CHAPTER V

FOR WHOM WE SHOULD PRAY

QUESTION I

There is no Race of Men in this World for whom it is not lawful to pray to God

The objects of prayer being known, the faithful people are to be taught for whom they should pray. Prayer comprehends petition and thanksgiving; and we shall therefore first treat of petition. We are then to pray for all, without exception of enemies, or nation, or religion; for every man, be he enemy, alien, or infidel, is our neighbour, whom by the command of God we are ordered to love, and for whom, therefore, we should also offer up our prayers, which is a duty of love. To this the apostle exhorts when he says: I exhort that prayers be made for all men. In such prayers the things that appertain to the salvation of the soul should hold the first place, temporal things the second.

QUESTION II

For whom we ought especially to pray

This duty we owe to the pastors of souls before all others, as we are admonished by the apostle in reference to himself; for he writes to the Colossians to pray for him, that God may open unto him a door of utterance; a request which he also makes to the Thessalonians. In the Acts of the Apostles we also find that prayer was offered in the Church without intermission for Peter. Of this duty we are also admonished by St. Basil in his books On morals: we must, saith he, pray for those that preside over the word of truth. In the second place, according to the same apostle, we should pray for princes; for who knows not how great a blessing we enjoy in pious and righteous princes? We should therefore beg of God that they be such, as those should be who are set over the rest of mankind. There are on record examples of holy men, by which we are admonished to pray also for the good and the pious, for they too stand in need of the prayers of others; and this has been ordained from on high, that aware of their standing in need of the suffrages of their inferiors, they be not uplifted with pride.

QUESTION III

It is shown that we must do the same for our Enemies and the Foes of the Church

Likewise the Lord hath commanded us to pray for those that persecute and calumniate us. It is also well known from the testimony of St. Augustine, that it has been a practice received down from the apostles, to offer prayers and vows for those who are not within the pale of the Church; that faith may be given to infidels; that idolaters may be liberated from the error of impiety; that Jews, their mental darkness being dissipated, may receive the light of truth; that heretics, returning to soundness, may be in structed in the precepts of the Catholic doctrine; that schismatics, linked by the bond of true charity, may be reunited to the communion of our most holy mother the Church, from whom they have separated. The great efficacy of prayers, when offered from the heart, for such men, is evinced by the examples of so many persons of all sorts, whom God daily rescueth from the power of darkness, and transferreth into the kingdom of his beloved Son, from vessels of wrath making them vessels of mercy; and that in this the prayers of the pious have very great influence, no one who thinks aright can doubt.

QUESTION IV

How this Benefit may be extended even to the Dead

Prayers for the dead, that they may be liberated from the fire of purgatory, had their origin in the doctrine of the apostles; but this subject we already treated at sufficient length, when speaking of the sacrifice of the Mass.

QUESTION V

The Prayers of others avail not those who sin unto death

But those who are said to sin unto death, derive scarcely any advantage from prayers and supplications. It is, however, the part of Christian charity to offer up prayers for them, and with tears to endeavour, if possible, to obtain a reconciliation with God.

QUESTION VI

In what manner we are to understand the Execrations found in the Scriptures

With regard to the execrations uttered by holy men against the wicked, it is certain, from the opinion of the fathers, that they are either prophecies of the evils which are to befall them, or denunciations against the crimes of which they are guilty, that the sinner may be saved, but the sin destroyed.

QUESTION VII

Of the Use of Thanksgiving

In the second part of prayer we render infinite thanks to God for the divine and immortal blessings which he has always bestowed, and still continues to bestow, upon the human race. But this duty of thanksgiving we discharge, principally, when we give singular praises to God for the victory and triumph which, aided by his goodness, the saints have achieved over all internal and external foes.

QUESTION VIII

Among the Congratulations which are offered to God on account of the Saints, which occupy the Chief Place in the Church

To this refers that first part of the angelical salutation, when we use it by way of prayer: Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women; for we honour God both by the highest praise, and by the most grateful thanks, because he accumulated all his heavenly gifts upon the most holy Virgin; and the Virgin herself we congratulate on this her singular felicity. But to this thanks giving the Church of God has with reason added prayers to, and an invocation of, the most holy mother of God, by which we might devoutly and suppliantly fly to her, that, by her intercession, she may conciliate God to us sinners, and obtain for us those blessings of which we stand in need in this life, and in the life to come. Exiled children of Eve, who dwell in this vale of tears, we should therefore earnestly beseech the mother of mercy, and the advocate of the faithful people, to pray for us sinners, and should from her in this prayer implore aid and assistance, whose most exalted merits with God, and whose earnest desire to assist mankind by her prayers, it were impious and wicked to doubt.