Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/206

 my merits and I promise that you shall obtain whatsoever you demand. Third Point. "We must pray with perseverance. 12. It is, above all, necessary to persevere in prayer till death, and never to cease to pray. This is what is inculcated by the following passages of Scripture: “We ought always to pray." (Luke xviii. 1.) "Watch ye, therefore, praying at all times” (xxi. 36). "Pray without ceasing. ” (I Thess. v. 17.) Hence the Holy Ghost says: "Let nothing hinder thee from praying always." (Eccl. xviii. 22.) These words imply, not only that we should pray always, but also that we should endeavour to remove every occasion which may prevent us from praying; for, if we cease to pray, we shall be deprived of the divine aid, and shall be overcome by temptations. Perseverance in grace is a gratuitous gift, which, as the Council of Trent has declared, we cannot merit (Ses. 6, cap. xiii.); but St. Augustine says, that we may obtain it by prayer. ”Hoc donum Dei suppliciter emereri, potest id est supplicando impetrari." (de Dono. Per., cap. vi.) Hence Cardinal Bellarmine teaches that “we must ask it daily, in order to obtain it everyday." If we neglect to ask it on any day, we may fall into sin on that day. 13. If, then, we wish to persevere and to be saved for no one can be saved without perseverance we must pray continually. Our perseverance depends, not on one grace, but on a thousand helps which we hope to obtain from God during our whole lives, that we may be preserved in his grace. Now, to this chain of graces a chain of prayers on our part must correspond; without these prayers, God ordinarily does not grant his graces. If we neglect to pray, and thus break the chain of prayers, the chain of graces shall also be broken, and we shall lose the grace of perseverance. If, says Jesus Christ to his disciples, one of you go during the night to a friend, and say to him: Lend me three loaves; an acquaintance has come to my house, and I have no refreshment for him. The friend will answer: I am in bed; the door is locked; I cannot get up. But, if the other continue to knock at the door, and will not depart,