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Chapter 2: The Power of Prayer
1. Excellence of Prayer and its Power with God
Our prayers are so dear to God, that He has appointed the Angels
to present them to Him as soon as they come forth from our
mouths. "The Angels," says St. Hilary, "preside over the prayers
of the faithful, and offer them daily to God." [In Matt. Can,
18] This is that smoke of the incense, which are the prayers of
Saints, which St. John saw ascending to God from the hands of
the Angels; [Apoc. 8: 3] and which he saw in another place
represented by golden phials full of sweet odours, very
acceptable to God.
But in order to understand better the value
of prayers in God's sight, it is sufficient to read both in the
Old and New Testaments the innumerable promises which God makes
to the man that prays. "Cry to Me, and I will here thee." [Ps.
49: 15] Call upon Me, and I will deliver thee. [Jer. 33: 3] Ask,
and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and
it shall be opened unto you. He shall give good things to them
that ask Him. [Matt. 7: 7] Every one that asketh receiveth, and
he that seeketh findeth. [Luke 11: 10] Whatsoever they shall
ask, it shall be done for them by My Father. [John 15: 7] All
things whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall
receive them, and they shall come unto you. [Matt. 18: 19] If
you ask Me anything in My name, that will I do. [Mark 11: 24]
You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you.
Amen, amen, I say unto you, if you ask the Father anything in My
name, He will give it to you." [John 14: 14-16, 23] There are a
thousand similar texts; but it would take too long to quote
them.
God wills us to be saved; but for our greater good, He wills us
to be saved as conquerors. While, therefore, we remain here, we
have to live in a continual warfare; and if we should be saved,
we have to fight and conquer. "No one can be crowned without
victory," says St. Chrysostom. We are very feeble, and our
enemies are many and mighty; how shall we be able to stand
against them, or to defeat them? Let us take courage, and say
with the Apostle, "I can do all things in Him Who strengtheneth
me." [Phil. 4: 13]
By prayer we can do all things; for by this
means God will give us that strength which we want. Theodoret
says, that prayer is omnipotent; it is but one, yet it can do
all things: "Though prayer is one, it can do all things." And
St. Bonaventure asserts that by prayer we obtain every good, and
escape every evil: "By it is obtained the gain of every good,
and liberation from every evil," St. Laurence Justinian says,
that by means of prayer we build for ourselves a strong tower,
where we shall be secure from all the snares and assaults of our
enemies: "By the exercise of prayer man is able to erect a
citadel for himself." "The powers of Hell are mighty," says St.
Bernard, "but prayer is stronger than all the devils."
Yes; for by prayer the soul obtains God's help, which is
stronger than any created power. Thus David encouraged himself
in his alarms: "Praising I will call upon the Lord, and I shall
be saved from my enemies." [Ps. 17: 4] For, as St. Chrysostom
says, "prayer is a strong weapon, a defence, a port, and a
treasure." [Hom. in Ps. 145] It is a weapon sufficient to
overcome every assault of the devil; it is a defence to preserve
us in every danger; it is a port where we may be safe in every
tempest; and it is at the same time a treasure which provides us
with every good.
2. Power of Prayer against Temptation
God knows the great good which it does us to be obliged to pray,
and therefore permits us [as we have already shown in the
previous chapter] to be assaulted by our enemies, in order that
we may ask Him for the help which He offers and promises to us.
But as He is pleased when we run to Him in our dangers, so is He
displeased when He sees us neglectful of prayer. "As the king,"
says St. Bonaventure, "would think it faithlessness in an
officer, when his post was attacked, not to ask him for
reinforcements, he would be reputed a traitor if he did not
request help from the king;" so God thinks Himself betrayed by
the man who, when he finds himself surrounded by temptations,
does not run to Him for assistance. For He desires to help us;
and only waits to be asked, and then gives abundant succour.
This
is strikingly shown by Isaias, when, on God's part, he told the
king Achaz to ask some sign to assure himself of God's readiness
to help him: "Ask thee a sign of the Lord Thy God." [Is. 7: 2]
The faithless king answered: "I will not ask, and I will not
tempt the Lord;" for he trusted in his own power to overcome his
enemies without God's aid. And for this the Prophet reproved
him: "Hear, therefore, O house of David; is it a small thing for
you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God
also?" because that man is grievous and offensive to God who
will not ask Him for the graces which He offers.
"Come to Me, all you that labour and are burdened, and I will
refresh you." [Matt. 11: 28] "My poor children," says our
Saviour, "though you find yourselves assailed by enemies, and
oppressed with the weight of your sins, do not lose heart but
have recourse to Me in prayer, and I will give you strength to
resist, and I will give you a remedy for all your disasters." In
another place he says, by the mouth of Isaias, "Come and accuse
Me, saith the Lord; if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
made white as snow." [Is. 1: 18] O men, come to Me; though your
consciences are horribly defiled, yet come; I even give you
leave to reproach Me [so to speak], if after you had recourse to
Me, I do not give you grace to become white as snow.
What is prayer? It is, as St. Chrysostom says, "the anchor of
those tossed on the sea, the treasure of the poor, the cure of
diseases, the safeguard of health." It is a secure anchor for
him who is in peril of shipwreck; it is a treasury of immense
wealth for him who is poor; it is a most efficacious medicine
for him who is sick; and it is a certain preservative for him
who would keep himself well.
What does prayer effect? Let us
hear St. Laurence Justinian: "It pleases God, it gets what it
asks, it overcomes enemies, it changes men." It appeases the
wrath of God, Who pardons all who pray with humility. It obtains
every grace that is asked for; it vanquishes all the strength of
the tempter, and it changes men from blind into seeing, from
weak into strong, from sinners into Saints. Let him who wants
light ask it of God, and it shall be given. As soon as I had
recourse to God, says Solomon, He granted me wisdom: "I called
upon God, and the Spirit of wisdom came to me." [Wisd. 7: 7] Let
him who wants fortitude ask it of God, and it shall be given. As
soon as I opened my mouth to pray, says David, I received help
from God: "I opened my mouth, and drew in the Spirit." [Ps. 118:
131] And how in the world did the Martyrs obtain strength to
resist tyrants, except by prayer, which gave them force to
overcome dangers and death?
"He who uses this great weapon," says St. Chrysostom, "knows not
death, leaves the earth, enters Heaven, lives with God." He
falls not into sin; he loses affection for the earth; he makes
his abode in Heaven; and begins, even in this life, to enjoy the
conversation of God. How then can you disquiet such a man by
saying: "How do you know that you are written in the book of
life?" How do you know whether God will give you efficacious
grace and the gift of perseverance? "Be nothing solicitous,"
says St. Paul, "but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your petitions be known unto God." [Phil.
4: 6] What is the use, says the Apostle, of agitating yourselves
with these miseries and fears? Drive from you all these cares,
which are of no use but to lessen your confidence, and to make
you more tepid and slothful in walking along the way of
salvation.
Pray and seek always, and make your prayers sound in
God's ears, and thank Him for having promised to give you the
gifts which you desire whenever you ask for them, namely
efficacious grace, perseverance, salvation, and everything that
you desire. The Lord has given us our post in the battle against
powerful foes; but He is faithful in His promises, and will
never allow us to be assaulted more violently than we can
resist: "God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that which ye are able." [1 Cor. 10: 13]
He is faithful,
since He instantly succours the man who invokes Him. The learned
Cardinal Gatti writes, that God has bound Himself not only to
give us grace precisely balancing the temptation that assails
us, but that He is obliged, when we are tempted, and have
recourse to Him, to afford us, by means of that grace which is
kept ready for and offered to all, sufficient strength for us
actually to resist the temptation. "God is bound, when we are
tempted, and fly to His protection, to give us by the grace
prepared and offered to all such strength as will not only put
us in the way of being able to resist, but will also make us
resist; 'for we can do all things in Him who strengthens us' by
His grace, if we humbly ask for it." [De Grat., q. 2, d. 5,
Sect. 3]
We can do all things with God's help, which is granted
to every one who humbly seeks it; so that we have no excuse when
we allow ourselves to be overcome by a temptation. We are
conquered solely by our own fault, because we would not pray. By
prayer all the snares and power of the devil are easily
overcome. "By prayer all hurtful things are chased away," says
St. Augustine.
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