Introduction

Necessary to Read

I have published various little spiritual works, but I consider that I have produced no work more useful than this booklet, in which I speak of prayer, since it is a necessary and certain means for obtaining salvation and all the graces we need for that end. I do not have the ability, but if I could, I would print as many copies of this booklet as there are faithful living on the earth, and distribute one to each person, so that everyone might understand the necessity we all have of praying in order to be saved.

I say this because I see, on the one hand, this absolute necessity of prayer, so much insisted upon in all the Sacred Scriptures and by all the Holy Fathers; and on the other hand, I see that Christians give little attention to practicing this great means of their salvation. And what afflicts me even more is that preachers and confessors pay little attention to speaking of it to their hearers and penitents; and I see that even the spiritual books that circulate today do not speak of it enough. Yet all preachers, confessors, and all books ought to inculcate nothing else with greater urgency and warmth than this matter of prayer. They do indeed urge many good means upon souls for preserving themselves in the grace of God: flight from occasions of sin, frequenting the sacraments, resisting temptations, hearing the Divine Word, meditating on the Eternal Maxims, and other means — all (it cannot be denied) most useful. But of what use, I say, are sermons, meditations, and all the other means that the spiritual masters propose, without prayer, when the Lord has declared that He will grant graces only to those who pray? Petite, et accipietis. Without prayer (speaking according to ordinary Providence) all meditations made, all our resolutions, and all our promises will remain useless. If we do not pray, we shall always be unfaithful to all the lights received from God and to all the promises we have made. The reason is that in order actually to do good, to overcome temptations, to practice the virtues — in short, to observe the Divine precepts and counsels — the lights we have received and the reflections and resolutions we have made are not enough; we need, in addition, the actual help of God. And the Lord (as we shall see below) does not grant this actual help except to those who pray, and who pray perseveringly. The lights received, the reflections, and the good resolutions conceived serve this purpose: that in the dangers and temptations of transgressing the divine law, we may actually pray, and by prayer obtain the Divine assistance that then preserves us from sin. But if at that moment we do not pray, we shall be lost.

I wished, my dear reader, to set forth this conviction of mine before all that I shall write below, so that you may thank the Lord, who by means of this little book of mine gives you the grace to reflect more deeply on the importance of this great means of prayer; since all who are saved (speaking of adults) are ordinarily saved by this single means. And therefore I say, give thanks to God, since it is a very great mercy that He bestows on those to whom He gives the light and the grace to pray. I hope that you, my beloved brother, after reading this short work, will no longer be negligent from this day forward in always having recourse to God in prayer when you are tempted to offend Him. If perhaps in the past you found your conscience burdened with many sins, understand that the cause of this was your negligence in praying and in asking God for help to resist the temptations that assailed you. I beg you meanwhile to read and reread it with all attention — not because it is my own work, but because it is a means that the Lord offers you for the good of your eternal salvation, thereby giving you to understand in a particular way that He wants you to be saved. And after reading it, I beg you to have it read by others (as you are able) — friends or neighbors with whom you converse. Now let us begin in the Name of the Lord.

The Apostle wrote to Timothy: Osecro igitur primum omnium fieri obsecrationes, postulationes, gratiarum actiones (1 Tim. 2:1). St. Thomas the Angelic explains that prayer properly speaking is the raising of the mind to God. Petition, then, is properly the request which, when it contains determinate things, is called petition; when it contains indeterminate things (as when we say Deus in adjutorium meum intende), it is called supplication. Adjuration is a pious invocation, or attestation, to obtain grace, as when we say Per Crucem et Passionem tuam libera nos Domine. Finally, thanksgiving is gratitude for benefits received, by which, says St. Thomas, we merit to receive greater benefits: Gratias agentes meremur accipere potiora. Prayer taken in particular (says the Holy Doctor) means recourse to God, but taken in general it includes all the other parts named above; and so we shall understand it, naming it from here on by the name of prayer.

In order then to make us love this great means of our salvation, it is necessary to know how indispensable it is, and how much it avails for obtaining all the graces we desire from God, if we know how to ask for them as we ought. Therefore in this First Part we shall speak first of the necessity and the power of prayer, and then of the conditions required for it to be efficacious before God. In the Second Part we shall demonstrate that the grace of prayer is given to all; and there we shall treat of the ordinary way in which grace operates.