The Biggest Lie and the Remedy

The biggest lie: "I don't have time to pray." The remedy: the "ink vs. pencil" principle. Your prayer time goes into the calendar in INK — non-negotiable. Everything else is written in PENCIL — movable. You wouldn't skip your antibiotics because you were "too busy." Treat prayer the same way. (Ep 9)

Catechism sources (PD) teaches:

Many were in slavery; masters were cruel; and things were becoming daily worse, till just before the coming of Our Lord the world was in a terrible condition of misery and sin.

(Source: baltimore_catechism.txt)

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches:

Is not to be understood here, from the beginning of the sentence - that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor be converted; conversion being the free gift of God? or, shall we suppose that a heavenly remedy is meant; whereby those who wished to establish.

(Source: catena_aurea_john.txt)

Doctrinal Foundation

T4.G.010 (Sententia communis (common teaching)): Prayer is a necessary means of salvation for adults. God grants the grace of perseverance to those who pray for it perseveringly. Without prayer, the necessary graces for salvation will not ordinarily be received.

• Scripture: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.

• Fathers: He who prays well, lives well. He who lives well, dies well. He who dies well, all is well.

T4.G.011 (sententia_certa): God truly gives grace to those who pray for it. Prayer is infallibly efficacious when the conditions of perseverance, humility, and conformity to God's will are met.

• Scripture: Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you.
• Aquinas: Prayer is meritorious inasmuch as it proceeds from charity, and is directed to the good of the one who prays and of others.

T4.G.017 (De fide (defined dogma)): Through sanctifying grace, the Holy Trinity dwells in the soul of the just person in a special manner. The justified soul becomes a living temple of the Holy Spirit, and this indwelling is a real, not merely metaphorical, divine presence.

• Scripture: Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
• Aquinas: The Divine Persons are said to be sent inasmuch as they come to dwell in the soul by grace. Now the invisible mission takes place as regards the gifts of sanctifying grace.
• Fathers: What then shall they say who maintain that the Holy Spirit is a creature? For if He were a creature, He would not be said to dwell in us.

From the Sources

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

Is not to be understood here, from the beginning of the sentence - that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor be converted; conversion being the free gift of God? or, shall we suppose that a heavenly remedy is meant; whereby those who wished to establish their own righteousness, were so far deserted and blinded, as to stumble on the stumbling stone, till, with confusion of face, they humbled themselves, es, and sought not their own righteousness which.

St. Thomas Aquinas (catena_aurea_john.txt):

The event, He says, is now at hand, it is approaching your very doors. The words, true worshipers, are by way of distinction: for there are false worshipers, who pray for temporal and frail benefits, or whose actions are ever contradicting their prayers. CHRYS. Or by saying, true, he excludes the Jews together with the Samaritans. For the Jews, though better than the Samaritans, were yet as much inferior to those who were to succeed them, as the type is to the reality.

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

What I understand of the matter is this : the soul, when our Lord begins to caress it in this way—and we are by nature so fond of that which pleases us—gives itself up so much to that pleasure, that it would not stir.

St. Teresa of Avila (book_of_foundations.txt):

The confessors— though one of them was avery spiritual man—seeing such souls, and such earnest desires, judged this remedy to be necessary for their disorder.

Extended Doctrinal Analysis

T4.G.026 (sententia_certa): The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit — wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord — are infused into the soul together with sanctifying grace. They perfect the virtues and render the soul docile to the movements of the Holy Spirit.

Additional Sources

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

things much more carefully than we should do, if no revelation had been made; for the devil, in order to deceive us, utters many things which are true and in con- formity with reason.

5. There is no better or safer remedy for all our necessi- ties and troubles than prayer and hope, by which God is moved to provide for us by such means as are pleasing unto Him. This is the counsel which the Holy Scrip-

• tures furnish us.

St. John of the Cross (ascent_of_mount_carmel.txt):

We must, therefore, be guided in everything by the teaching of Christ, of His Church and ministers, and through it seek the remedy for all our spiritual ignorance and infirmities.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

If this profit you not, you shall try others more pure and more invigorating, for there are, thank God, of all sorts in this country.

St. Francis de Sales (03_catholic_controversy.txt):

Johu mentions is that he will make fire descend from heaven ; Satan can work miracles, indeed has done so, no doubt, but God will leave a prompt remedy with his Church; for, to those false miracles, the servants of God, Elias and Enoch, as the Apocalypse and interpreters witness, will oppose other miracles of very different.

St. Ignatius of Loyola (autobiography_oconor_1900.txt):

One day, when terribly tormented, he began to pray. During his prayer, he cried out to God in a loud voice: "O Lord, help me, for I find no remedy among men, nor in any creature! If I thought I could find one, no labor would seem too great to me. Show me some one! O Lord! where may I find one? I am willing to do anything to find relief."

St. Ignatius of Loyola (autobiography_oconor_1900.txt):

When he arrived at Montserrat, he passed a long time in prayer, and with the consent of his confessor he made in writing a general confession of his sins. Three whole days were employed in this undertaking.

Church Fathers (Confessiones_english.txt):

And by the secret hand of Thy remedy was my swelling lessened, and the disordered and darkened eyesight of my mind, by the sharp anointings of healthful sorrows, was from day to day made whole.

Church Fathers (Confessiones_english.txt):

The Talmud relates of a rabbi, who did not consider the terms, ‘the great, mighty, and fearful God,’ which occur in the daily prayer, as being sufficient, but added some more attributes—‘What!’ exclaimed another rabbi who was present, ‘imaginest thou to be able to exhaust the praise of God?

Catechism sources (PD) (baltimore_catechism.txt):

Many were in slavery; masters were cruel; and things were becoming daily worse, till just before the coming of Our Lord the world was in a terrible condition of misery and sin. The lawmakers tried to remedy these evils by their laws, and the teachers and professors by their teaching; but all was of no avail.

Catechism sources (PD) (baltimore_catechism.txt):

"I consider it a most useful if not necessary book, not only for Sunday school teachers and for advanced classes, but for all who may desire to have a clear, definite knowledge of Christian doctrine."

CONTENTS

PRAYERS

The Lord's Prayer The Angelical Salutation The Apostles' Creed The Confiteor An Act of Faith An Act of Hope An Act of Love An Act of Contrition The Blessing before Meals Grace after Meals The Manner in Which a Lay Person Is to Baptize in Case of Necessity