Part 8

1. It seems idle to pray that that may be hallowed which is already hallowed or holy. But the Name of God is holy: _And holy is His Name_.[177] Similarly, His kingdom is everlasting: _Thy kingdom_, O Lord, _is a kingdom of all ages_.[178] God's Will, too, is always fulfilled: _And all My Will shall be done_.[179] Hence it is idle to pray that God's Name may be hallowed, that His kingdom may come, and that His Will may be done.

But, as S. Augustine says,[180] when we say, _Hallowed be Thy Name_, we do not make this petition as though God's Name were not holy, but that It may be held holy by men; in other words, that God's glory may be propagated amongst men. And when we say, _Thy kingdom come_, it is not as though we meant that God did not reign, but, as S. Augustine says to Proba[181]: "We stir up our desires for that kingdom, that it may come upon us and that we may reign in it." Lastly, when we say, _Thy Will be done_, this is rightly understood to mean: May Thy precepts be obeyed _on earth as in Heaven_--that is, as by Angels, so by men. These three petitions, then, will receive their perfect fulfilment in the life to come; but the remaining four, as S. Augustine says, refer to the necessities of the present life.[182]

2. But further, to depart from evil must precede the pursuit of what is good. Hence it hardly seems appropriate to place those petitions which are concerned with the pursuit of what is good before those which refer to the departing from evil.

Yet since prayer is the interpreter of our desires the order of these petitions does not correspond to the order of attainment but of desire or intention; in this order, however, the end precedes the means to the end, the pursuit of good comes before the departure from evil.

3. But once more, we ask for something in order that it may be given us. But the chief gift of God is the Holy Spirit and those things which are given us through Him. Hence these petitions do not seem to be very appropriate since they do not correspond to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

S. Augustine[183], however, adapts these seven petitions to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and to the Beatitudes; he says: "If we have the _fear of God_ by which the poor in spirit are blessed, we pray that God's Name may be hallowed among men by chaste fear. If we have _piety_, by which the meek are blessed, we pray that His kingdom may come, that we may be meek, and that we may not withstand It. If we have _knowledge_, by which they that mourn are blessed, we pray that His will may be done, and that so we may not mourn. If we have _fortitude_, by which they that hunger are blessed, we pray that our daily bread may be given us. If we have _counsel_, by which they that are merciful are blessed, let us forgive our debtors that we ourselves may be forgiven. If we have _understanding_, by which the clean of heart are blessed, let us pray that we may not have a double heart that pursues after temporal things whence temptations come to us. If we have _wisdom_, whence the peace-makers are blessed--for they shall be called the sons of God--let us pray that we may be delivered from evil, for that very deliverance will make us the free sons of God."

4. Again, according to S. Luke,[184] there are only five petitions in the Lord's Prayer. Hence it would seem superfluous to have seven in S. Matthew.

But, as S. Augustine says[185]: "S. Luke only includes five petitions and not seven in the Lord's Prayer, for he shows that the third petition is, in a sense, only a repetition of the two preceding ones; by omitting it he makes us see that God's will is more especially concerned with our knowledge of His sanctity and with our reigning with Him. But Luke has omitted Matthew's last petition, _Deliver us from evil_, in order to show us that we are delivered from evil just precisely as we are not led into temptation."

5. And lastly, it seems idle to try to stir up the benevolence of one who is beforehand with his benevolence. But God does forestall us with His benevolence, for _He hath first loved us_.[186] Consequently it seems superfluous to preface our petitions with the words _Our Father Who art in Heaven_, words which seem intended to stir up God's benevolence.

But we must remember that prayer is not directed to God in order to prevail upon Him, but in order to excite ourselves to confidence in our petitions. And this confidence is especially excited in us by consideration of His love towards us whereby He wishes us well, wherefore we say, _Our Father_; and of His pre-eminent power whereby He is able to assist us, whence we say, _Who art in Heaven_.

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_Cajetan:_ The first three petitions of the _Lord's Prayer_ can also be referred to that which we principally desire, so that all three regard mainly that love wherewith we love God in Himself, and secondarily that love wherewith we love ourselves in God. And the proof of this is that in each of the first three we have the pronoun _Thine_, but in the last four the pronoun _our_. Thus the first petition asks for the effective and enduring praise of God's Name; the second, that He--and not the devil, nor the world, nor the flesh, nor sin--may reign effectively; the third, that His Will may be effectively fulfilled. For these things are not now absolutely so with God, and this by reason of the multitude of sins, and also because the mode of their present fulfilment is hidden. And the word _effectively_ is introduced into each clause by reason of the subjoined qualification _on earth as it is in Heaven_, for this qualifies each of the foregoing clauses. Hence rightly do our desires first of all aim at, wish for, and pray that--even as something good for God Himself--He may be sanctified in His Name; that He may be permanently uplifted above all things--on earth as in Heaven; that He--not sin--may reign--on earth as in Heaven; that His Will--none other--may be done--on earth as in Heaven (_on_ 2. 2. 83. 9).

_S. Augustine:_ O Eternal Truth, True Love and lovable Eternity! Thou art my God; for Thee do I sigh night and day! And when I first knew Thee Thou didst snatch me up so that I saw that That really was Which I saw, and that I who saw was really not--as yet. And Thou didst beat back my weak gaze, pouring out Thy light upon me in its intensity; and I trembled with love and with horror. For I found myself to be far away from Thee in a land that was unlike Thee; it was as though I heard Thy Voice from on high, saying: "I am the Food of grown men, grow, and thou shalt eat Me, but thou shalt not be changed into Me" (_Confessions_, VII. x. 2).

_S. Augustine:_ And the faithful are well aware of that Spiritual Food Which you, too, will soon know and Which you are to receive from God's altar. It will be your food, nay, your daily food, needful for this life. For are we not about to receive the Eucharist wherein we come to Christ Himself, and begin to reign with Him for ever? The Eucharist is our daily Bread. But let us so receive it as to be thereby refreshed, not in body merely but in mind. For the power which we know to be therein is the power of Unity whereby we are brought into union with His Body and become His members. Let us be What we receive; for then It will be truly our daily bread.

Again, what I set before you is your daily bread; and what you hear read day by day in the church is your daily bread; and the hymns you hear and which you sing--they are your daily bread. For these things we need for our pilgrimage. But when we get There are we going to hear a book read? Nay, we are going to hear the Word Himself; we are going to see the Word Himself; we are going to eat Him, to drink Him, even as the Angels do already. Do the Angels need books, or disputations, or readers? Nay, not so. But by seeing they read, for they see the Truth Itself and are sated from that Fount whence we receive but the sprinkling of the dew (_Sermon_, lvii., _on S. Matt._ vi. 7).

_S. Augustine:_ When ye say _Give us this day our daily bread_, ye profess yourselves God's beggars. Yet blush not at it! The richest man on earth is God's beggar. The beggar stands at the rich man's door. But the rich man in his turn stands at the door of one richer than he. He is begged from, and he, too, has to beg. If he were not in need he would not beseech God in prayer. But what can the rich man need? I dare to say it: he needs even his daily bread! For how is it that he abounds with all things, save that God gave them to him? And what will they have if God but withdraw His hand? (_Sermon_, lvi. 9, _on S. Matt._ vi.).

_S. Augustine:_ Think not that you have no need to say _Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us_.... He who looks with pleasure at what he should not--sins. Yet who can control the glance of the eye? Indeed, some say that the eye is so called from its swiftness (_oculus a velocitate_). Who can control his eyes or his ears? You can close your eyes when you like, but how quickly they open again! You can shut your ears with an effort; put up your hand, and you can touch them. But if someone holds your hands your ears remain open, and you cannot then shut out cursing words, impure words, flattering and deceitful words. When you hear something which you should not--do you not sin with your ears? What when you hear some evil thing with pleasure? And the death-dealing tongue! How many sins it commits! (_Sermon_, lvi. 8).

_S. Augustine:_ Indeed, our whole righteousness--true righteousness though it be, by reason of the True Good to Whom it is referred, consists rather, as long as we are in this life, in the remission of our sins than in the perfection of our virtues. And the proof of this is the Prayer of the whole City of God which is in pilgrimage on this earth. For by all Its members It cries to God: _Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them the trespass against us_! And this Prayer is of no avail for those whose faith is without works--dead; but only for those whose faith worketh through charity. For though our reason is indeed subject to God, yet in this our mortal condition, in this corruptible body which weigheth down the soul, our reason does not perfectly control our vices, and hence such prayer as this is needful for the righteous (_Of the City of God_, xix. 27).

"Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He may give life everlasting to all whom Thou hast given Him. And this is life everlasting, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent."[187]

Rhythm in Honour of the Blessed Sacrament, said to have been composed by S. Thomas on his Death-Bed.[188]

Adoro Te devote, latens Deitas, Quae sub his figuris vere latitas; Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit, Quia Te contemplans totum deficit.

Visus, tactus gustus, in Te fallitur, Sed auditu solo tuto creditur; Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius, Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius.

In cruce latebat sola Deitas, At hic latet simul et humanitas; Ambo tamen credens atque confitens, Peto quod petivit latro poenitens.

Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor, Deum tamen meum Te confiteor; Fac me Tibi semper magis credere, In Te spem habere, Te diligere.

O memoriale mortis Domini, Panis vivus, vitam praestans homini, Praesta meae menti de Te vivero, Et Te illi semper dulce sapere.

Pie Pellicane Jesu Domine, Me immundum munda Tuo Sanguine, Cujus una stilla salvum facere Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

Jesu Quem velatum nunc aspicio, Oro fiat illud quod tam sitio, Ut Te revelata cernens facie, Visu sim beatus Tuae gloriae!

(An Indulgence of 100 days for the recitation of this rhythm. _S. Congr. of Indulgences_, December 20, 1884.)

X

Is Prayer Peculiar to Rational Creatures?

Prayer is an act of the reason, as we have shown above. And rational creatures are so termed because of the possession of reason. Consequently prayer is peculiar to them.

As we have said above, prayer is an act of the reason by which a person pleads with his superior, just in the same way as a command is an act of the reason by which an inferior is directed to do something. Prayer, then, properly pertains to one who has the use of reason and who also has a superior with whom he can plead. The Persons of the Trinity have no superior; the brute animals have no reason. Hence prayer belongs neither to the Divine Persons nor to the brute creation, but is peculiar to rational creatures.

Some, however, argue that prayer cannot be peculiar to rational creatures, thus:

1. To ask and to receive belong to the same person. But the Divine Persons receive: the Son, namely, and the Holy Spirit. Consequently They can also pray; indeed it is the Son Himself Who says, _I will ask the Father_,[189] and the Apostle says of the Holy Spirit, _The Spirit Himself asketh for us_.[190]

But it belongs to the Divine Persons to receive by Their nature, whereas to pray belongs to one who receives through grace. The Son is said to ask or pray according to the nature He took upon Himself--that is according to His Human, and not according to His Divine, Nature; the Holy Spirit, too, is said to petition because He makes us petition.

2. But further, the Angels are superior to the rational creation since they are intellectual substances; but it belongs to the Angels to pray, for it is said in the Psalm[191]: _Adore Him, all ye His Angels_.

But the intellect and the reason are not different faculties in us, though they do differ in the sense that one is more perfect than the other. Consequently the intellectual creation, such as are the Angels, is sometimes distinguished from the rational creation, but at other times both are embraced under the one term "rational." And it is in this latter sense of the term "rational" that prayer is said to be peculiar to the rational creation.

3. Lastly, he prays who calls upon God; for it is chiefly by prayer that we call upon God. But the brute animals also call upon God, for the Psalmist says: _Who giveth to beasts their food, and to the young ravens that call upon Him._[192]

But the young ravens are said to call upon God by reason of those natural desires by which all things, each in their own fashion, desire to obtain the Divine goodness. In the same way brute animals are said to obey God by reason of the natural instinct by which they are moved by God.

"Reward them that patiently wait for Thee, that Thy Prophets may be found faithful: and hear the prayers of Thy servants. According to the blessing of Aaron over Thy people, and direct us into the way of justice, and let all know that dwell upon the earth, that Thou art God the beholder of all ages."[193]

XI

Do the Saints in Heaven Pray for Us?

_This is he who prayeth much for the people and for all the holy city, Jeremias the Prophet of God._[194]

As S. Jerome says,[195] Vigilantius's error lay in maintaining that "while we live we can mutually pray for one another; but after we are dead no one's prayer for another is heard, and this is especially clear in the case of the Martyrs who were unable to obtain by their prayers vengeance for their blood."

But this is altogether false; for since prayer for others springs from charity, the more perfect the charity of those who are in Heaven the more they pray for those wayfarers on earth who can be helped by their prayers. And the more knit they are to God the more efficacious are their prayers; for the Divine harmony demands that the superabundance of those who are in the higher position should redound upon those who are lower, just as the brightness of the sun renders the atmosphere itself luminous. Whence Christ Himself is said to be _Approaching of Himself to God to intercede for us_.[196] Whence, too, S. Jerome's reply to Vigilantius: "If the Apostles and Martyrs, when they were still in the body, and had still to be solicitous on their own account, prayed for others, how much more when they have won the crown, when they have gained the victory and the triumph?"

Yet some maintain that the Blessed in Heaven do not pray for us, thus:

1. A man's acts are more meritorious for himself than for another. But the Saints who are in Heaven neither merit for themselves nor pray for themselves, for they have already attained the goal of their desires. Hence neither do they pray for us.

But the Saints who are in our Fatherland lack no Blessedness--since they are Blessed--save the glory of the body, and for this they pray. But they pray for us who still lack the ultimate perfection of Blessedness; and their prayers are efficacious by reason of their previous merits and of the Divine acceptation of their prayers.

2. But once more: the Saints are perfectly conformed to the Will of God, and consequently will nothing but what He wills. But what God wills is always fulfilled. Hence it is idle for the Saints to pray for us.

But the Saints obtain that which God wills should come about through the medium of their prayers; and they ask for what they think is, by God's Will, to be fulfilled through their prayers.

3. And yet again: just as the Saints in Heaven are superior to us so also are they who are in Purgatory--for they cannot sin. Those, however, who are in Purgatory do not pray for us, but rather we for them. It follows, then, that neither can the Saints in Heaven pray for us.

But though those who are in Purgatory are superior to us in that they cannot sin, yet are they our inferiors as regards the penalties they suffer; hence they are not in a state to pray for us, but rather we for them.

4. Once more: if the Saints in Heaven could pray for us it would follow that the prayers of the holiest Saints would be the most efficacious, and that consequently we ought not to ask the inferior Saints to pray for us, but only the greatest ones.

But God desires inferior things to be helped by all that are superior, and consequently we have to implore the aid of not only the chief Saints but also of the lesser; else it would follow that we ought to implore mercy from God alone. And it may sometimes happen that the petition made to a lesser Saint is more efficacious, either because we ask him more devoutly, or because God wishes thus to show forth his sanctity.

5. Lastly, Peter's soul is not Peter. Consequently if the souls of the Saints could pray for us, we ought--as long as their souls are separated from their bodies--to appeal, not to Peter to help us, but to Peter's soul; whereas the Church does the contrary. From which it would seem that the Saints, at all events previous to the Resurrection, do not pray for us.

But since the Saints merited when alive that they should pray for us, we therefore call upon them by the names they bore when here below, and by which they are best known to us; and we do this, too, in order to show our faith in the Resurrection, in accordance with the words _I am the God of Abraham_.[197]

* * * * *

_Cajetan:_ The question arises: how could Jeremias, who in the days of the Maccabees was not yet in our Fatherland but still in the Limbo of the Fathers, pray for Jerusalem?

But if we carefully consider what it is at root which makes the prayers of the Saints in the Fatherland avail for us, we shall find that the same reason holds for the Saints who were in Limbo as for those who enjoy the Beatific Vision. For it is their charity in their state of absolute superiority to us which is the reason for their praying for us. Hence, in the reply to the third difficulty, those who are in Purgatory are excluded from the number of those who pray for us because they are not altogether our superiors, but by reason of their sufferings are inferior to us, and need our prayers.

But the Fathers in Limbo were, it is clear, confirmed in charity and were incapable of sin, neither were they liable to any peculiar or fresh suffering. For while the pain of loss was common to them and to the sojourners on earth, the former were free from all pain of sense, hence they could pray for us. There is, however, this difference to be noted between them and the Saints in the Fatherland--viz., that whereas the former had it in common with the latter to pray for those sojourning on earth, it is given only to the Saints in the Fatherland to see the prayers of us sojourners addressed to them. Hence Jeremias is here said to pray, he is not said to have heard their prayers or supplications (_on_ 2. 2. 83. 11).

XII

Should Prayer be Vocal?

_I cried to the Lord with my voice, with my voice I made supplication to the Lord._[198]

Prayer is of two kinds: public and private. _Public_ or common prayer is that which is offered to God by the Church's ministers in the person of the whole body of the faithful. And it is necessary that such prayer should be known to the body of the faithful for whom it is offered; this, however, could not be unless it were vocal; consequently it is reasonably enacted that the Church's ministers should pronounce such prayers in a loud voice so as to reach the ears of all.