Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/47

 eternal truths,  etc.,  all  of  which  are  most  salutary  practices, as  every  one  must  admit;  but,  I  ask,  of  what  good are sermons,  meditations,  and  the  other  means  suggested by the  masters  of  the  spiritual  life,  without  prayer? since Our Lord  has  declared  that  He  will  only  grant  His  grace to those  who  pray  for  it:  'Ask  and  ye  shall  receive'  (John xvi.  24). According to  the  ordinary  course  of  Providence, all our  meditations,  resolutions,  promises  are  useless  without prayer;  if  we  do  not  pray,  we  shall  always  be  faithless to  the  lights  we  have  received  from  God  and  to  the resolutions we  have  taken. Because, in  order  to  do  right, to overcome  temptation,  to  practise  virtue,  to  observe God's law,  it  is  not  sufficient  to  have  received  divine lights, to  have  meditated,  and  to  have  taken  firm  resolutions. God's actual  help  is  also  necessary. Now, this actual help  is  only  granted  by  Our  Lord  to  those  who pray perseveringly  for  it. The lights  we  receive,  and the earnest  consideration  and  firm  resolutions  which  we make,  have  the  effect  of  inciting  us  to  have  recourse  to prayer  in  the  time  of  temptation  and  when  in  danger  of offending  God:  by  prayer  we  obtain  the  divine  help necessary for  keeping  us  from  sin,  and  if,  under  these circumstances, we  were  to  neglect  praying,  we  should undoubtedly be  lost.

"The texts  of  Scripture  which  prove  the  necessity  we are  under  of  praying,  if  we  wish  to  be  saved,  are  extremely clear:  'We  ought  always  to  pray '  (Luke  xviii.  1).  '  Watch ye,  and  pray  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation '  (Matt, xxvi.  41).  1  Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you'  (Matt, vii.  7).

"Theologians are  of  opinion  that  this  way  of  speaking imposes  the  precept  and  denotes  the  necessity  of  prayer. Hence  the  learned  Lessius  asserts  that  it  can  not  be  denied, without  sinning  against  faith,  that  for  adults  prayer  is necessary  to  salvation.

"The reason  of  this  is  that,  without  the  help  of  grace, we  can  do  nothing  good.  '  Without  Me,'  says  Jesus  Christ,