Page:Withgodbookofpra00las.djvu/96

 wishes. "All excuse,"  says  St.  Alphonsus, "is taken  away  from  those  sinners  who  pretend that  they  have  not  the  strength  to  overcome their  temptations,  because,  if  they  had recourse  to  prayer  and  made  use  of  this  ordinary grace  bestowed  on  all  men,  they  would obtain  all  the  strength  they  need  to  overcome temptation  and  save  their  souls.  No  one  is damned  for  the  original  sin  of  Adam,  but solely  for  his  own  fault,  because  God  refuses to  no  one  the  grace  of  prayer  whereby  he may  obtain  His  assistance  to  overcome  every passion,  every  temptation.

"He who  prays,"  says  St.  Alphonsus,  in another  place,  "is  certainly  saved;  he  who prays  not  is  certainly  lost.  All  the  blessed (except  infants)  have  been  saved  by  prayer. All  the  damned  have  been  lost  by  not  praying; had  they  prayed,  they  would  not  have  been lost.  And  this  is  and  will  be  their  greatest torment  in  hell,  to  think  how  easily  they might  have  been  saved,  had  they  only  prayed to  God  for  His  grace;  but  that  is  now  too late  —  for  the  time  of  prayer  is  now  over  for them." We have  just  seen  how  effective prayer is,  because  it  is  the  infallible  means  of gaining  heaven. St. Augustine  is,  then,  right in calling  prayer  "the  key  of  heaven."

The necessity  of  prayer  is  twofold,  viz,  as  a