Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse, -
Conquest, War, Famine & Death, an 1887 painting by Victor Vasnetsov. The Lamb is visible at the
top.
EIGHTH
DISCOURSE
Prayers
Appease God, and Avert from us the Chastisement we Deserve, provided we purpose
to Amend.
"Petite
et accipietis, quaerite et invenietis."
"Ask
and you shall receive, seek and you shall find."--John, xvi. 24
by
St. Alphonsus Liguori
He who has a good
heart cannot but feel compassion for the afflicted, and wish to see all men
happy. But who has a heart as good as the Lord's? He by His nature is infinite
goodness, whence it is that God by His nature has an extreme desire to deliver
us from every evil, and render us happy in all things, nay, even partakers of
His own happiness. He wishes, therefore, that for our greater good we beg of
Him the graces which we stand in need of, that we may be spared the
chastisement which we deserve, and arrive at life everlasting. Hence He has
promised to hear the prayers of him who prays to Him with hope in His goodness.
Ask and you shall receive. But to come at once to the subject of our discourse:
Hence in order to be
delivered from the present scourge, and still more from the eternal scourge, WE
MUST PRAY AND HOPE. This is to be the first point. But it is not sufficient to
pray and to hope: WE MUST PRAY AND HOPE AS WE OUGHT. This is to be the second
point.
God wishes that we
should all be saved, as the Apostle assures us: God, Who will have all men to
be saved (1 Tim. ii. 4). And although He sees so many sinners who deserve hell,
He does not wish that any of them should be lost, but that they should be
restored to His grace by penance, and be saved. Not willing that any should
perish, but that all should return to penance (2 Peter iii. 9). But before
delivering us from the punishment we have deserved, and dispensing His graces,
He wishes to be sought in prayer. By prayer," says St. Laurence Justinian,
"the wrath of God is suspended, His vengeance is delayed, and pardon
finally procured. Oh how great are the promises which God makes to him who
prays! Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee (Ps. xlix.
15). Cry to Me , and I will hear thee (Jer. xxxiii. 3). You shall ask whatever
you will, and it shall be done unto you (John, xv. 7). Theodoret says that
prayer is one only instrument, but that it can effect all things. And let us
bear in mind, my brethren, that when we pray and ask things conducive to
salvation, not even our sins can prevent our receiving the graces which we beg.
For every one that asketh receiveth (Matth. vii. 8). Jesus Christ here says
that whoever asks, be he just or in sin, shall receive. Wherefore did David
say, For Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that
call upon Thee (Ps. lxxxv. 5). Hence the Apostle St. James, in order to excite
us to prayer, tells us: "But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of
God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not (James. i. 5)"
When God is solicited,
He gives more than is asked of Him, He giveth to all men abundantly. When one
man asks a favor of another whom he may have formerly injured, the latter
usually reproaches him with the injury that had been done him; but not so
God--he never upbraideth. When we beg of Him some grace for the good of our souls,
He never reproaches us with the offences which we have committed against Him;
but He hears us, and consoles us as though we had always served Him faithfully.
Hitherto you have not asked anything in My name, said the Lord one day to his
disciples, and to-day He says the same thing to us: Ask, and you shall receive,
that your joy may be full (John, xvi. 24). As if He were to say, Why do you
complain of me? You have only yourselves to blame you have not asked graces of
me, and therefore you have not received them. Ask of me, henceforward, what you
please, and it shall be granted you; and if you have not merit sufficient to
obtain it, ask it of my Father in my name, that is, through my merits, and
whatever it be, I promise you that you shall obtain it. Amen, amen, I say to
you; if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you (John,
xvi. 23). The princes of the earth, says St. John Chrysostom, give audience
only to a few, and that seldom; but access can always be had to God by every
one, at all times, and with certainty of a favorable hearing.
Rely, then, upon these
great promises, so often repeated by the Lord in the Scriptures; and let us
ever be attentive to beg of Him those graces which are necessary for salvation,
namely, the pardon of our sins, perseverance in His grace, His holy love,
resignation to His divine will, a happy death, and Paradise. By prayer we shall
attain all; without prayer we shall have nothing. What the holy Fathers and
theologians commonly say, namely, that prayer is necessary to adults, as a
means of salvation, comes to this, that it is impossible for any one to be
saved without prayer. Lessius wisely says, that it ought to be of faith; that
without prayer salvation is impossible to adults. And this is clearly to be drawn
from the Scriptures, which say: Ask, and you shaill receive (John, xvi. 24):
for as he who seeks obtains, says St. Theresa, he who does not seek does not
obtain. Pray that ye enter not into temptation. We ought always to pray (Luke,
xviii. I). The words "seek," and "pray," and "we
ought," according to the opinions of most theologians, along with St.
Thomas, imply a precept binding under pain of mortal sin.
Let us pray, then, and
pray with great confidence. Confidence in what? In that divine promise by
which, says St. Augustine, God has made Himself our debtor. He has promised; He
cannot be wanting to His promise; let us seek and hope, and we must be saved.
No one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded (Ecclus. ii. 11). There
never has been and never will be found any one to hope in the Lord and be lost,
as the prophet assures us: He is the protector of all that trust in Him (Ps.
xvii. 31).
But how comes it,
then, that some persons ask graces and do not obtain them? St. James answers
that it is because they ask ill. You ask, and receive not, because you ask
amiss (James, iv. 3). You must not only ask and hope, but ask and hope as you
ought. This brings us to the second point.
God has all the desire
to deliver us from every evil, and to share His blessings with us, as I said in
the beginning, but He wishes to be sought in prayer, and prayed to as He
should, in order that we should be heard. How can God think of hearing that
sinner who prays to Him that he may be freed from his afflictions, whilst he is
unwilling to abandon sin, which is the cause of his afflictions? When the
impious Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the prophet, who reproached him
with his wretchedness, the Lord caused his hand to wither up, so that he could
not draw it back. And his hand which he stretched forth against him withered,
and he was not able to draw it back again to him (3 Kings, xiii. 4). Then the
king turned to the man of God, and besought him to beg of the Lord to restore
his hand to him. Theodoret says, with regard to this circumstance: "Fool
that he was to have asked the prophet's prayers for the restoration of his
hand, and not for pardon of his sins." Thus do many act; they beg of God
to deliver them from their afflictions; they beg of the servants of God to
avert by their prayers the threatened chastisements, but they do not seek to
obtain the grace of abandoning their sins and changing their lives. And how can
such persons hope to be freed from the chastisement when they will not remove
its cause? What arms the hand of the Lord with thunders to chastise and afflict
us? Oh, it is accursed sin! "Punishment is the fine that is to be paid for
sin," says Tertullian. The afflictions we suffer are a fine which must be
paid by him whom sin has subjected to the penalty. St. Basil in like manner
says that sin is a note of hand which we give against ourselves. Since we sin,
we voluntarily go in debt to God's justice. It is not God, then, who makes us
miserable; it is sin (Prov. xiv. 34). Sin it is which obliges God to create
chastisements: Famine, and affliction, and scourges, all things are created for
the wicked (Ecclus. xl. 9).
Jeremias, addressing
the divine vengeance, says, O thou sword of the Lord, how long wilt thou not be
quiet? Go into thy scabbard, rest and be still (Jer. xlvii. 6). But then, he
goes on to say, How shall it be quiet when the Lord hath given it a charge
against Ascalon? How can the sword of the Lord ever be quiet if sinners do not
choose to abandon their sin, notwithstanding that the Lord has given a charge
to His sword to execute vengeance as long as sinners shall continue to deserve
it? But some will say, we make novenas, we fast, we give alms, we pray to God:
why are we not heard? To them the Lord replies, When they fast, I will not hear
their prayers, and when they offer holocausts and victims, I will not receive
them; for I will consume them by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence
(Jer. xiv. 12). How, exclaims the Lord! how can I hear the prayers of those who
beg to be freed from their afflictions, and not from their sins, because they
do not wish to reform. What care I for their fasts, and their sacrifices, and
their alms, when they will not change their lives. I will consume them by the
sword. With all their prayers, and devotions, and penitential exercises, I
shall be obliged by my justice to punish them.
Let us not, then, my
brethren, trust to prayers or other devotions, unaccompanied by a resolution to
amend. You pray, you smite your breast, and call for mercy; but that is not
enough. The impious Antiochus prayed, but the Scriptures say that his prayers
failed to obtain mercy from God. Then this wicked man prayed to the Lord, of
whom he was not to obtain mercy (2 Mach. ix. 13). The unhappy man, finding
himself devoured by worms, and near his end, prayed for life, but without
having sorrow for his sins.
Nor let us trust in
our holy protectors, if we do not purpose to amend. Some say we have our patron
or some other saint who will defend us; we have our Mother Mary to procure our
deliverance. Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance. Who hath showed you
to flee from the wrath to come? . . . and think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham for our father (Matt. iii. 8). How can we think to escape
punishment if we do not abandon sin? How can the saints think of assisting us
if we persist in exasperating the Lord? St. John Chrysostom says, of what use
was Jeremias to the Jews? The Jews had Jeremias to pray for them, but,
notwithstanding all the prayers of that holy prophet, they received the
chastisement, because they did not wish to give up their sins. Beyond doubt,
says the holy Doctor, the prayers of the saints contribute much to obtain the
divine mercy for us, but when? when we do penance. They are useful, but only
when we do ourselves violence to abandon sin, to fly occasions, and return to
God's favor.
The emperor Phocas, in
order to defend himself from his enemies, raised walls and multiplied
fortifications, but he heard a voice saying to him from heaven: "You build
walls, but when the enemy is within, the city is easily taken." We must
then expel this enemy, which is sin, from our souls, otherwise God cannot
exempt us from chastisement, because He is just, and cannot leave sin unpunished.
Another time the citizens of Antioch prayed to Mary to avert from them a
scourge which overhung them; and whilst they were praying, St. Bertoldus heard
the divine Mother replying from heaven, "Abandon your sins, and I shall be
propitious to you."
Let us then beg of the
Lord to use mercy towards us, but let us pray as David prayed: Lord, incline
unto my aid (Ps. lxix. 2). God wishes to aid us, but He wishes that we should
aid ourselves, by doing all that depends upon us. "He who desires to be assisted,"
says Hilaretus, "must do all that he can to assist himself." God
wishes to save us, but we must not imagine that God will do all without our
doing anything. St. Augustine says: " He who created you without your
help, will not save you without your help." What do you expect, sinful
brother? That God will bring you to Paradise with all your sins upon you? Do
you continue to draw down upon you the divine scourges, and yet hope to be
delivered from them? Must God save you while you persist in damning yourself?
If we purpose truly to
turn to God, then let us pray to Him and rejoice; even though the sins of the
entire world were ours, we should be heard, as I said to you in the beginning.
Every one who prays with a purpose of amendment, obtains mercy (Matt. vii. 8).
Let our prayers be in the name of Jesus Christ, who has promised that the
eternal Father will grant us everything we ask in His name, that is, through
His merits. If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you
(John, xvi. 23). Let us pray, and never cease from prayer; thus we shall obtain
every grace, and save ourselves. It is to this we are exhorted by St. Bernard,
who tells us to pray to God through the intercession of Mary: "Let us seek
grace, and seek it through Mary; because he who seeks through her, obtains his
request, and cannot be disappointed." Mary, when we pray to her, certainly
pleads for us with her Son; and when Mary prays for us, she obtains what she
demands, and her prayer cannot be refused by a Son who loves her so much.
From: Sermons Upon
Various Subjects
by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Act
of Contrition
O my God, I am
heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I
dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they
offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly
resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to
amend my life.
See also:
- -
God Threatens to Chastise us in order to deliver us
from
-
Sinners will not Believe in the Divine Threats until
the Chastisement has come upon Them (1) http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Nine%20Discourses%20for%20Times%20of%20Calamities%20Part%202.html
-
Sinners will not Believe in the Divine Threats until
the Chastisement has come upon Them (2) http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Nine%20Discourses%20for%20Times%20of%20Calamities%20Part%203.html
-
External Devotions are Useless, if we do not Abandon our Sins http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Nine%20Discourses%20for%20Times%20of%20Calamities%20Part%205.html
-
God Chastises us in this Life for our Good, not for our Destruction http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Nine%20Discourses%20for%20Times%20of%20Calamities%20Part%206.html
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