Evening Collation

Ask, and you will receive (John 16:24). In the first sermon it was mentioned what those things are that move us to pray, for, as was said, there are four: our necessity, Christ’s generosity, the favorable time, and the surety of obtaining it. (This is the only connection with the Sermon; the steps announced there are not taken in the Evening Collation (Collatio in sero). It seems that a completely different evening collation is added to the Sermon.)

It is true that there are many hindrances because of which our prayer is frustrated. Therefore, we can put forward seven hindrances in this homily, by reason of which our asking is frustrated and our prayer is not heard by God. (Some of these are also discussed by Thomas, in SCG III.95–96, but there in the context of the friendship between God and us (amicitia).)

The first hindrance is due to the indiscretion of the asking;

the second is due to the doubt of the one who asks;

the third is due to the uncleanness and the unworthiness of the petitioner;

the fourth is due to hypocrisy and feigning;

the fifth is due to hatred and rancor;

the sixth is due to harshness towards the neighbor;

and the seventh is due to contempt of the divine law and disobedience.

1. So the first hindrance is due to the indiscretion of the asking. James says about this: you ask but do not receive, because you ask in an evil way (Jas 4:3), (Cf. in contrast, Thomas’s discussion of this verse in ST II-II.83.5, obj. 1.) that is, indiscreetly, as the mother of John and James did: she asked God that one of her sons would sit at his right hand and the other at his left hand in his Kingdom. To them the Lord responds: you do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I will drink? (Matt 20:22), meaning: suffer a passion similar to that which I will undergo. We can, they said. And the Lord: you will drink my cup, yet sitting at my right or left is not mine to give you (Matt 20:22–23; Mark 10:40). A gloss adds: without preceding merits. Augustine speaks against those who ask for worldly honor as follows: when you ask for the things that God praises and promises to give, ask him with confidence, because God grants those things to us. Yet if you ask for temporal things, (Cf. ST II-II.83.6.) ask with discretion, for God knows better than man whether things are good or bad for us. (Cf. Augustine, Sermon 354, ch. 7 (PL 39:1567).)

Still, many ask God more freely for temporal than for eternal goods. All such people ask in an indiscreet way, because it does not befit God to give such a small gift, just as it does not befit the king of France to give a dime. Or God prefers not to listen to such people, because what they ask for is not salutary for them, just as he did not listen to Paul [asking to be delivered from] the stimulus of the flesh (cf. 2 Cor 12:7), and just as he does not listen to boys in schools asking that they not be flogged, because it is of no avail to them. (Cf. Isidore, Sentences, bk. 3, ch. 7, para. 26 (PL 83:677B).)

2. The second hindrance why someone is not heard is his doubt. Against them James says: let him ask in faith, not hesitant about anything. For someone who hesitates is like a wave of the sea that is moved by the wind (Jas 1:6). (Cf. Thomas’s discussion of this verse in ST II-II.83.15, obj. 3.) And he adds: therefore, that person should not think that he receives anything from God (Jas 1:7). Gregory says: someone is made unworthy of a heavenly blessing who asks the Lord in doubt to bring about something. (This quote from Gregory has not been found; cf. Geoffrey of Auxerre, Declamationes de colloquio Symonis cum Iesu, ex S. Bernardi Sermonibus collectae, ch. 55, para. 66 (SC 364:276; PL 184:472B).) And this is what John says in his letter: all things, whatever you may ask in faith, believe that you receive them (Mark 11:24).

3. The third hindrance is the unworthiness of the one who asks and his uncleanness. About this, Isaiah 1:15 says: when you have multiplied your prayers, I will not hear you. Then he gives the reason: for your hands, that is, your works, are full of blood (ibid.), meaning: sins. And in Lamentations 3:42 we read: we have acted unjustly and have brought about your rage; for that reason you are inexorable. Against such people it says in Psalm 66:18: if I have iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. A gloss there says: purity of prayer is heard by God. A prayer is pure which is not disturbed by worries of worldly things, by love of the flesh. (Isidore, Sentences, bk. 3, ch. 7, para. 8 (PL 83:673B).)

The mind is far away from God when it is occupied with worldly worries and dedicated to the desires of the flesh. Therefore, the mind must first be purified from the worldly worries and separated from the desires of the flesh first, so that the attention of the mind may be directed to God. (Cf. Isidore, Sentences, bk. 3, ch. 7, para. 10 (PL 83:674A).) This is clear through a visible example: the Bishop of Paris would not give the allowances of his church to unclean people, villains, and those who openly charge interest (cf. Lev 25:36–37); likewise, the heavenly High Priest will not give the allowances of his glory to such people.

4. The fourth hindrance why someone’s asking is frustrated is hypocrisy and feigning. For a hypocrite shouts with his mouth, but is silent in his heart. Isaiah 29:13 (Cf. Thomas’s discussion of this verse in ST II-II.91.1, obj. 1–2.) says, referring to such a person: this people praises me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Gregory says: if we seek eternal life with our mouth but do not desire it with our heart, we are silent as we shout. (Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job 22.17.43 (CCSL 143A:1122; PL 76:238C).) Hence, aiming at a hypocrite the commonly known saying goes: a hypocrite cries out when the tribulation of temporal things frightens him; God does not hear him in this favorable time, because he has not heard the cry of the Lord in the time of peace. (Gregory the Great, Morals on the Book of Job 18.8.15; 18.10.17 (CCSL 143A:894–897; PL 76:45C–47B).)

5. The fifth hindrance (Cf. ST II-II.83.16 (especially obj./ad 3, where he discusses Sir 28:2 and Matt 6:12).) is due to hatred of the heart and rancor. In Sirach 28:3 we read: a man maintains anger against another man and asks help from God. No one receives a favor from God unless he lets go of his rancor against his brother or his neighbor.

We find in the Gospel the example of a wretched slave to whom his lord says: ‘wretched slave, I have forgiven you every debt, because you asked me; should you then not have had mercy upon your fellow slave, just as I have had mercy upon you?’ And he ordered that he would be handed over to be tortured, until he would have paid back the entire debt. (Cf. Matthew 18:23–34.) And the Evangelist concludes: in the same way my Father in heaven will do with you, if each one of you does not forgive from your hearts (Matt 18:32–35).

This is the bond that the Lord has made with us: forgive, and you will be forgiven (Matt 6:14); otherwise, he will not forgive you. (Cf. Luke 6:37.) Thus one says in vain in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12).

6. The sixth hindrance is due to the harshness towards the neighbor: there are many rich people who have so many of the goods of this world but do not want to come to the aid of the poor of Christ at all. Because such people do not practice mercy for the poor, they will not find mercy from God in the future, just like the rich gourmand in hell who did not obtain one drop of water, because he had denied one crumb of bread to the poor Lazarus (Luke 16:19–26).

7. The seventh and last hindrance is due to contempt of the divine law and disobedience. In Sirach we read: someone who closes his ear in order not to hear the law, his prayer will be detestable (Prov 28:9), (Cf. ST II-II.83.16 (esp. obj./ad 1).) meaning: it will not be heard in the chapel of the heavenly court, just as a servant of someone who is excommunicated may not be heard in the court of one or another worldly judge.

On top of these seven, note that in order to obtain, it is important for man above all to remember how fragile he is himself and to consider how good God is. Thus Isidore says: when we stand before God to pray, we ought to mourn and shed tears, calling to mind how many and serious the sins are that we have committed, how cruel the tortures of hell are that we fear, and how incomparable the joys in heaven are to which we look forward. (Isidore, Sentences, bk. 3, ch. 7, para. 5 (PL 83:673A).) Robbers and plague-sufferers teach us how to pray. (These examples are from William of Auvergne, Divine Rhetoric, cc. 31–32.) The robber who saw what he had done and the torture that was prepared for him asked in between these two with many tears for mercy (Luke 23:42). Plague-sufferers show the weaker and unsightly members of their body to others and hide the healthy ones, in order to move others to compassionate devotion and the giving of alms.

Likewise, let us show to God in the present our weaknesses and our sins, so that he may hear us in the present through his grace and bring us eternal life in the future. Amen.