Sermon

Ask, et cetera. (John 16:24). The Apostle says in Romans 8:26 that quite often we do not know what we ought to ask. Therefore, our Advocate, Jesus Christ, of whom John says in his letter (1 John 2:1–2) that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he is the atonement for our sins, this Advocate invites us today to pray, and he promises to give to us, yes, he even swears to give to us, provided that we ask in the name of the Savior the things that are necessary for our salvation.

Thus at the beginning of today’s Gospel this Advocate of ours invites us to ask and teaches us to formulate our petition, saying: very truly, I tell you, if you ask the Father for something in my name, he will give it to you (John 16:23). (Cf. Thomas’s discussion of this verse in ST II-II.83.7, obj. 2.)

Accordingly he touches in these words upon three things.

First, the Lord invites us to pray: ask.

Second, he assures us about our obtaining: and you will receive.

And third, so that we may rightly ask, he underlines what is necessary for us to have, when he adds: so that your joy may be complete.

For elsewhere it is said: to everyone who has, it will be given, abundantly even (Matt 25:29); and elsewhere, in Luke 11:9: ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened for you. (Cf. Thomas’s discussion of Matthew 7:7 in ST II-II.83.3, ad 2.) Ask with confidence, and you will receive the gift of prosperity by which the body is upheld; seek carefully, and you will find the good of grace by which the soul is refreshed; knock ceaselessly, and the door of paradise will be opened for you, so that your heart may be filled with joy.

1. So first, the Lord invites us in these words to ask; in this we see the highest courtesy of him who so courteously invites us to ask.

There are four things that really ought to move us to ask:

(1.1) first, our poverty and want;

(1.2) second, the greatest generosity of Christ;

(1.3) third, the favorable time for asking;

(1.4) fourth, the surety of obtaining.

1.1. I say that the first thing that ought to move us to ask is our poverty and want. For we have nothing good from ourselves, but from God. The Apostle says in Romans: what do you have, that is, what good do you have, that you have not received? If you received, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Cor 4:7). A sinner has nothing from himself but his sin, and someone who is in the state of mortal sin loses everything good that he has done, because, as James 2:10 says: if someone has served the whole law, yet offends against one, he has become the transgressor against all. (Cf. Glossa ordinaria, in Bibliorum Sacrorum cum Glossa ordinaria iam ante quidem a Strabo Fulgensi, collecta: nunc autem novis patrum, cum Graecorum, tum Latinorum expositionibus locupletata cum postilla Nicolai Lyrani (Venice: 1603), at James 2:10, vol. 6, p. 1277 (PL 114:674).)

Someone who offends God by transgressing a mandate of his will be condemned for this one sin as he would be condemned for all sins; yet he will not be punished as he would be punished for very many sins. Or, someone who offends against one, the distributor of all goods, Christ, is made the transgressor against all, meaning: he will undergo the suffering for all evils. Or, someone who offends against one thing, namely, the precept of love, is made the transgressor against all other virtues, because love is the mother of all virtues; just as someone who offends the paterfamilias consequently offends the whole family.

Hence, a sinner who lies down in many mortal sins is in a great misery, because he does not know his defects. John says this plainly in Revelation 3:17 in respect of a sinner: you say: ‘I am rich and wealthy, and I do not lack anything’, but you do not know that you are wretched: miserable as well as poor and blind and nude. You say: ‘I am rich’ in knowledge, ‘wealthy’ in riches; ‘I do not lack anything’, for I am healthy and strong; but you do not know that you are wretched because you commit sins, miserable because you have been robbed of the virtues, poor because you lost the grace of God, blind because you do not know, naked because of a bad reputation. Mortal sin causes all these evils, for sin makes peoples wretched (Prov 14:34).

Hence, first our poverty and want should move us to ask. These are so big, because we do not have anything good from ourselves. Indeed, we only have our sins and defects of ourselves, and each and every good that we have we have from God.

1.2. The second thing that ought to move us to ask is the greatest generosity of Christ. For he himself is the most bountiful distributor of all goods. He is prefigured as such by King Ahasuerus, who has said to Queen Esther: what is your petition, Esther? If you asked me for half my kingdom, I would give it to you (Esth 5:3). Yet he does not give a part of his kingdom to his friends, but the whole of his kingdom (cf. Matt 5:3, 25:34). The former reigned over 120 provinces, the latter reigns over the whole world. Therefore, more than Ahasuerus, he is someone who gives (a) with courtesy, (b) to all people, (c) abundantly. These three characteristics are also mentioned by James in his letter: he gives to all abundantly and does not reproach (Jas 1:5). He does not sell; he gives: behold courtesy. To all: behold abundance. And he does not reproach: behold his generosity.

His gift is not the gift of a fool, about which we read in Proverbs: the gift of a fool will not be useful for you; he will give to you and reproach you (Sir 20:14). This popular dictum has no place there: à bon demandeur, bon refuseur, (A bon demandeur, bon escondeur: “you may well ask; it may well be refused.” Or in Dutch: kinderen die vragen worden overgeslagen; that is, “children who ask will not receive.” Cf. Joseph Morawski, Proverbes (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1924) p. 1, n. 9.) but rather: “a good requester finds a bountiful giver.” (Ad bonum petitorem largissimum datorem.) For, every very good present and every perfect gift (Jas 1:17) is from him. A good present is the good of prosperity like riches; a better gift is a gift of nature, like physical strength or health; the best is the gift of grace, like the virtues; the perfect gift is the gift of glory.

He gives all these gifts. He is more ready to give than we are to receive. (Cf. Heiric of Auxerre, Homilies, bk. 2, homily 18 [Dominica II post octavam Pentecostes] (CCCM 116B:164).) And so, because his generosity is so great, a complaint is made about those who do not want to ask, because it is St. Gregory who says: he does not deny that he himself is a debtor who goes to meet those who ask him to give a lot, knowing that we need a lot. He also says: human laziness blushes with shame, because God is more willing to give than we are to receive; he is more willing to show mercy than we are to be liberated from misery. (This quote from Gregory has not been found. For Thomas’s view of misery (miseria), see: ST I.21.4 and II-II.30.1. Cf. Augustine, Sermon 105, paras. 1–3 (PL 38:619).)

1.3. The third thing which ought to move us to ask is the favorable time (cf. 2 Cor 6:2). Someone who has to do something in the palace of a prince serves in a favorable time when the lord is joyful and the family is joyful. Likewise, the time to ask is favorable now, since our Lord Jesus Christ goes to the heavenly palace with the representation of our flesh, [to ask the Father on our behalf]. So, now are the dies Rogationum, [“the days for asking,”] during which the Lord wants us to ask him, because, after he has ascended into heaven, the angelic citizens and all the heavenly nobles rejoice. And so, since the time is favorable now, because on Thursday Christ enters heaven to ask the Father on our behalf, let us ask him now. Let us neither anticipate with the gourmand, who was late asking for a drop of water and who did not obtain it (cf. Luke 16:24), nor let us anticipate with the foolish virgins for whom the door was closed (Matt 25:10–11), but let us in the name of Christ the Savior ask the things that are necessary for our salvation, and we will obtain it. Hence it says in today’s Gospel: until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive (John 16:24).

1.4. The fourth thing is the surety of obtaining it, and this follows from three things mentioned before: by reason of our great poverty and want, God’s greatest generosity, and the favorable time for asking, we can be sure that we will obtain it. Thus John says in his letter: and this is the trust we have in the Father, that whenever we ask, he will hear us (cf. 1 John 3:22). (1 John 5:14.) This is true if we ask for the things that are necessary for our salvation.

It is true that nowadays people are lazy with respect to asking God and praying; therefore, two things in particular ought to move us to pray:

(1.4.1) the preciousness of prayer

and (1.4.2) our necessity.

1.4.1. Its preciousness, because, although these three, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, ordain us to have eternal life, prayer is the most worthy one, since fasting and almsgiving have to do with what is next to us, whereas prayer has to do with what is above us. So it is more worthy, because a person (Cf. Sermon 5, Behold Your King, note on “person” in Prologue.) approaches God as someone familiar, and there he fulfills the command, where the flesh cannot arrive. (Peter Lombard, Commentary on the Psalms, on Psalm 87:2 (PL 191:811D); Cassiodorus, Exposition on the Psalms, Psalm 87, verse 3 (CCSL 98:795; PL 70:623A).)

1.4.2. The necessity to pray is clear because of three reasons why people cry out: fire, water, and robbers. The fire of lustfulness attacks us; the water of avarice troubles us; the infernal robber and his henchmen disquiet us. And therefore, because in the present we have so many assailants, we ought to direct prayers to God more often, so that he may hear us in the present by his grace, and in the future grant us eternal life.