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Catholic Prayer (Topic Page)
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"The chief exercise of prayer is to speak
to God and hear God speak in the bottom of your heart." (St.
Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church)
"As a rule, people are very happy to be
able to speak to a king. Those who find it hard to speak to God
for half an hour have no discernment!" (St. Vincent de Paul)
"What
mankind lacks today is prayer" [St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre
Pio)]
"Day and night I am pursued by the same
thought: One does not pray enough for the dead. Eighty thousand
people die in this nation every day." (Bl. Eugenie Smet)
"Diligence in prayer is the perfection of
the Gospel." (St. Aloysius Gonzaga)
"There are two ways of uniting ourselves
with our Lord...prayer and the Sacraments." (St. John Vianney)
"One's prayer reflects one's attitude to
God, and one's attitude to God is reflected in one's prayer."
"People talk about Lazarus who had the joy
of entertaining the Divine Savior in his home; but Lazarus only
had him by his side, while we, if we will, may have him in our
heart just as often as we wish." (St. John Vianney)
"Likewise,
you husbands should live with your wives in understanding, showing
honor to the weaker female sex, since we are joint heirs of the
gift of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." (St.
Peter, 1 Pt. 3:7)
"The things, good, Lord, that I pray for,
give me the grace to labor for." (St. Thomas More)
"He that flees from prayer flees from all
that is good." (St. John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church)
"[P]ray carefully, turn everything to prayer"
(Plus)
"He
truly knows how to live rightly, who rightly knows how to pray." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"[W]hen
we call upon God in our prayers, we unveil our mind in His
presence" (Pseudo Dionysius, as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas,
Doctor of the Church)
"He
wishes that to be sought in prayer, which He knows beforehand both
that we seek and He grants. " (St. Gregory of Nazianzus,
Doctor of the Church)
"He
greatly deceives himself who thinks that prayer perfects one
without perseverance and obedience." (St. Francis De Sales,
Doctor of the Church)
"The most fundamental need,
duty, honor and happiness of man, is not petition, nor even
contrition, nor again even in thanksgiving; these are three kinds
of prayer which indeed must never disappear out of our spiritual
lives; but adoration." (Hugel)
"For, if, O Lord, the earth enriches
manifold a single grain of wheat, how then shall my prayers be
enriched by your grace!" (St. Ephrem the Syrian, Doctor of
the Church)
"By
praying man surrenders his mind to God, since he subjects it to
Him with reverence and, so to speak, presents it to Him" (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian
in the history of the Church")
"Remember
that our Lord gathers up the words we speak to Him in our prayers,
according as we gather up those He speaketh to us by
preaching." (St. Francis De Sales, Doctor of the Church)
"The prayer which is inspired by fraternal
charity is more agreeable to God than that which is dictated by
necessity." (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church)
"The more He gives, the more He desires to
give. He loves to see the trust which makes us persist in knocking
unceasingly." (St. Placid Riccardi)
"For God does not hear us as man hears.
Unless you shout with your lungs and chest and lips, a mere man
does not hear; whereas to God your very thoughts shout." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church, 5th century A.D.)
"Your life will be a perfect prayer if
there is no mingling of self-interest, if instead of self there is
Christ, and you are entirely submissive to the will of God."
(Plus)
"As speech is the organ of
human society and the means of human civilization, so is prayer
the instrument of divine fellowship and divine training."
(Cardinal Newman)
"All need our prayers."
"God does not command impossibilities, but
by commanding admonishes you to do what you can and to pray for
what you cannot, and aids you that you may be able." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"Or
to ask indeed is to pray, but to seek is by good works to do
things becoming our prayers. And to knock is to continue in prayer
without ceasing (cf. Lk. 11:9)." (Greek Expositor, as quoted
by St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)
"Hence
prayer sometimes, through the liberality of the person
supplicated, obtains that which was not merited either by the
suppliant, or by the person supplicated for" (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"[T]here
are three things which most belong to religious actions, namely
prayer, fasting, and almsgiving...For by prayer we seek to
propitiate God, by fasting we extinguish the lusts of the flesh,
by alms we redeem our sins" (Pope St. Leo the Great, Doctor
of the Church)
"The
subtlety of the human intelligence fails now to grasp the high
designs of Providence; but the time will come when, through the
goodness of God, causes and effects will be made clear, and the
marvelous power and utility of prayer will be shown forth."
(Pope Leo XIII, "Octobri Mense", 1891)
"If a supernatural intention is introduced
into the actions, large or small, of daily life, it is as if a
leaven had been added, for immediately they begin to have life and
to rise heavenward. A hidden fermentation is working in them. They
have been changed from insignificant detail, into eloquent praise
offerings to almighty God. That which was a lifeless atom is now a
living poem. Henceforward nothing is base or vile; the poet's
verse, the sauce for the luncheon, the speculative theorizing...or
a bundle of posts standing in a corner of the carpenter's workshop
- all these can be supernaturalized. And how can this miracle be
accomplished? By the intention." (Plus)
"Prayer
depends chiefly on faith, not for its efficacy in meriting,
because thus it depends chiefly on charity, but for its efficacy
in impetrating, because it is through faith that man comes to know
of God's omnipotence and mercy, which are the source whence prayer
impetrates what it asks for." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of
the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"Since,
as everyone realizes, holiness of life is the fruit of the
exercise of the will inasmuch as it is strengthened by the aid of
divine grace, God has made abundant provision lest we should at
any time lack the gift of grace, if we desire it. We can obtain
it, in the first place, by constant prayer." (Pope St. Pius
X, "Haerent Animo", 1908)
"Lest
perchance any one considering how great is the difference between
God and man, and weighing his own sins should despair of
obtaining, and so never take in hand to ask; therefore He proposes
a comparison of the relation between father and son; that should
we despair because of our sins, we may hope because of God's
fatherly goodness." (Pseudo Chrys, as quoted by St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church)
"The
Lord is said to hear the desire of the poor, either because desire
is the cause of their petition, since a petition is like the
interpreter of a desire, or in order to show how speedily they are
heard, since no sooner do the poor desire something than God hears
them before they put up a prayer, according to the saying of
Isaiah 65:24, 'And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I
will hear.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"[W]e
need not fear that should we ask of God our Father..., He will
give us a stone; that is, that He will suffer our heart to be
contracted either by the frost of hatred or by hardness of soul;
or that when we ask for faith, He will suffer us to die of the
poison of unbelief. Thence it follows, [If you then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall
your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask
him?' (Mt. 7:11)]" (Remigius)
"What a spectacle for heaven and earth is
not the Church in prayer! For centuries without interruption, from
midnight to midnight, is repeated on earth the divine psalmody of
the inspired canticles; there is no hour of the day that is not
hallowed by its special liturgy; there is no stage of life that
has not its part in the thanksgiving, praise, supplication and
reparation in common use by the mystical body of Christ, which is
the Church. Thus prayer of itself assures the presence of God
among men, according to the promise of the divine Redeemer: 'Where
there are two or three gathered together in my Name, there am I in
the midst of them' (Matt. xviii. 20)." (Pope Pius XI, "Caritate
Christi Compulsi", 1932 A.D.)
"We don't pray in order to change God's
arrangements, but in order to obtain effects that God has arranged
will be achieved through the prayers of his chosen people. God
arranges to give us certain things in answer to requests so that
we may confidently have recourse to him, and acknowledge him as
the source of all our blessings, and this is all for our
good." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Prayer always remains the voice of all
those who apparently have no voice - and in this voice there always
echoes that 'loud cry' attributed to Christ by the Letter to the
Hebrews. Prayer is also the revelation of that abyss which is the
heart of man: a depth which comes from God and which only God can
fill, precisely with the Holy Spirit. We read in Luke: 'If you
then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask him.'" (Pope John Paul II)
"Indeed,
those who wish to rouse the faithful by Christ's spiritual gifts,
when these are duly contrite and absolved, and to pour out devout
prayers for obtaining peace and for deciding on the expedition, so
that the said peace and the campaign against the said enemies of
the Christian faith may be brought about and be secured from God
himself, will devote worthwhile and well-considered efforts as
often as they do this. These prayers, offered with devotion,
should take place in masses, sermons and other divine services, in
collegial, conventual and other public or communal prayers, and
among princes, advisers, officials, governors and other persons
named above who seem to have some influence in making or arranging
the peace and in deciding (as said before) on the campaign against
the enemies of the unconquered cross." (Fifth Lateran
Council)
"For since we
are all sinners and laden with many faults, our God must be
honored by us not only by that worship wherewith we adore His
infinite Majesty with due homage, or acknowledge His supreme
dominion by praying, or praise His boundless bounty by
thanksgiving; but besides this we must need
make satisfaction to
God the just avenger, 'for our numberless sins and offenses and
negligences.' To Consecration, therefore, whereby we are devoted
to God and are called holy to God, by that holiness and stability
which, as the Angelic Doctor teaches, is proper to consecration
(2da. 2dae. qu. 81, a. 8. c.), there must be added expiation,
whereby sins are wholly blotted out, lest the holiness of the
supreme justice may punish our shameless unworthiness, and reject
our offering as hateful rather than accept it as pleasing. ' .. But the more perfectly that our oblation
and sacrifice corresponds to the sacrifice of Our Lord, that is to
say, the more perfectly we have immolated our love and our desires
and have crucified our flesh by that mystic crucifixion of which
the Apostle speaks, the more abundant fruits of that propitiation
and expiation shall we receive for ourselves and for others." (Pope Pius XI, "Miserentissimus
Redemptor", 1928 A.D.)
"There is much to inspire us with
confidence in prayer. Among these are to be numbered the
beneficence and bounty of God, displayed towards us, when He
commands us to call Him Father, thus giving us to understand that
we are His children. Again there are the numberless instances of
those whose prayers have been heard. Further we have as our chief
advocate, Christ the Lord, who is ever ready to assist us, as we
read in St. John: If any man sin we have and advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the just; and he is the propitiation for our
sins. In like manner Paul the Apostle says: Christ Jesus, that
died, yea, that is risen also again, who is at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. To Timothy he writes:
For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man
Christ Jesus; and to the Hebrews he writes: Wherefore, it behooved
him in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
become a merciful and faithful high-priest before God. Unworthy
then, as we are of obtaining our requests, yet considering and
resting our claims upon the dignity of our great Mediator and
Intercessor, Jesus Christ, we should hope and trust more
confidently, that, through His merits, God will grant us all that
we ask in the proper way. Finally the Holy Ghost is the author of
our prayers; and under His guiding influence, we cannot fail to be
heard. We have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we
cry, 'Abba, (Father).' This spirit succors our infirmity and
enlightens our ignorance in the discharge of the duty of prayer;
nay, even, as the Apostle says, He asketh for us with unspeakable
groanings. Should we, then, at any time waver, not being
sufficiently strong in faith, let us say with the Apostles: Lord,
increase our faith; and, with the father (of the demoniac): Help
my unbelief.'" (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"But there are some who, whilst they
honestly agree with what We have said, yet because their hopes -
especially as regard the peace and tranquillity of the Church -
have not yet been fulfilled, nay, rather because troubles
seem to augment, have ceased to pray with diligence and fervor, in
a fit of discouragement. Let these look into themselves and labor
that the prayers they address to God may be made in a proper
spirit, according to the precept of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if
there be such, let them reflect how unworthy and how wrong it is
to wish to assign to Almighty God the time and the manner of
giving His assistance, since He owes nothing to us, and when He
hearkens to our supplications and crowns our merits, He only
crowns His own innumerable benefits; and when He complies least
with our wishes it is as a good father towards his children,
having pity on their childishness and consulting their advantage.
But as regards the prayers which we join to the suffrages of the
heavenly citizens, and offer humbly to God to obtain His mercy for
the Church, they are always favorably received and heard, and
either obtain for the Church great and imperishable benefits, or
their influence is temporarily withheld for a time of greater
need. In truth, to these supplications is added an immense weight
and grace - the prayers and merits of Christ Our Lord, Who has loved
the Church and has delivered Himself up for her to sanctify her...so that He should be glorified in her. He is her Sovereign
Head, holy, innocent, always living to make intercession for us,
on whose prayers and supplication we can always by divine
authority rely." (Pope Leo XIII, "Octobri Mense",
1891 A.D.)
"To
this lofty dignity of the Church's prayer, there should correspond
earnest devotion in our souls. For when in prayer the voice
repeats those hymns written under the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost and extols God's infinite perfections, it is necessary that
the interior sentiment of our souls should accompany the voice so
as to make those sentiments our own in which we are elevated to
heaven, adoring and giving due praise and thanks to the Blessed
Trinity; 'so let us chant in choir that mind and voice may accord
together.' It is not merely a question of recitation or of singing
which, however perfect according to norms of music and the sacred
rites, only reaches the ear, but it is especially a question of
the ascent of the mind and heart to God so that, united with
Christ, we may completely dedicate ourselves and all our actions
to Him. On this depends in no small way the efficacy of our
prayers. These prayers in fact, when they are not addressed
directly to the Word made man, conclude with the phrase 'though
Jesus Christ our Lord.' As our Mediator with God, He shows to the
heavenly Father His glorified wounds, 'always living to make
intercessions for us.'" (Pope Pius XII, "Mediator
Dei", 1947)
"If
also any one from indolence surrenders himself to his desires, and
betrays himself into the hands of his enemies, God neither assists
him nor hears him, because by sin he has alienated himself from
God. It becomes then a man to offer whatever belongs to him, but
to cry to God to assist him. Now we must ask for the Divine
assistance not slackly, nor with a mind wavering to and fro,
because such a one will not only not obtain what it seeks, but
will the rather provoke God to anger. For if a man standing before
a prince has his eye fixed within and without, lest perchance he
should be punished, how much more before God ought he to stand
watchful and trembling? But if when awakened by sin you are unable
to pray steadfastly to the utmost of your power, check yourself,
that when you stand before God you may direct your mind to Him.
And God pardons you, because not from indifference, but infirmity,
you cannot appear in His presence as you ought. If then you thus
command yourself, do not depart until you receive. For whenever
you ask and receive not, it is because your request was improperly
made, either without faith, or lightly, or for things which are
not good for you, or because you left off praying. But some
frequently make the objection, 'Why pray we? Is God then ignorant
of what we have need?' He knows undoubtedly, and gives us richly
all temporal things even before we ask. But we must first desire
good works, and the kingdom of heaven; and then having desired,
ask in faith and patience, bringing into our prayers whatever is
good for us, convicted of no offense by our own conscience."
(St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church)
"Ask,
and it shall be given to you, as though He were to say, If you
observe this mercy towards your enemies, whatever seems to you
shut, knock, and it shall be opened to you. Ask therefore in
prayer, praying day and night; seek with care and toil; for
neither by toiling only in the Scriptures do we gain knowledge
without God's grace, nor do we attain to grace without study, lest
the gift of God should be bestowed on the careless. But knock with
prayer, and fasting, and alms. For as one who knocks at a door,
not only cries out with his voice, but strikes with his hand, so
he who does good works, knocks with his works. But you will say,
this is what I pray that I may know and do, how then can I do it,
before I receive? Do what you can that you may become able to do
more, and keep what you know that you may come to know more. Or
otherwise; having above commanded all men to love their enemies,
and after enjoined that we should not under pretext of love give
holy things to dogs; He here gives good counsel, that they should
pray God for them, and it shall be granted them; let them seek out
those that are lost in sins, and they shall find them; let them
knock at those who are shut up in errors, and God shall open to
them that their word may have access to their souls. Or otherwise;
Since the precepts given above were beyond the reach of human
virtue, He sends them to God to whose grace nothing is impossible,
saying, Ask, and it shall be given you, that what cannot be
performed by men may be fulfilled through the grace of God."
(Pseudo Chrys, as quoted by St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church)
"We
may speak about prayer in two ways: first, by considering it in
itself; secondly, by considering it in its cause. The cause of prayer is the desire of charity, from which prayer ought
to arise: and this desire ought to be in us continually, either
actually or virtually, for the virtue of this desire remains in
whatever we do out of charity; and we ought to 'do all things to
the glory of God' (1 Corinthians 10:31). From this point of view
prayer ought to be continual: wherefore [St.] Augustine says (ad Probam,
Ep. 130,9): 'Faith, hope and charity are by themselves a prayer of
continual longing.' But prayer, considered in itself, cannot be
continual, because we have to be busy about other works, and, as
Augustine says (ad Probam, Ep. 130,9), 'we pray to God with our
lips at certain intervals and seasons, in order to admonish
ourselves by means of such like signs, to take note of the amount
of our progress in that desire, and to arouse ourselves more
eagerly to an increase thereof.' Now the quantity of a thing
should be commensurate with its end, for instance the quantity of
the dose should be commensurate with health. And so it is becoming
that prayer should last long enough to arouse the fervor of the
interior desire: and when it exceeds this measure, so that it
cannot be continued any longer without causing weariness, it
should be discontinued. Wherefore Augustine says (ad Probam, Ep.
130): 'It is said that the brethren in Egypt make frequent but
very short prayers, rapid ejaculations, as it were, lest that
vigilant and erect attention which is so necessary in prayer
slacken and languish, through the strain being prolonged. By so
doing they make it sufficiently clear not only that this attention
must not be forced if we are unable to keep it up, but also that
if we are able to continue, it should not be broken off too
soon.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"I
answer that, Among the ancients there was a threefold error
concerning prayer. Some held that human affairs are not ruled by
Divine providence; whence it would follow that it is useless to
pray and to worship God at all: of these it is written (Malachi
3:14): 'You have said: He laboreth in vain that serveth God.'
Another opinion held that all things, even in human affairs,
happen of necessity, whether by reason of the unchangeableness of
Divine providence, or through the compelling influence of the
stars, or on account of the connection of causes: and this opinion
also excluded the utility of prayer. There was a third opinion of
those who held that human affairs are indeed ruled by Divine
providence, and that they do not happen of necessity; yet they
deemed the disposition of Divine providence to be changeable, and
that it is changed by prayers and other things pertaining to the
worship of God. All these opinions were disproved... Wherefore it
behooves us so to account for the utility of prayer as neither to
impose necessity on human affairs subject to Divine providence,
nor to imply changeableness on the part of the Divine disposition.
In order to throw light on this question we must consider that
Divine providence disposes not only what effects shall take place,
but also from what causes and in what order these effects shall
proceed. Now among other causes human acts are the causes of
certain effects. Wherefore it must be that men do certain actions,
not that thereby they may change the Divine disposition, but that
by those actions they may achieve certain effects according to the
order of the Divine disposition: and the same is to be said of
natural causes. And so is it with regard to prayer. For we pray
not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that we may
impetrate that which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our
prayers in other words 'that by asking, men may deserve to receive
what Almighty God from eternity has disposed to give,' as Gregory
says (Dialogorum i, 8)" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
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