My Prayer Book_LASANCE - the Catholic Kingdom!

'44 : Vocal Prayer
I
us all we ask, for He says expmly: "Amen, amen, I
say unto you, if you ask the Father anything in My
name, He will give it to you. . . . Ask, and you shall
receive" (John xvi. 23, 24). "YOU shall ask whatever
you will, and it shall be done unto you" (John xv. 7).
God is faithful and just, and will, therefore, surely keep
His promise to grant us all we pray for. Moreover,
He is bound to grant us the graces we need, because we
have a claim to them. They are the price of the blood
and merits of Jesus Christ, for He died to save us.
His merits are, then, ours; and, when we claim by our
prayers a share in them or in their fruits, God can not
refuse to grant us what we ask.
The Holy Scriptures are full of examples of the
efficacy of prayer as a means of obtaining whatever we
need to secure our salvation. It was by his prayer that
the publican was justified, by her prayer that the Samaritan
woman was converted; it was by his prayer that
David obtained the forgiveness of his sin, and that the
good thief on the cross was converted and received the
promise of paradise. We find in Holy Writ also many
examples of prayer as an efficacious means of obtaining
even temporal favors. It was by prayer that Moses
obtained the victory over the Amalekites; Elias obtained
rain after a three years' drought; Manassas, his
deliverance from prison and his restoration to his kingdom;
Ezechias, the prolongation of his life; Solomon,
wisdom; Susanna, the proof of her innocence; Daniel,
his deliverance from the lions; the blind man, his sight;
and the Church, St. Peter's deliverance from prison
and death.
"He who prays," says St. Alphonsus, "is certainly
saved; he who prays not is certainly lost. All the
blessed (except infants) have been saved by prayer.
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