Conferences on the Virtues
By Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Number 73
Vocal Prayer…
To return to
the instruction on the Virtue of Religion:
In the previous
conference I stated that, according to my textbook, vocal prayer is comprised
of truly human speech, and that one of the pre-requisites for that is to
actually speak the words of the prayer.
At that time I
neglected to add a comment by the author:
Hence,
whoever merely reads the prayer with the eyes, or merely thinks the words of
the prayer, would not be doing vocal prayer.
Neither would one who does not move the lips, or who moves the lips
without activating the vocal cords.
However, even
though true vocal prayer must be audible, it is not necessary that anyone but
the one praying hear it. Having said
that, we can go on.
The third
requirement for true vocal prayer is that the one praying have the intention
or the will to pray.
Since the
pronouncing of words is an indifferent action in and of itself, the
intention of the will is required to give that action a specific purpose. It could be for the sake of memorizing, to
tell a joke, to solicit information, etc.
For it to become an act of religion, that is, directed to the worship of
God one must have the intention to pray.
Nevertheless,
the intention itself need not be consciously adverted to. One need not preface vocal prayers with the
express statements: I intend to
pray. A virtual intention
suffices. Most often the intention is
implicit in such acts as going into a church, or picking up one’s prayer book
or rosary at the time one usually prays, and just beginning to recite the
prayers according to one’s customary routine.
Of all possible
vocal prayers, the most perfect and worthy of all is The Lord’s Prayer,
since it has Jesus Himself as its author, and in a concise way summarizes all
those things which it is most laudable to pray for. And it states them in the proper order.
Concerning the
order of the petitions in the Our Father, we desire first the
highest possible GOOD. Then we ask for
the means to attain that GOOD. Finally
we ask that the impediments to the attainment of the GOOD be removed.
Hence we pray
for the highest GOOD, the Glory of God, by praying: Hallowed be Thy Name.
Next in order
we pray for a component of that Highest Good, namely, the Beatitude that flows
from our personal perception of God’s Glory in the Beatific vision, when we
say: Thy Kingdom Come.
We ask for the
principal means of achieving both in the next petition: Thy Will be done.
As a
subdivision of that, we ask for the temporal instrumental means of fulfilling
His Will: Give us this day our daily
bread.
Finally, we ask
for the removal of those things that directly impede and prevent the
attainment of those Highest Goods, when we pray: Forgive us our sins (trespasses).
And subordinate
to that, we pray for the removal of what could induce us to sin when we
say: Lead us not into temptation.
Last of all, we
pray to be free of temporal impediments that could indirectly interfere with the
experience of the Highest Good by asking:
Deliver us from evil.
Vocal prayer is
also private and public, individual and common.
It is private
and individual when done by a person in his own name.
It is public
and common when done by a gathering of faithful or by a minister (or
ministers) of the Church in the name of an entire community of faithful. The Liturgy of the Hours is an example of
the latter.
St. Thomas
Aquinas distinguishes certain elements that all together or in various
combinations constitute the vocal prayers that we direct to one or more of the
Divine Persons.
The first is
properly called Prayer: the raising
of the mind to God.
This is done
for a purpose, namely, to ask a favor.
The favor may be expressly stated, and it becomes a petition.
Or it may be
done in a general, indeterminate way, such as to say: God, help me, or Lord have mercy. This is called supplication.
When the
grounds for expecting a favorable response from God is expressed, namely, His
very Goodness, or some aspect thereof, we have obsecration. An example of this would be to say: By your Passion and Cross,…
To complete and
perfect all vocal prayers, it would be ideal to include also protestations
of gratitude for past favors received.
To say thanks
to God, recognizing that we do not merit His gifts, being incapable, of
ourselves, of earning them, and that they proceed purely from His own infinite
generosity, is, really, to make an act of humility. This predisposes us to receive even greater gifts, since as you
all know: God resists the proud and
gives His grace (favors) to the humble.
Article
III – The Necessity and Efficacy of Prayer…
Principle I – For
Every Adult, Prayer is a Necessary Means of Salvation
This statement
is theologically certain as the ordinary means, willed by God, of obtaining the
actual graces that we need for salvation, especially the Grace of Final
perseverance. It is not enjoined
upon us by Natural law (the very nature of things).
Scripture
itself is the authority for this principle:
Ask
and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it will be opened to
you. (Matt. 7:7, Luke 11:9)
Watch
and pray that you do not enter into temptation (Matt.
26:41)
Up
to now you have not asked for anything in My Name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be full. (John 16:24)
Had this
principle been based upon Natural Law, then it would be impossible for any
human being who died without ever knowing the One True God, or without ever
knowing that God created us to know Him, Love Him and serve Him in this life,
and to be happy with Him forever in the next, to be saved.
After all,
Jesus, in the account of what the Last Judgment will be like, never talked
about Prayer. He made it clear that
Salvation is based solely upon whether or not one has overcome personal
selfishness and self-centeredness by alleviating the sufferings of others or
otherwise going to the aid of the needy.
Among those who
did just that there would certainly be individuals who never did know the One True
God.
Principle
II – We are obliged to Pray in Virtue of Divine Precept
The Scriptural
texts that uphold this principle are as follows:
Then
He told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose
heart. (Luke
18:1)
Be
persevering in your prayers…(Colossians 4:2)
Pray
all the time, asking for what you need, praying in the Spirit on every possible
occasion. (Ephesians
6:18)
Pray
constantly…(Thess. 5:17)
Given the fact
that the ordinary means of obtaining the graces of salvation is by prayer, it
stands to reason that an obligation to pray is binding upon all believers.
The virtue of
Religion, by means of which we render honor and glory to God by acknowledging
His Excellence and our dependence upon Him as Creator and Father, also imposes
an obligation to pray upon us. It so
pleases Him, therefore, when we explicitly appeal to Him to satisfy our needs
of body and soul through prayer.
We need to ask
the question: How often are we
obliged to Pray?
Above we are
told to pray always, or continually, but that is possible only for the
general kind of prayer we define as the raising of the mind to God. The question, then, applies only to the
prayer we call petition.
Different moral
theologians throughout the history of the Church give different answers. Although all agree that we are to pray
often, there is a difference of opinion on the meaning of the word often.
Some
allege that it means once a year.
Others, once a month; still others once a week. Perhaps the best answer would be several
times during the year.
In speaking
that way, these theologians have in mind a person in ordinary circumstances,
that is, one not experiencing any urgent, specific needs of soul and body.
Thus it can
happen that, at a given moment, one may be under a serious obligation to
pray. At those moments, it might be
because:
1. A
powerful temptation has arisen that cannot be overcome without prayer.
2. A
person may have fallen into a state of mortal sin, and must pray in order to
obtain the graces to rise from it.
3. Whenever
Charity toward our fellow man requires it.
On other
occasions an obligation to pray may arise because of a promise or a vow made to
God. For example, one who has professed
to follow the OCDS Rule, is obliged at the appropriate times, to recite Morning
and Evening prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours unless otherwise seriously
inconvenienced.
Here are some
Remarks the author of my textbook makes regarding the obligation to pray:
1. Prayer
is to be assiduous, or continual, not in the sense of always being actually
engaged in prayer, but only virtually.
That is because at times we are obliged to devote our attention to
incompatible external activities pursuant to our vocation or our state in life.
Prayer
is virtually continual when all of our activities are motivated by or are
placed under the aegis of Charity.
Since the desire for eternal happiness is the principle that underlies
all our prayer, activities done out of Love for God partake of the state of
union with God that is produced by conformity to His Will.
2. The
obligation to pray applies internally.
The obligation to pray externally (or vocally) arises whenever the
prayer is public in nature and, since done for and on behalf of many, should be
manifested externally to all who are present.
3. In
and of itself, it is not a great sin to omit morning (getting up) and evening
(going to bed) prayers, nor to omit prayers before principal meals. If it turns out that these prayers are
occasionally omitted without a sufficient reason, and perhaps omitted out of
negligence, laziness or human respect, the omission would be a light (or
venial) sin.
If
they were omitted altogether for an extended period of time, this could be a
sign that one never prays, or is perhaps in a sinful state of soul.
4. We
should routinely pray for others, not only for all who are still pilgrims on
earth like ourselves, but also for all the souls in Purgatory. However, this need only be done in a general
way, in that they are implicitly included in all our prayers.
The
duty to pray for specific persons individually and by name only arises when we
perceive someone to be in grave spiritual need. But we should always pray specifically for all those who are
joined to us closely as relatives or friends.
5. There
does not exist any explicit command and duty to invoke the aid of (to pray to)
the Saints. The Council of Trent has
stated, however, that it is good and useful to appeal to them for help.
Nevertheless,
in practice, anyone who would never invoke their aid, and especially never seek
the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, would be depriving himself of their
powerful aid to salvation and sanctification.
If not a venial sin of laziness or want of respect, it would certainly
be a violation of the virtue of prudence.
The
author of my textbook says that anyone who deliberately and stubbornly refuses
to seek the aid of the Blessed Virgin in prayer should be considered guilty of
grave disrespect, or of heresy.
The
Effects of Prayer…
Besides the
spiritual consolation and nourishment that prayer brings to whomever prays
devoutly and attentively (and which is diminished by letting the mind wander),
all prayer enjoys a threefold power or efficacy: it is meritorious, satisfies for sin, and has impetratory
value.
The merit lies
in prayer having the power to move God to show mercy, it does not earn the
favor requested.
It satisfies
for sin in the sense that every sin is a turning away from God to seek
happiness elsewhere. Prayer
converts a person back to God.
To impetrate
means to obtain by entreaty. Prayer
always infallibly obtains some good gift from God, but not necessarily the
exact favor asked for.
In order that
prayer succeed in obtaining a benefit from God, four conditions must be met:
1. It
must be pious: have its origin
in Faith, be grounded in Hope, and be accompanied by the humble
intention of honoring God.
2. That
the favor sought be necessary for salvation, or at least very useful.
3. That
one pray for oneself. Prayer for
someone not properly disposed to receive a grace (having an impediment) cannot
have impetratory value.
4. It
must be persevering.
Perseverance is evidence of a strong and humble Faith and Hope, i.e., of
a proper disposition.
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