Daily Reading for January 29
Question V. Should we ask God for particular things when we pray? . . .
Reply: As Maximus Valerius tells us, “Socrates thought we should ask nothing more from the immortal gods except that they would grant us good things, because they know what is good for each individual, whereas we often ask for things it would be better for us not to obtain.” In some ways this view is correct, at least so far as those things are concerned which can turn out badly and which we can use badly or well, such as wealth which, as he goes on to say, “has been a disaster for many people, and honors which have ruined people, and kingdoms which we often see coming to a wretched end, and splendid marriages which sometimes completely destroy families.” But there are some things which we cannot use badly, things which cannot turn out badly: the things by which we are made blessed or by which we earn beatitude. The saints ask for these things unconditionally when they pray: “Show us your face and we shall be saved” [Ps 80:4], or “Lead me in the way of your commandments” [Ps 119:35]. . . . Although of ourselves we do not know what we ought to pray for, the Spirit, as the same text [Rom 8:26] says, helps our weakness by inspiring us with holy desires so making us plead rightly. This is why the Lord says that the true worshipper must worship “in spirit and truth” [Jn 4:23].
From “On Prayer” by Thomas Aquinas, quoted in Invitation to Christian Spirituality: An Ecumenical Anthology, edited by John R. Tyson (Oxford University Press, 1999).