Page:Catechismoftrent.djvu/332

 tage from prayers and supplications; yet it is the part of Christian charity to offer up our prayers and tears for them, in order if possible to obtain their reconciliation with God. With regard to the execrations uttered by holy men against the wicked, it is certain, from the concurrent exposition 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 sin destroyed.

In the second part of prayer, which is " thanksgiving," we render most grateful thanks to God for the divine and immortal blessings which he has always bestowed, and still continues to bestow on the human race. This duty 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 their domestic and external enemies. To this sort of prayer belongs the first part of the Angelical Salutation. When we say by way of prayer: " Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women," we render to God the highest praise and return him most grateful thanks, because he accumulated all his heavenly gifts on the most Holy Virgin; and to the Virgin herself, for this her singular felicity, we present our respectful and fervent congratulations. To this form of thanksgiving the church of God has wisely added prayers to, and an invocation of, the most holy Mother of God, by which we piously and humbly fly to her patronage, in order that, by interposing her intercession, she may conciliate the friendship of God to us miserable sinners, and may obtain for us those blessings which we stand in need of in this life and in the life to come. Exiled children of Eve, who dwell in this vale of tears, should we not earnestly beseech the Mother of mercy, the advocate of the faithful, to pray for us? Should we not earnestly implore her help and assistance? That she possesses exalted merits with God, and that she is most desirous to assist us by her prayers, it were wicked and impious to doubt. 3

That God is to be prayed to and his name invoked is the language of the law of nature, inscribed upon the tablet of the human heart: it is also the doctrine of revelation, in which we hear God commanding: " Call upon me in the day of trouble;" and, by the word " God," are to be understood the three persons of the adorable Trinity. We must also have recourse to the intercession of the saints who are in glory. That the saints are to be prayed to is a truth so firmly established in the church of God, that the pious mind cannot experience a shadow of doubt on the subject; and as this point of Catholic faith was explained in its proper place, under a separate head, to