Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/48

 you can  do  nothing '  (John  xv.  5). St. Augustine  remarks on this  subject  that  Our  Saviour  did  not  say. You can complete nothing  without  Me;  but,  You  can  do  nothing. This truth  was  proclaimed  at  the  second  Council  of Orange,  when  it  was  defined  that  man  does  no  good  thing except what  God  enables  him  to  do  by  the  operations  of His  grace. Man is  therefore  quite  unable  to  work  out his own  salvation  unassisted,  since  it  is  God's  will  that  all he has  or  can  have  should  come  to  him  by  the  help  of grace. Now, this  grace  God  only  grants,  in  the  ordinary course of  His  providence,  to  those  who  pray  for  it. According to the  maxim  laid  down  by  Gennadius,  '  No  man can attain  salvation  without  the  help  of  God;  no  man  can obtain this  help  except  by  prayer.'  This  does  not  mean, says St.  Thomas,  that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  pray  in order  that  God  may  know  of  what  we  stand  in  need; but that  we  must  pray  in  order  that  we  ourselves  may understand our  need  of  having  recourse  to  God  to  obtain the aid  necessary  for  our  salvation,  and  may  thus  acknowledge Him  as  the  only  author  of  all  our  good."

E ought  always  to  pray,  and  not  to  faint. — Luke xviii. 1. Watch  ye,  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not into temptation. — Matt. xxvi. 41. Ask  and  it  shall  be given  you, — Ibid. vii. 7. Without  Me  you  can  do  nothing.— John  xv. 5. Not  that  we  are  sufficient  to  think anything of  ourselves  as  of  ourselves,  but  our  sufficiency is from  God. — 2 Cor. iii. 5. God  bestows  some  favors without prayer,  such  as  the  beginning  of  faith;  others, such as  perseverance,  are  granted  only  to  those  who pray. — St. Augustine. To enter  heaven,  continual prayer is  necessary  after  baptism;  for  although  all  sins are remitted  by  that  sacrament,  there  still  remain  concupiscence to  assail  us  from  within,  and  the  world  and  the devil to  attack  us  from  without. — St. Thomas. All the