MEDITATION V The Power of Prayer to Obtain Perfection
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint and Coppens, Charles
1st Prelude. Imagine you are listening to Christ at the Sermon on the Mount while He says: “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you” (St. Matth. vii, 7).
2nd Prelude. Ask earnestly to obtain great confidence in prayer.
POINT I.Prayer is a spiritual gold mine. When gold is discovered on a piece of arid land, the owners have at once at their disposal the means of becoming very rich. Similarly the soul that begins to understand the efficacy of prayer can obtain by its means a copious supply of actual graces, by which Heaven and perfection are easily secured. For Providence has so disposed that grace is readily obtained by prayer, and some holy Doctors therefore call it the key to the treasury of God. The riches of that treasury are inexhaustible. They are intended for us and put at our disposal. It was by prayer that a St. Aloysius, a St. Stanislaus and countless others became saints in their childhood, that St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, etc., etc., were led from a worldly to a holy life. All of us have the same means at our disposal.
POINT II.Listen to Christ’s own invitation and promises.
Read St. Matth. vii, 7-11, St. John xvi, 23, 24.
Notice that these promises do not suppose great virtue in him who prays. For Christ addresses them to sinners, saying: “If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (St. Matth. vii, 11). We are most readily heard when we ask for spiritual favors. This is clearly stated by the Saviour, for He says: “How much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?” (St. Luke xi, 13).
POINT III. Why are we not always heard in prayer? Because we do not fulfil the required conditions. 1. We must ask what is really good for us. For St. James writes: “You ask and receive not; because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your concupiscences” (iv, 3).
2. We must ask with great confidence. We go to draw the waters of grace from a rich fountain, but the vessel of our confidence may be so small that we can carry off but little. While the multitudes pressed upon Jesus on all sides, one afflicted woman was cured because she touched Him with great confidence; and He said: “Somebody hath touched me, for I know that virtue is gone out from me.... But He said to her: Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole” (St. Luke viii, 46-48).
3. We must ask with proper reverence and attention.
For how could we expect God to mind our petitions if we do not attend to them ourselves? If we pray thus He may say: “This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (St. Matth. xv, 8).
4. We must pray with perseverance, as Christ teaches by the parable of the importunate man who came to ask for aid during the night, and obtained it because he persevered in his importunity (St. Luke xi, 5-8).
5. We must pray with resignation to God’s will, as Christ Himself did in His agony, saying: “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (St. Matth. xxvi, 39). We must be full of confidence that no good prayer ever goes up to Heaven which does not obtain a grace; but God knows best what grace will benefit us most, and He deals with us as a loving father with his children.
Colloquy. Ask eagerly for great confidence in the power of prayer.