Lecture 4 — Prayer to the Father

^3:13^ Wherefore I pray you not to faint at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. [n. 164]

^3:14^ For this cause I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [n. 165]

^3:15^ From whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named: [n. 169]

^3:16^ That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by his Spirit with might unto the inward man: [n. 170]

^3:17^ That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts: that, being rooted and founded in charity, [n.172]

163. After the Apostle has dealt with the dignity of the office belonging to his position, he goes on to speak of his tribulations and sufferings.

In reference to this he does two things:

first, he exhorts them lest they be troubled by his sufferings; they should have patience;

second, since divine assistance is necessary if man is not to become agitated, he prays that they might accomplish this through divine grace, at for this cause.

164. About the first he says: due to the importance and security of my office, which I have through faith in Christ, it happens that I suffer tribulations; but they neither daunt me nor can they tear me away from Christ. Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Or distress? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or danger? Or persecution? Or the sword? (Rom 8:35). As though he affirmed that nothing can.

Wherefore I urge and pray you not to faint at my tribulations. My sufferings should not be an occasion for you to fail in faith or in good works at all. Think diligently upon him that endures such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds (Heb 12:3).

I declare that you must not be disheartened because they are for you, for your own utility. Whether we be in tribulation, it is for your exhortation and salvation; or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation; or whether we be exhorted, it is for your exhortation and salvation, which works the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, that our hope for you may be steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation (2 Cor 1:6–7). Or, he says for you meaning, for your testing: as gold in the furnace he has proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he has received them (Wis 3:6).

Which is your glory if you do not fall but remain steadfast in sufferings, for he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved (Matt 10:22).

In a different way, which is your glory signifies that the endurance of our trials is to your own glory in that God exposes his apostles and prophets to sorrows and pains on account of your salvation. For this reason have I hewed them in the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth (Hos 6:5). We are your glory, as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor 1:14).

165. As a consequence he goes on, at for this cause, to implore assistance for them through a prayer that they might derive advantage from his exhortation.

First, he sets down the prayer.

Second, confident of its being heard, he adds a thanksgiving, at now to him who is able (Eph 3:20).

The first part has three sections:

first, he mentions to whom the prayer is addressed;

second, the intention of the prayer, at that he would grant you, according to the riches;

third, the prayer’s fruit, at you may be able to comprehend.

166. Humility makes a prayer worthy of being heard: he has had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he has not despised their petition (Ps 102:17). And, the prayer of him that humbles himself shall pierce the clouds: and till it come near he will not be comforted (Sir 35:21). Therefore, he immediately starts his prayer in humility, saying for this cause that you fail not in the faith I bend my knees to the Father. This is a symbol of humility for two reasons. First, a man belittles himself, in a certain way, when he genuflects, and he subjects himself to the one he genuflects before. In such a way he recognizes his own weakness and insignificance.

Second, physical strength is present in the knees; in bending them a man confesses openly to his lack of strength. Thus external, physical symbols are shown to God for the purpose of renewing and spiritually training the inner soul, as in the prayer of Manasse: I bend the knee of my heart; and for every knee shall be bowed to me: and every tongue shall swear (Isa 45:24).

167. He describes next the person to whom the prayer is directed, God, whom he portrays in his nearness and in his authority.

For from his close relationship to us we are encouraged to pray with confidence. In this regard he states to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and whose children we are also. Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (Jas 1:17). You, O Lord, are our Father, our redeemer: from everlasting is your name (Isa 63:16).

We are confirmed in the hope of obtaining what we ask for with confidence by his authority since from him all paternity in heaven and earth is named.

168. At this point the question arises if there is any paternity in heaven.

A quick answer would be that in heaven means that paternity is present in God and in divinity, and that this is the source of all fatherhood. But this is not questioned here, since it is known to all the faithful. It is asked whether in heaven, that is, in the angels, there is any paternity.

To this I reply that paternity exists only among beings who live and who know. But life is twofold: it is either actual or potential. To possess the vital activities in potency is to be potentially alive; for example, a person who is sleeping is said to be potentially alive in regard to external actions. But when someone actually performs the vital activities, he is alive in act. Thus, not only he who transmits the potency to life is the father of him to whom he gives it, but also he who communicates an act of life can be called a father. Therefore, whoever stimulates another to some vital act, whether it be to good activity, to understanding, to willing or loving, can be given the name of father. For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers (1 Cor 4:15). Likewise, in the hierarchical acts by which one angel illumines, perfects, and purifies another, it is evident that that angel is the father of the other—just as a teacher is the father of his disciples.

169. Some doubt that the fatherhood in heaven and on earth is derived from the paternity which exists in the divinity. It seems not to be, for we give names in accordance with our knowledge of the reality named. And whatever we do know is through creatures; hence, the names we give to the things themselves are applicable primarily, and to a greater degree, to creatures rather than God.

I reply and state that the name of anything we name can be taken in two ways. In one it is expressive or symbolic of an intellectual concept, since words are the marks or signs of the impressions or concepts that are in the soul. In this perspective a name refers to creatures more primarily than to God. However, inasmuch as it discloses the quiddity of the external object which is named, it refers more primarily to God. Therefore, the word paternity, when it signifies a concept formed by our intellect as it is naming a thing, will primarily be applicable to creatures instead of God since creatures are more known to us than God. But when it signifies the reality itself which has been named, then this reality is primarily in God rather than in us. For certainly all the power to procreate present in us is from God. So he says from whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named as though to affirm: the fatherhood present in creatures is, as it were, nominal or vocal; but the divine fatherhood, by which the Father communicates his whole nature to the Son without any imperfection, is true paternity.

170. Next, at that he would grant you, he discloses what he prays for: first, he does this; second, he shows through whom he can ask for what he desires, at by his Spirit.

171. Thus he says: I ask that you do not give up, but be steadfast like men. Yet I know that by yourselves you cannot achieve this without God’s gift, so I beg that he would grant it to you since every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights (Jas 1:17). He will do this according to the riches of his glory, that is, in accord with his overflowing majesty and grandeur. Glory and riches are in his house (Ps 112:3), and with me are riches and glory (Prov 8:18). Riches, I say, which will cause you to be strengthened with might. It is he that gives strength to the weary, and increases force and might to them that are not (Isa 40:29). This is for the inward man because a man is overcome easily by his enemy if he is not inwardly fortified. Establish him and strengthen him with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever (Isa 9:7).

172. Inserted in the above is the phrase by his Spirit indicating through whom petitions are granted. The Spirit himself who fortifies is the Spirit of fortitude, and is the source of our not yielding under sufferings. We receive him by faith which is most strong because it is the substance of the realities we hope for—that is, it makes these desired realities exist within us. Resist, strong in faith (1 Pet 5:9). And Paul adds that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts. Sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts (1 Pet 3:15).

With what? I claim that it should not only be by faith, which as a gift is the strongest, but also through the charity that is in the saints. Thus he adds being rooted and founded in charity which bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never falls away (1 Cor 13:7–8), for love is strong as death (Song 8:6). A tree without roots, or a house lacking a foundation are destroyed easily. In a similar manner, a spiritual edifice not rooted and founded in charity cannot last.