37. What effects does prayer bring about in the soul?.... ....... 45
29. How can I guarantee that God will hear my prayer?
"Bow down your ear, 0 Lord, and hear me. He speaks as a servant: speak, 0 servant, in the form of your Lord: Bow down your ear, 0 Lord. He does indeed bow down his ear, if you do not lift up your neck; for the Lord draws near to the humble man. But from the exalted man he distances himself, unless he himself has exalted that man for his humility. God then bows down his ear toward us. For he is on high, we below; he is in a high place, we in a lowly yet not yet desolate place.
"Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). It was not because of our merits that the Son of God had gone to his death, but on the contrary, because we had no merits and his mercy was great ... Unto the humble and the one who confesses to him his need of mercy, God bows down his ear. But not to him who is full of himself, who boasts and lifts himself up, as if he were not needy, as if to say I thank you, God, that I am not like this publican (Luke 18:11). For the rich Pharisee bragged of his merits, while the poor publican confessed his sins."97
30. It sounds as if humility is a prerequisite for prayer. Are there other virtues that prepare the way for effective prayer?
"Faith, hope, and love, therefore, lead the man of prayer to God. That is, the man who believes, hopes, and desires is guided with regard to what he should ask the Lord by study of the Lord's Prayer.""
31. What does sacrifice have to do with prayer?
"Encouraging sacrifice, the apostle says, I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1). If the soul uses the body - which is inferior - as an instrument or a servant, thus becoming a sacrifice when used correctly and in reference to God, how much more must the soul, in turn, become a sacrifice when it offers itself to God, so that, aflame with the fire of God's love, it might participate in his beauty and become pleasing to him? For it has lost the old form of earthly desire and has been remolded according to the image of eternal beauty. And to this the apostle adds, Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect (Rom. 12:2)."99
32. What is the relation between faith and prayer?
"The Holy Gospel instructs us to pray and believe, to put our trust in the Lord, and not in ourselves. What greater motivation to pray could he have given us than the parable of the unjust judge? ... [I]f he who hated to be asked heard her prayer, how then must he who counsels us to ask him hear us? Compared to a contrary example, the Lord taught that men ought to pray without ceasing, he added, saying, nonetheless, when the Son of Man comes, do you think that he will find faith on the earth? If faith lacks, prayer dies. For who prays for that which he does not believe? Thus, the blessed Apostle counseled prayer saying, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And to illustrate that faith is the foundation of prayer, he added, How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? So that we might pray, let us believe. And that this faith by which we pray not fail, let us pray. Faith pours out prayer and the pouring out of prayer, in turn, obtains the strengthening of faith."'oo
33. So is faith merely the source of prayer?
For St. Augustine faith is more than prayer's source. It is certainly more than trusting that his prayers are heard. Faith proves the existence of realities that at present remain unseen (Heb. 11:1). These are the mysteries of the spiritual life, whether they pertain to the life of the Blessed Trinity or to the economy of its communication to humanity through Christ's Sacred Humanity. Thus, God alone knows the things of God in their fullness: the depths of God can only be known by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11). But he does communicate something of himself to man, and that is precisely the content of Augustine's faith.
God's holiness is his own vision of himself. His love for himself is infinitely perfect and in proportion to his vision of himself. The measure of that vision that he grants us is the measure of our resemblance to him, through which we tend toward him, just as he tends toward himself. This is what is meant by being pulled toward God, and indeed all love for God is holiness. Knowing God's goodness triggers love for God. There is a gravitational pull of the will toward God's goodness, just as there is a gravitational pull of a weight toward the ground. Hence Augustine speaks of God in his famous phrase amor meus, pondus meum ("my love, my
Although we are deprived of the vision of God, given our mortal state, we do attain it to a certain extent by faith. Through faith, we contemplate the truth, albeit without the amenities of the light of vision. [T]his God has revealed to us through the Spirit .. . We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God (1 Cor. 2:10, 12). This spirit is the spirit of faith, and the gifts are our participation in divine life which requires our cooperation through prayer.
34. Christ says, Watch and pray, that you not fall into temptation. What is the relation between prayer and temptation?
"In order for faith not to fail, the Lord said, watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation ... What is to enter into temptation but to fail in faith? Temptation advances as faith lets up. And temptation yields as faith advances ... The Lord said, watch and pray, lest you fall into temptation, whereby we touch faith, lest it weaken and die. In the same place in the Gospel he said, this night Satan has sifted you like wheat, but I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith not fail. He who fights prays, and would not he who is in danger pray?""'
35. So there seem to be degrees of faith. Can we say that the degree of faith we have is determined by our degree of prayer?
"When the Lord said, when the Son of Man comes, do you think he shall find faith on the earth? he was speaking of perfect faith. Such faith is scarcely found on this earth. See, this church is full, and who among you would be here if he had no faith? But who would not move mountains if his faith were full? Consider the Apostles: they would never have left all they had, trodden this world's hopes underfoot, and followed the Lord if their faith were not great. And yet, if their faith were perfect, they would not have said to the Lord, increase our faith. Consider again that man confessing faith - yet behold an imperfect faith - who presented his son to the Lord to be freed of an evil spirit, and was asked if he believed. He answered saying, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. `I believe': there was faith. But, `help my unbelief': therefore, this was an imperfect faith."'o3
36. What relation does charity have to prayer?
Only he who has charity obtains what he asks in prayer: "We have confidence in God. Therefore, whatever we ask, we shall receive from him, because we keep his commandments. Thus, where God alone sees, not where men can see, but in our hearts, we have confidence, then, toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of him. How? Because we keep his commandments. What are `his commandments'? Must we ever repeat it? I give you a new commandment: love one another. It is charity itself that he speaks of, it is this that he commands. Whoever has brotherly charity - this means before God, where he can see it - and his heart withstands the interrogation of a just examination of conscience, discovering nothing but the true root of charity from which good fruits come, this man has confidence in God and shall indeed receive from him whatever he asks, because he keeps his commandments."104