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 conditionally —  that  is,  under  the  condition that they  either  promote  our  salvation,  or  at least  do  not  interfere  with  it;  for  we  should never lose  sight  of  this  saying  of  Our  Lord: " What  doth  it  profit  a  man,  if  he  gain  the whole  world  and  suffer  the  loss  of  his  own soul?" (Matt. xvi.  26.)

"God," says  St.  Alphonsus,  speaking  on this  subject,  "has  pledged  Himself  to  grant us,  not  temporal,  but  spiritual  goods,  goods necessary  or  conducive  to  our  salvation;  for we  can  not  ask  '  in  the  name  of  Jesus '  for  what is  or  may  prove  hurtful  to  our  salvation. God  does  not  and  can  not  grant  it.  Why? Because  He  loves  us.  A  physician  who  has any  regard  for  his  patient  will  not  permit  him things  which  he  knows  will  prove  injurious to  him.  Many  people  ask  for  health  or  riches, but  God  does  not  give  them  because  He  foresees that  they  will  be  an  occasion  of  sin  or of  tepidity  in  His  service.  When  we  ask  for temporal  favors,  we  ought  always  to  add  this condition  —  if  they  are  profitable  to  our  souls. And  when  we  see  that  God  does  not  give  them, let  us  rest  assured  that  He  refuses  them  only because He  loves  us,  and  because  He  sees  that what we  ask  would,  if  He  were  to  give  them to us,  redound  to  our  spiritual  injury."

The prayers  of  many  persons  are  not  heard