Section 24
81. What does Christ have to do with our prayer life?
"God could not have given men a greater gift than making his Word - through whom he created all things - to be their Head, and joining them as members to him, so that the Son of God should also become the Son of Man: one with the Father and with men. In this way, when we pray to God asking for mercy, we do not separate the Son from him. And when the Body of the Son prays, the Head is not separated from itself. For it is one Savior of one Body, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who both prays for us, prays in us, and is prayed to by us. As Priest, he prays for us. As Head, he prays in us. As God, he is prayed to by us. We should, then, recognize him in our words and his words in us."278
82. What does it mean to say that Christ is Head of the Mystical Body, and how does this play out in our prayer life?
"Inasmuch as he is God, he is prayed to; inasmuch as he is a servant, he prays: at once Creator and created. He takes the creature upon himself and remains unchanged, that the creature might be changed, thus making himself one with us into one Man, Head and Body. Thus, we pray to him, through him, in him. Just so, we speak with him, and he speaks with us. We speak in him, he speaks in us the prayer of the psalm, called `the Prayer of David'; since our Lord was, in the order of flesh, the son of David; but according to the order of his divine nature, he is the Lord and Creator of David . . . No one, upon hearing these words, therefore, should say that `Christ does not speak'; nor, too, should anyone utter, `Nor do I speak'. On the contrary, if he claims to speak in the Body of Christ, he should say both: `Christ speaks,' and `I speak.' Desire not to say anything without him or that he say anything without you ..."279
With regard to Christ's relationship to the members of his Mystical Body, Augustine says, "It is one Man who reaches to the end of the world: some members of Christ cry out, while other members rest in him already. Still others cry, while others will cry only when they have had rest, and when they have done, others will cry. For it is the entire Body of Christ whose voice he hears, which says, I have cried to you all day long. At the right hand of the Father, our Head intercedes for us: some he recovers, others he punishes; some he purifies, to others he gives comfort; some he is creating, others calling or recalling; some correcting, others restoring."280
83. Does that mean that with Christ as the Head, when we pray, Christ prays through us in such a way that we become his mouthpiece?
"In this Psalm [Ps. 1311, God's servant's humility and fidelity are commended to us in a song whose voice is the whole Body of Christ. Frequently we have admonished you, beloved, that such as that should not be heard as merely the voice of a singing man, but as the voice of all who form Christ's Body. And since they all make up that Body, one man does indeed speak: he who is one is also many ... Now he prays in God's temple who prays in the Church's peace, in the unity of the Body of Christ, which is made up of the many throughout the world who believe."28~
To ensure that it is Christ who prays, we have to sublimate our own egoism and be humble before the Lord and others. Augustine goes on to say, "Lord, my heart is not lifted up. He has offered a sacrifice. How do we show that he has offered a sacrifice? Humility of heart is a sacrifice ... Without a sacrifice there is no priest. Yet we have our High Priest in heaven, and he intercedes for us before the Father ... Because we have a priest we are safe. There let us offer our sacrifice. But what sort of sacrifice ought we to offer, given that God desires no holocausts as you have surely heard in the psalm? It is precisely there that that he shows us: The sacrifice that pleases God is an afflicted spirit; a broken, contrite heart, 0 God, you will not reject."282
84. If we are Christ's mouthpiece when we pray, could we say that when we praise Christ, Christ praises himself?
That is a logical conclusion. But St. Augustine goes one step further. He says that when Christ prayed the psalms which praised David, it was Christ in the order of human nature as son of David, praising his own divine nature in the God-Man. The title is `Praise to David himself.' And since he is also called David because he is of the seed of David and is nonetheless our ruling King who brings us into the Kingdom, therefore, `Praise to David himself' is understood to mean praise to Christ himself. Christ, in the order of flesh is David, as son of David, but in the order of divinity he is David's Creator and Lord: I will exalt you, my King; I will bless your name now and for all ages.""'
85. If Christ's praise is perfect, how does our praise add anything to it?
Rather than add something to Christ's perfect praise, we join it. "Great is the Lord and very much to be praised ... How vast a conception has he included by saying `very much'? Imagine whatever you want, for how can that which cannot be contained be imagined? He is very much to be praised. And of his greatness there is no end. Thus he says `very much' in case you choose to begin to praise him and then believe to have praised him enough, he whose greatness has no end. Do not think that he whose greatness has no end can ever be praised enough by you. Is it not better, then, that since he has no end, so your praise, too, should have no end? His greatness is endless, let your praise be without end, too.""'
86. Does this mean that Christ intercedes for us as well or does he only praise himself when we praise him?
"Note John's own humility. Doubtless he was a righteous and great man, who drank in the Lord's mysteries from his bosom. Such is the man who, having drunk from the Lord's side, proclaimed his divinity: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And such is the man who does not say `you have an advocate before the Father,' but if any man sin, he continues, we have an advocate. He does not say `you have,' nor `you have me,' nor `you have Christ himself,' but mentioning Christ he says we have, not `you have.' He numbers himself amongst the sinners so that he, too, might have Christ as an Advocate, rather than having himself as advocate in Christ's place, thus finding himself numbered amongst the proud who are condemned. Brothers, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, is the one we have as our advocate before the Father. `He,' yes he, `is the sacrifice for our sins . . .' The apostle prays for the people, the people pray for the apostle. We pray for you, dear brothers, but pray for us, too. Let all the members pray for each other, but let the Head intercede for all ... Behold, Christ is the sacrifice for our sins; not only ours, but also those of the entire world. "285
87. Doesn't Christ say, Anything you ask the Father in my name he will give you? How does that work?
"We must now take up those words of our Lord: Anything you ask the Father in my name he will give you. In previous portions of this discourse of our Lord, with regard to those people who ask certain things of the Father in Christ's name yet do not receive, it has already been said that nothing can be asked of the Father in the Savior's name that is not in conformity to the design of salvation ... In other words, one who conceives of Christ in such a way that is unfitting of the Son of God does not ask in his name, regardless of whether he not omit the mention of Christ with its syllables and letters ... But he who considers Christ correctly and asks in his name, receives what he has asked so long as it is not in conflict with his own eternal salvation. Further, he receives it when he should receive it. Some things are not denied, only slow in coming, being granted at the correct time."286
88. Christ says, If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you want and it shall be done for you. What does it mean to abide in Christ?
"Abiding in Christ, could there be anything they might wish for that would be disagreeable to Christ? Abiding in the Savior, could there be anything in their desire in conflict with salvation? We desire certain things because we are in Christ and still other things because we are still in this world. Sometimes, with relation to this present dwelling-place, we can be interiorly urged to ask for something, unaware that it would be to our detriment to receive it. God forbid that we would receive such a thing if we abide in Christ, who, when asked, only does what is to our benefit. Abiding in him, when his words abide in us, we will indeed ask whatever we will and it shall be granted us. If we ask and it comes to nothing, what we asked for did not serve our abiding in him, nor with his words which abide in us, but on the contrary, with the urges and baseness of the flesh which are not in him and do not have his words abiding in them. The prayer he taught us pertains to his words, with which we say, `Our Father, who art in heaven.' We should be cautioned not to fall away from the words and the meaning of this prayer in our petitions, and whatsoever we ask will be granted to us. Only when we do what he commanded us and love what he promised can we truly say that his words abide in us.
"But should his words abide merely in our memory, lacking a place in our lives, then the branch is separated from the vine because its life does not come from the root. Hence Scripture distinguishes those who remember his commandments and do them. For many keep the memory of them yet treat them with contempt, or even mock and revile them. The words of Christ do not abide in those who have some sort of contact but no real connection. And for them, his words will not be a blessing, but their accuser. And since they are present in them without abiding in them, they are held bound to them in order to be judged by them in the end."287