{"id":10868,"date":"2015-08-27T05:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-27T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/?p=10868"},"modified":"2015-08-26T06:56:17","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T05:56:17","slug":"pray-constantly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2015\/08\/pray-constantly\/","title":{"rendered":"Pray constantly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"620px-Angelico,_maria_tra_i_santi_domenico_e_tommaso_d'aquino\"Thursday in the IV Week of August<\/em>
\nFrom the Works of St Thomas Aquinas, Priest & Doctor of the Church<\/p>\n

\u201cRejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you\u201d.\u00a0 When Paul says: \u201cRejoice always\u201d, he shows how they ought to behave towards God; and he mentions three things.\u00a0 First, to rejoice in him; and so Paul says, \u201cRejoice always\u201d, that is, in God; for whatever evil might occur, it is incomparable to the goodness which is God.\u00a0 Hence, no evil ought to interrupt it, and so Paul insists: \u201cRejoice always.\u201d\u00a0 Secondly, to pray for the blessings they want to receive.\u00a0 Paul urges, \u201cPray constantly\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cThey ought always to pray and not lose heart\u201d.\u00a0 How is this possible?\u00a0 It may happen in three ways.<\/p>\n

First, that person who does not neglect the appointed hours for prayer, prays always. \u201cYou shall eat at my table always\u201d.\u00a0 Secondly, \u201cPray constantly\u201d means to pray continuously. But then prayer is considered under the aspect of the effect of the prayer.\u00a0 For prayer is the unfolding or expression of desire; for when I desire something, then I ask for it by praying.\u00a0 So prayer is the petition of suitable things from God; and so desire has the power of prayer. \u201cO Lord, thou wilt hear the desire of the meek\u201d.\u00a0 Therefore, whatever we do is the result of a desire; so prayer always remains in force in the good things we do; for the good things we do flow forth from the desire of the good.\u00a0 There is a commentary on this verse pointing out: \u201cHe does not cease praying, who does not cease doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n

A third way by which it is possible to pray without ceasing is through the giving of alms which may be a sort of cause of continual prayer.\u00a0 In the lives of the Fathers we read: \u201cHe who gives alms is the one who always prays, for the person who receives alms prays for you even when you are asleep.\u201d\u00a0 The third thing he mentions is to offer thanks for those blessings already received, hence Paul says: in all circumstances, that is, in good times and in bad times, give thanks.\u00a0 \u201cWe know that in everything God works for good with those who love him\u201d; \u201cabounding in thanksgiving\u201d; \u201cwith thanksgiving\u201d.\u00a0 For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, \u201cwho desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Responsory.\u00a0 Prayer is good || with fasting and alms more than to lay up treasures of gold: for * Alms delivereth from death, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting.\u00a0 V. Neglect not to pray, and to give alms. * Alms delivereth \u2026 Glory be \u2026 Alms delivereth \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday in the IV Week of August From the Works of St Thomas Aquinas, Priest & Doctor of the Church \u201cRejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you\u201d.\u00a0 When Paul says: \u201cRejoice always\u201d, he shows how they ought to behave towards God; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-florilegium-patristicum"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-2Pi","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10868"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10872,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10868\/revisions\/10872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}