sed libera nos a malo.

THUS therefore he asks all things that are necessary, the removal of evil and the bestowal of good: Again, the removal of the evil of fault, and of punishment, or of the evil that we suffer and the evil that we do: but the evil of punishment can be subdivided; because one kind is the occasion of fault, and thus is temptation; another holds the ratio of mere punishment, and is tribulation; and thus from that division we have the three last petitions. We ask moreover for good, either eternal or temporal. If eternal, either on the part of the intellect or on the part of affection, and thus there are two petitions. But affection is ordered with respect to majesty and with respect to goodness, and thus that petition is doubled in the first division, but tripled by subdivision. If indeed temporal good is asked, it is asked either with reason of the mind or with reason of the body; but because corporal good ought not to be desired except on account of the spiritual, therefore both according to Luke and according to Matthew one petition is made for both, and thus the sufficiency of the divisions of either Evangelist is plain.

THERE are therefore five petitions according to Luke (says the Holy Doctor) ordered according to greater nobility: In the first is asked perfect knowledge of God: In the second perfect reverence in affection: In the third sufficiency in virtue: In the fourth indulgence in guilt: In the fifth victory in conflict; and in these are implicated the seven brought forward from Matthew. Sanctificetur nomen tuum. Here is asked knowledge of God, whence his name be sanctified, that is, honored as known by us, of which Psalm. 75: In Judea God is known and Malach. 1: For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles. And Hierem. 31: All shall know me from the least to the greatest.

A THREEFOLD knowledge, moreover, is asked. The first through faith: For he that cometh to God must believe. Hebr. 11. The second, to know what God is not, of which Augustin: Thou wilt comprehend much, if thou comprehendest what God is not. The third is to know him as he is, of which prima Corinth. 13. The first knowledge delivers from folly; for Psalm. 13: The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. The second delivers from Idolatry, by which that which is not God is worshiped, 1. Corinth. 8: An idol is nothing. The third delivers from all misery, because then we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is, 1. Ioan. 3.

HENCE D. Chrysost. in the imperfect work, on cap. 6 Matth: The name of God is sanctified in us when we shall know him holy, fear him, and vigilantly and carefully guard, lest perhaps we violate the sanctity of his name in us. And this will be when we shall be wholly devoted to him, and by no distraction shall our minds be infected, which will be in glory, according to that Psalm. 137: I will sing to thee in the sight of the angels; I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth; for thou hast magnified above all things thy holy name.

THE SECOND: Adveniat regnum tuum: But then he reigns perfectly in us, when we are altogether perfectly subject to him, which will be at the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, and the Father, prima Corinth. 15, Apoc. Thou hast redeemed us, etc. and hast made us to our God a kingdom. By the advent of this kingdom no power is added to God, but obedience to men, which makes the will of God be done, as Matthew says in the third petition, in heaven, and in earth. For here obedience is not so perfect as in heaven: Therefore he said Ioan. 18: My kingdom is not of this world; and this, because in the world there are the rulers of darkness Ephes. 6; but at the end of the world power shall be taken from the demons, and all shall be rendered to Christ, as is said Daniel. 7.

THE THIRD asks for the daily bread, where the spiritual bread is asked principally. Therefore Matthew says: Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie. But since nevertheless we ask for everything necessary even for this life, therefore the Church with Luke says: Panem quotidianum. The Holy Doctor observes, moreover, that daily bread is asked for on account of continual necessity, but that hodie is asked, that avaricious solicitude, thinking of the morrow, may be removed.

HE NOTES moreover that the Hebrew name Socholla, according to D. Hieron. in 6 Matth., signifies both daily and supersubstantial: but the Hebrew name is Segula.

AND this Beda says ad 11 Lucae in the Gloss: Moreover daily bread is so called because it is necessary here; of whatever kind is to be granted to soul and flesh, whether it be understood spiritually, or corporally, or in both ways.

A MANIFOLD bread therefore is asked here. The first is the nourishment of this life, Eccles. 29. The beginning of the life of man is water, and bread, and clothing. The second is the understanding of Sacred Scripture, of which in Thren: The little ones asked for bread. The third is the Sacrament of the Eucharist, of which Sap. 16. I gave them bread prepared from heaven without labor, having in itself all delight, and the sweetness of every savor. And Ioan. 6: The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. The fourth is the aid of Scripture, of which Psal. 77. Man ate the bread of Angels. And Psalm. 103. Bread confirmeth the heart of man. And Luke 14. Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God. The fifth is the service of obedience; of which Ioan. 4: My meat is to do the will of my Father. With these five breads the Church is satiated, expressed in that multitude Ioan. 6. Therefore we must pray: Lord, give us always this bread.

THE FOURTH petition is: Dimitte nobis peccata nostra. For these make us debtors, of which Psalm. 36: The sinner shall borrow, and not pay. These are the debts which that woman could not pay until Eliseus multiplied the oil 4. Reg. 4. For the oil is the mercy of Christ; but because: Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy, Iacobi 2. Therefore it is said: Siquidem et dimittimus omni debenti nobis. Whence Eccles. 28: Forgive thy neighbor that hath hurt thee: and then thy sins shall be forgiven when thou prayest. And Matth. 6: If you will forgive men their offenses; your heavenly Father will forgive you also yours. And Matth. 18, after recounting the punishment of him who was unwilling to forgive, it concludes: So shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you shall not forgive, etc. For it says, Iudith. 9. The proud have not pleased thee from the beginning: but the prayer of the humble and meek hath always pleased thee. And Isa. 1. When you shall multiply prayers, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.

FIFTH Luke adds the last: Et ne nos inducas in tentationem. He does not ask not to be tempted, because temptation proveth man, Psalm. 25. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. And Eccles. 35: He that is not tempted, what knoweth he? But he asks not to be overcome by temptation: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, prima Corinth. 10. This is also to be asked for on account of the recognition of our infirmity, according to that 2. Paral. 20. In us indeed there is not so great strength, that we may be able to resist this multitude, which rusheth upon us. But as we know not what we ought to do, this only we have remaining, that we direct our eyes to thee. Since therefore tribulation is temptation, according to that Iacobi 1: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, therefore he who is snatched from all the evil of temptation is snatched from all the evil of tribulation; and therefore Luke does not add: Sed libera nos a malo, as a distinct petition, but expounds it, as included in this one. Therefore Beda says in the Gloss: Let each one know that he is delivered from evil in this, that he is not brought into temptation. But the reason why he does not add: Amen, I have said above.

FROM the exposition of the fourth petition you have that spiritual goods concerning salvation, together with the last end, can be asked determinately per se absolutely; but truly temporal and necessary goods, as bread and wine, are asked entirely in order to salvation. For this reason he puts one petition out of all for the spiritual and corporal bread. For thus it is licit to wish for these temporal goods, and not otherwise; and that only may be asked in praying which is licit to wish for, as D. Aug. says epist. 121.

PRAYER therefore that is absolute ought to be for three things to be obtained, pardon, grace with the virtues, and glory, as the Holy Doctor says ad 22 Lucae; therefore Christ prayed three times, and visiting the Apostles stirred them to prayer.

Quaestio VII: Who ought to pray

Who ought to pray.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Quaestio IX: For whom one ought to pray

For whom one is to pray.

I ASSERT first, that one is to pray not only for ourselves, but also for others, even for enemies, as I showed at length concerning Charity disput. 8 quaest. 24.

IT IS PROVED by the Holy Doctor ad cap. 3 Regulae, where he says that he taught us to pray by saying: Pater noster, not Pater meus, lest anyone contract his prayer to himself alone. Therefore S. Cyprianus, using this argument, says: The Doctor of peace would not have anyone pray only for himself, for we do not say: My Father, nor give me my bread etc., but: Our Father: Our bread, etc.

THEN it is proved from D. Thom. art. 7: That which we ought to wish for others, we ought to ask for others; but from charity we ought to wish for many goods not only for ourselves, but also for others; therefore also to ask for them. I used this argument in Tract. de charitate, loc. cit., from D. Bonav.

I ASSERT secondly, that one is not to pray that all may attain beatitude efficaciously, but only those who shall have willed to answer God. Therefore the Holy Doctor observes ad 17 Ioan., and with him Valentia p. 8, that Christ prayed in this form: I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for those who shall believe in me through their word.

THEREFORE (says the Holy Doctor) one is to pray for all who shall have willed to be converted, because Christ came to call sinners, Luke 5, and therefore said Matth. 9: They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are sick. Therefore by the world he understands those willing obstinately to serve the world, as D. Augustin. expounds, tract. 107.

FROM these things the Holy Doctor deduces that one is to pray also for the predestined, as is plain in the prayer of Christ.

YOU WILL SAY: their salvation is decreed; to what end then is prayer made for them?

THE Holy Doctor answers that the elect are so predestined as they are redeemed through Christ, and as quickened in the mystical body by his faith; for as D. Gregorius says, Dial. l. 1 cap. 18: The very everlasting predestination of the kingdom is so disposed by almighty God, that the elect arrive at it through labor; as they are elect, so also, predestinated, they shall be saved through the work of the redemption of Christ, which he consummated, as they were redeemed, and thus were made acceptable by his prayer.

I ASSERT thirdly that no one of the living is to be excluded from our private prayers.

IT IS PROVED from D. August. lib. de corrept. et gratia chapter 15, where he speaks thus: Since we know not who belongs to the number of the predestined, and who does not, we ought so to be moved by the affection of Charity, that we wish all to be made saved: further on, however, he shows that this is performed when we strive to bring it about that they become justified. See the rest concerning charity, disputatione 8 quaestione 25.

Quaestio X: How one ought to pray

How one ought to pray.

I set out those conditions in questions 4 and 5 with which prayer must be constituted. Here I consider chiefly the condition of attention. And indeed some attention is necessary, that prayer may be efficacious. But whether attention is necessary for prayers prescribed by precept, so as to satisfy the obligation, is deferred to the first part of the second part. Treatise on the Laws, dispute 5, question 3.

St. Bonaventure, on chapter 22 of Luke, distinguishing the anatomy of Christ's prayer in the garden, lays down seven conditions in prayer, that the manner of praying may be optimal.

The first is that it be secret: for there he observes that Christ, facing a matter of the gravest import, made His best prayer at the end of His life, because he went out according to his custom to the solitary mount of Olives. Hence Osee 2 says: I will lead her into solitude, and there I will speak to her heart. And Matth. 6: When you shall pray, enter into your chamber, and having shut the door, pray to your Father. And Matth. 14: Having dismissed the crowd, he went up onto the mountain alone to pray: and he judges this to have been the same mount of Olives, to show that there his head was made fat with oil, as is said in Psalm 22, and that from there he ascended into heaven.

Secondly, it ought to be solicitous. Hence Christ, when he had come to the place of prayer, said to the disciples: Watch, that you enter not into temptation, and especially in time of tribulation we ought to pray solicitously; hence also Psal. 76: In the day of my tribulation I sought God with my hands, etc.

Thirdly, it ought to be devout, which he shows by the example of Christ, when being withdrawn from them about as far as a stone is cast, having fallen upon his knees he prayed; for the prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce the clouds, Eccl. 35, and Psalm 101: He hath regarded the prayer of the humble. And Judith 9: The prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased thee. And Paul, Eph. 3: For this cause I bow my knees to the Father; he moreover expresses a violent movement, when the corner stone is said to have been torn away. Most beautifully Isaias 28 says: Whom shall he teach knowledge? them that are weaned from the milk, drawn away from the breasts. Here he expresses the vehemence of devotion, by which, groaning, one is torn away from friends.

Fourthly, it ought to be discreet, by the example of Christ's prayer: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me. He names the chalice of the passion, concerning which it was determined in Psalm 109, and Matth. 20: Can you drink the chalice, etc.

Fifthly, it ought to be vigorous. Therefore: There appeared to him an Angel strengthening him; so the Angel also touched Daniel and strengthened him, chapter 10. Therefore also Christ, being in an agony, prayed the longer.

Sixthly, it ought to be anxious: And his sweat became as drops of blood trickling down upon the earth. So it is said in Psalm 87: O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried in the day, and in the night before thee.

Note, however, first with the Holy Doctor that extremes are to be avoided, namely that we not pray too languidly, but earnestly repeating affections, and often even words, according to that: Continue instant in prayer, Coloss. 4, without intermission, as it is said in the first to the Thessalonians. Christ too returned to prayer, saying the same words. Wherefore Calvin spoke foolishly in book 3 of the Institutes, chapter 20, section 29, saying that to repeat prayers is battology and much speaking, prohibited by Christ.

On the other hand, one must not fall into incessant and vehement anxieties, as the Massilians said, with Damascene, heresy 80, resting on that foundation of Luke 18: We ought always to pray; but this, says the Seraphic Doctor, is to be understood so that the particle always is not distributed over every part of time, but over the appointed hours. And this exposition is that of D. August., heresy 57, of Bede on Luke 18, of Anselm on chapter 5 of the first to the Thessalonians, of D. Thomas here, article 14, on John 4 ad 4, of Medina, question 11 on prayer, of Alphonse a Castro on the word prayer, heresy 2, of Valencia, dispute 6, question 2, point 9. In nearly the same way the Holy Doctor expounds this in Luke 2: There was Anna a prophetess, who departed not from the temple, serving God night and day.

The seventh condition is that it be circumspect, for thus Christ prayed to the Lord so as not to forget the disciples, Matth. 26: And he came, and found them again sleeping. Hence again the Messalians, or Psallians, are censured, who wished to attend so solely to prayer that we should not cease until we perceived the devil bursting forth. Surely we ought also to be vigilant in works of charity; for whoever neglects these is worse than an infidel, as the Apostle says, 1 Timoth. 5, and Valencia too notes this.

The conditions adduced either chiefly conduce to attention, or accompany it.

But more often, as I said in question 5, our most devout and most holy Doctor pours forth most piercing motives to attention, especially in book 2 on the Progress of the Religious.

And indeed in chapter 62, having divided prayer into deprecation and obsecration, he adds thanksgiving and praise.

He recounts many incentives to giving thanks to God in chapter 63. One must consider, he says, that our most noble Benefactor God has bestowed most exquisite benefits, and those upon us, most worthless, unworthy, and deserving of punishment. And surely we owe a great deal: For to whom much is given, much will be required of him.

In chapters 64 and 65 he finds the matter for the praise of God everywhere, whether you look upon the earth, or have gazed upon the heaven: For it is a book printed in golden characters, and in amorous letters: God loves. The stars course through with fifty-five motions, bearing the letters of God most swiftly to us through the milky ways. The Sun, Charioteer of Light, confers seasons varying in benefits. See the Holy Doctor, and Ghislelm On the Glories of the most holy Trinity; in the seven works of God he finds especially the praise of God, chapter 65.

THE FIRST work is Creation; for upon nothing he raised up the vastest world, and adorned it with so many ornaments.

THE SECOND work is the governance of the universe, so ordered and wondrous that it causes ecstasy in one who considers it.

THE THIRD work is the redemption of the human race.

THE FOURTH is the justification of so many sinners, with such sweetness, benignity, and mercy.

THE FIFTH work is the just retribution of merits.

THE SIXTH work is the glory of the Blessed.

THE SEVENTH work is not a work, but the Sabbath, and rest in God, and God in the saints. See wondrous things in the Holy Doctor, whom Ghislelm imitates in the cited work, which you will never read through to satiety.

He shows further that the Holy Doctor, in the Legend of St. Francis the Father, chapter 10, was accustomed to pray in every place and time, the Seraphic Patriarch, whether in solitude or in cities, overwhelmed by the flooding throngs of peoples and seized by their rush, now with hands raised, now with arms outspread, now prostrate, just as is also read of Christ, Ioan. 17, Marc. 14, Luke 22, and Stephen Act. 7, Peter Act. 9, Paul Act. 20 and to the Ephes. 3. Likewise at times the Scriptures report prayer made in the Church, Judith 6, at times in the upper room Act. 9. By Jonah in the belly of the whale, chapter 2. By the boys in the furnace Daniel 3. And Damascene, book 4 on the faith, chapter 13, reports that of old, by apostolic tradition, it was the custom to pray toward the East, and Tertullian in the Apology, chapter 30, reports that they were accustomed to pray with hands outspread. Nearly the same D. August. reports, in the book on the care of the dead, chapter 5. I shall close with this epiphonema: All the works of the Seraphic Doctor direct one to prayer, as Sixtus V says in the Bull on the Canonization of the Holy Doctor.

Quaestio XI: On that mode of praying, the Canonical Hours

On that manner of praying, the Canonical Hours.

Most abundantly does Fr. Zacharias Boverius write on the public praises sung in the Choir of singers, Tom. 1 of the Annals.

There were some heretics even truly most ancient who censured the Canonical Hours, and the Sacred Hymnody, by which the Church consoles herself in this exile, as the most saintly Urban VIII says at the beginning of the renewed Breviary, and attacked them with sarcasms. Among these was Vigilantius, of whom St. Jerome speaks in the epistle to Riparius the Bishop. And other heretics are found in Isidore book 1 on the office of clerics, chapter 22.

But the usage of the Canonical Hours was altogether condemned by the Waldensian heretics, as Aeneas Sylvius testifies, in the book on the origin of the Bohemians, chapter 35, and Wycliffe, as in Thomas Waldensis, tome 3, chapter 21, the Hussites, and finally Luther, in the book on the form of celebrating Mass, where imprudently he dares to say, the reading of the Hours is a feigned worship of God. The herds of the Sectaries follow this arch-heretic.

This most holy manner of praying is therefore proved from the Holy Doctor, who for that reason observes it as prescribed to us by St. Francis the Father, in the rule, chapter 3, by the custom of the universal Church, which it is the most insolent madness to condemn, as D. August. cries, epistle 118. This, says the Holy Doctor, the Holy Spirit intended in composing the Psalms; therefore Psalm 45: The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me. And D. Gregory, in Ezech., homily 1: The voice of Psalmody, when it is carried out with intention of heart, by it a way to the heart is prepared for omnipotent God, that there may be poured into the devout mind either the mystery of prophecy, or the grace of compunction. He pursues this at length, Holy Doctor, in the opuscule on the Progress of the Religious, book 2, chapter 72.

The Holy Doctor proves this on Psalm 50 from the most ancient custom of David himself, who said, Psalm 118: Seven times a day I said praise to thee, and at midnight I rose to confess to thee, where the Canonical Hours are enumerated.

Therefore, on that Psalm, chapter 11, verse 4, he observes that in the seven canonical hours here enumerated is expressed the perfect servitude and worship owed to God, whence, cleansed from the seven vices, adorned with the seven virtues, confirmed with the corresponding gifts and charisms, we shall fly to immortality, which closes the septenary of times. Hence we too are warned: if he sin against thee seven times in a day; if seven times in a day he be converted to thee, etc., Luke 17.

And chapter 4, verse 14, on those words: At midnight I rose to confess to thee, he observes that this time was reserved for the divine praises. Therefore Act. 16: At midnight, Paul and Silas, praying, praised the Lord.

For the divine praises the choir of singers was therefore instituted and deputed, with Asaph, 1 Paral. 16, and at the dedication of the temple they sang the Psalms which David had made: Praise the Lord, for he is good, etc. And Psal. 121: The tribes of the Lord went up to confess the name of the Lord. He pursues all this as a figure of the sacred canticles of the Church. So Daniel prayed three times a day, as D. Bonav. notes, in the Bibliotheca pauperum, chapter 21.

This rite, moreover, as I said, the Holy Doctor proves from the most ancient usage of the Church. It is attested in Acts 3, when Peter and John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth, which St. Basil explains at length in his rules, to interrog. 37, and Ephes. 5: Be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and psalming in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always in all things, etc. Where Haymo admirably understands the Hymns in use in the Church, which Ambrose, Gregory, Hilary, and other Fathers composed. But Bede reports that this usage took root in the Church of Jerusalem, book 2 on Luke.

This rite is described by St. Clement Pope, disciple of St. Peter, book 8 of the Apostolic constitutions, chapter 34; Tertullian, in the Apology, chapter 2; St. Cyprian, in the exposition of the Lord's prayer. Likewise St. Ambrose composed certain hymns, as D. August. reports, book 1 of the Retractations, chapter 21. The Canonical Hours are mentioned by St. Jerome, epistle 22 to Eustoch. on the custody of Virgins, chapter 16, and epistle 27 in the epitaph of Paula, chapter 10. St. August., in rule 3 (taken from epistle 109), chapters 7 and 8, and sermon 201 de tempore, and book 22 de civit., chapter 8. D. Isidore, in the book on the Ecclesiastical office. Bede, on chapter 18 of Luke.

Finally, nothing is contained in these but the divine praises, graces, etc., which are paid to God justly and piously. Nor am I moved by the fact that certain hymns were composed by men in the Church; they are not on that account to be despised. For hence the Fourth Council of Toledo, canon 12, casts the penalty of excommunication upon those who reject the ecclesiastical hymns because they were composed by human industry.

But priests are held to recite the Divine Office, C. Presbyter de celebr. missarum; deacons and subdeacons, C. Dolentes, under the same title, and C. Finali, distinction 32; but not those initiated in minor orders, as the Doctors commonly hold on the said chapter Presbyteri. Those also are held who hold some ecclesiastical benefice or prebend under a clerical title, as the Doctors expound those words cap. finali, and all who are deputed to a church, namely prebendaries, are held to the divine office, as was declared by Pius V.

All Religious deputed to the Choir are also held, even if not initiated in sacred orders, not by the common law, but by their own particular law or custom. So the Friars Minor, chapter 3 of the Rule, have a precept on this, as all expound with D. Bonavent. there, where prayers are imposed also upon the Laity. Novices, however, are not held, as Valencia and others note.

Moreover, the Breviary, already established by the most holy Pontiff Pius V, and now at last reformed by the most holy Pope Urban VIII, is to be observed.

But whether it be lawful to say another office in place of the current one, without mortal sin: Cajetan asserts it, in summa on the word Horae canonicae, Sylvester, on the word hora, numbers 2 and 15, Valencia, dispute 6, question 2, point 10, § Quid recitandum, nor does Sotus dare to cry out against it, book 10 on justice, question 5, article 4. But Tannerus, dispute 5, question 1, dub. 5, says that to do so without cause is at least venial. Of this, doubt 2, there has been treatment. Azor brings forward Sylvester, Cajetan, and Sotus above, chapter 10, question 2, and Lessius, chapter 37, number 77. But he says others assert it to be mortal, as Toledo, book 2, chapter 13, and says that Valencia also inclines to that view.

But the Clergy are commanded, in cap. Dolentes, Divine office, to celebrate it diligently as well as devoutly, as far as God shall grant. Therefore by force of this precept there is imposed a manner of reciting with distinct voice, as D. Thom. teaches, here, article 12, and D. Bonaventure. There is, moreover, a threefold attention, as the Holy Doctor often teaches in the places cited, questions 5 and 10: either to the words, or to the thing signified, or to the end, God. See the Holy Doctor, book 2 on the progress of religious, at the place cited.

As to the time for reciting the office, it is from first Vespers until midnight of the following day inclusive, provided, however, that at first Vespers no other hours be said than Vespers and Compline, and afterward Matins. But Prime, Terce, and the following Hours ought to be recited on the following day.

Concerning these many questions are disputed, especially by Diana, pt. 2, Tract. 2, of which I shall touch upon some.

Tractatus I: PRIMUS DE VIRTUTIBUS THEOLOGICIS

Proemium I: Prooemium

Disputatio I: ON FAITH

Quaestio I: What FAITH signifies, and what it is

Quaestio II: What the object of FAITH is

Quaestio III: Whether the object of FAITH is something complex

Quaestio IV: Whether the object of FAITH can be false

Quaestio V: Whether the object of FAITH can be evident scientifically

Quaestio VI: Whether FAITH is concerned with those things which are seen by vision on the way

Quaestio VII: Whether the articles of FAITH are evidently credible

Quaestio VIII: Whether the things to be believed are rightly arranged according to the articles

Quaestio IX: Whether the articles of FAITH have grown over the course of time

Quaestio X: Whether FAITH has grown as regards light

Quaestio XI: Whether Faith has grown in certitude

Quaestio XII: Whether the articles of Faith are to be expounded by some authority which is an infallible teacher, and what it is

Quaestio XIII: What are the marks of the true Church, in which the authority of expounding FAITH resides

Quaestio XIV: What must be believed by the necessity of means

Quaestio XV: What things are to be believed by the necessity of precept

Quaestio XVI: Whether we are bound to confess FAITH, and when

Quaestio XVII: Whether it is lawful to dispute about FAITH, and when

Quaestio XVIII: Whether Faith resides in the Intellect

Quaestio XIX: Whether Faith is perfected by Charity, as by its form

Quaestio XX: Whether it is certain that FAITH remains without CHARITY

Quaestio XXI: Whether, and how, FAITH is a VIRTUE

Quaestio XXII: Whether FAITH is ONE VIRTUE

Quaestio XXIII: Whether FAITH is the first of the Virtues

Quaestio XXIV: Whether FAITH is more certain than any science, or than any intellectual habit

Quaestio XXV: Whether one can know with certainty that he has FAITH

Quaestio XXVI: In whom FAITH is found

Quaestio XXVII: Whether FAITH is a substantial Gift of GOD

Quaestio XXVIII: Whether the difference between FAITH and other acts, natural as opposed to supernatural moral acts, always arises from the object

Quaestio XXIX: On the effects of FAITH

Quaestio XXX: On the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING

Dubitatio I: Whether UNDERSTANDING is a gift of the Holy Ghost

Dubitatio II: Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING can coexist with FAITH

Dubitatio III: Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING consists in the contemplation of the Creator and of Creation

Dubitatio IV: Whether the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING is found in all who have grace, and whether in these alone

Dubitatio V: What is the necessity and utility of the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING

Dubitatio VI: Whether* **the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING** *corresponds to the sixth beatitude, namely, Blessed are the clean of heart, etc.

Dubitatio VII: Whether* **to the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING** *there corresponds, among the fruits of the Holy Ghost, Faith

Quaestio XXXI: On the Gift of Knowledge

Dubitatio I: Whether* **KNOWLEDGE** *is a gift of the Holy Ghost

Dubitatio II: Whether knowledge is concerned with Divine things

Dubitatio III: Whether the gift of knowledge is speculative

Dubitatio IV: Whether the third Beatitude corresponds to the Gift of Knowledge: Blessed are they that mourn, etc.

Disputatio II: On Unbelief

Quaestio I: What UNBELIEF is, and what kind of sin it is

Quaestio II: Whether all the works of unbelievers are sins

Quaestio III: Whether unbelievers can be compelled to hear FAITH

Quaestio IV: Whether unbelievers can be compelled to embrace our FAITH, when it has been sufficiently set forth

Quaestio V: Whether unbaptized unbelievers can be compelled to abandon errors or rites contrary to natural reason

Quaestio VI: Whether the rites of unbelievers are to be permitted

Quaestio VII: Whether it is lawful to make agreements with unbelievers about the toleration of their rites

Quaestio VIII: Whether unbaptized unbelievers can retain power over the Faithful, and whether they can be deprived of it

Disputatio III: On Heresy

Quaestio I: What HERESY is

Quaestio II: Whether one who doubts about the articles of FAITH is a heretic

Quaestio III: Whether one who gives merely opinionative assent to an article of FAITH is a heretic

Quaestio IV: Whether, and what, Ignorance excuses from Heresy

Quaestio V: What pertinacity is required for HERESY

Quaestio VI: Whether, for one to be deemed a Heretic, it is necessary that he have been baptized and a believer

Quaestio VII: Whether the Church can compel heretics to receive the Catholic FAITH

Quaestio VIII: On the other means the Church uses against heretics, by forbidding their Books

Quaestio IX: Whether we are bound to avoid the conversation of heretics

Quaestio X: What excommunication is inflicted upon heretics

Quaestio XI: On the other spiritual punishments of heretics

Quaestio XII: On the temporal punishments of Heretics

Disputatio IV: On Hope

Quaestio I: What HOPE is

Quaestio II: What the material object of HOPE is

Question III

Quaestio IV: Whether a certain object is set forth for HOPE, and is hoped for

Quaestio V: Whether Hope is a Virtue

Quaestio VI: Whether HOPE is a Theological Virtue

Quaestio VII: Whether HOPE is at times formless

Quaestio VIII: Whether HOPE arises from merits

Quaestio IX: Whether Hope precedes Charity

Quaestio X: What the proximate subject of HOPE is

Quaestio XI: Whether HOPE remains in the Blessed

Quaestio XII: Whether there is a precept of hoping in GOD

Dubitatio VI: Whether* the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING *corresponds to the sixth beatitude, namely, Blessed are the clean of heart, etc.

Dubitatio VII: Whether* to the GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING *there corresponds, among the fruits of the Holy Ghost, Faith

Dubitatio I: Whether* KNOWLEDGE *is a gift of the Holy Ghost