"And although the first graces that come to us without any co-operation on our part, such as the call to faith or to penance, are, as St. Augustine says, granted by God even to those who do not pray; yet the Saint considers it certain that the other graces, and specially the grace of perseverance, are not granted except in answer to prayer."
"We ought all to feel that we are standing on the edge of a precipice, suspended over the abyss of all sins, and supported only by the thread of God's grace. If this thread fails us, we shall certainly fall into the gulf, and shall commit the most horrible wickedness. "Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in Hell." [Ps. 93: 17] If God had not succoured me, I should have fallen into a thousand sins, and now I should be in Hell. So said the Psalmist, and so ought each of us to say. This is what St. Francis of Assisi meant, when he said that he was the worst sinner in the world. But, my Father, said his companion, what you say is not true; there are many in the world who are certainly worse than you are. Yes, what I say is but too true, answered St. Francis; because if God did not keep His hand over me, I should commit every possible sin." (x)
Excerpts from St. Alphonsus Liguori's classic work:
Prayer: The Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection
"One of the errors of Pelagianism was the assertion that prayer is not necessary for salvation. Pelagius, the impious author of that heresy, said that man will only be damned for neglecting to know the truths necessary to be learned. How astonishing! St. Augustine said: "Pelagius discussed everything except how to pray," [Da Nat. et Grat. c. 17] though, as the Saint held and taught, prayer is the only means of acquiring the science of the Saints; according to the text of St. James: "If any man wants wisdom, let him ask of God, Who giveth to all abundantly, and upbraideth not." [James 1: 5] The Scriptures are clear enough in pointing out how necessary it is to pray, if we would be saved. "We ought always to pray, and not to faint." [Luke 18: 1] "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." [Matt. 26: 41] "Ask, and it shall be given you." [Matt. 7: 7] The words "we ought," pray," "ask," according to the general consent of theologians, impose the precept, and denote the necessity of prayer.
[...] Without the assistance of God's grace we can do no good thing: "Without Me, ye can do nothing." [John 15: 5] St. Augustine remarks on this passage, that our Lord did not say, "Without Me, ye can complete nothing," but "without Me, ye can do nothing;" giving us to understand, that without grace we cannot even begin to do a good thing. Nay more, St. Paul writes, that of ourselves we cannot even have the wish to do good. "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God." [2 Cor. 3: 5] If we cannot I even think a good thing, much less can we wish it. The same thing is taught in many other passages of Scripture: "God worketh all in all. I will cause you to walk in My commandments, and to keep My judgments, and do them." [Ezek. 37: 27] So that, as St. Leo I says, "Man does no good thing, except that which God, by his grace, enables him to do," and hence the Council of Trent says: "If anyone shall assert, that without the previous inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and His assistance, man can believe, hope, love, or repent, as he ought, in order to obtain the grace of justification, let him be anathema." [Sess. 6, Can. 3]
The author of the Opus Imperfectum says, that God has given to some animals swiftness, to others claws, to other wings, for the preservation of their life; but he has so formed man, that God himself is his only strength." [Hom. 18] So that man is completely unable to provide for his own safety, since God has willed that whatever he has, or can have, should come entirely from the assistance of His grace.
But this grace is not given in God's ordinary Providence, except to those who pray for it; according to the celebrated saying of Gennadius. "We believe that no one approaches to be saved, except by the help of God; that no one merits this help, unless he prays." From these two premises, on the one hand, that we can do nothing without the assistance of grace; and on the other, that this assistance is only given ordinarily by God to the man that prays, who does not see that the consequence follows, that prayer is absolutely necessary to us for salvation? And although the first graces that come to us without any co-operation on our part, such as the call to faith or to penance, are, as St. Augustine says, granted by God even to those who do not pray; yet the Saint considers it certain that the other graces, and specially the grace of perseverance, are not granted except in answer to prayer: "God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray." Hence it is that the generality of theologians, following St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, Clement of Alexandria, St. Augustine, and other Fathers, teach that prayer is necessary to adults, not only because of the obligation of the precept [as they say], but because it is necessary as a means of salvation. That is to say, in the ordinary course of Providence, it is impossible that a Christian should be saved without recommending himself to God, and asking for the graces necessary to salvation. St. Thomas teaches the same: "After Baptism, continual prayer is necessary to man, in order that he may enter Heaven; for though by Baptism our sins are remitted, there still remain concupiscence to assail us from within, and the world and the devil to assail us from without." [P. 3, q. 39, a. 5] The reason then which makes us certain of the necessity of prayer is shortly this, in order to be saved we must contend and conquer: "He that striveth for the mastery is not crowned except he strive lawfully." [2 Tim. 2: 5] But without the Divine assistance we cannot resist the might of so many and so powerful enemies: now this assistance is only granted through prayer; therefore without prayer there is no salvation. (x)
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The Intercession of the Blessed Virgin... whose prayers are certainly of more value in His sight than those of all the rest of the Inhabitants of Heaven together.
[...] St. Bernard speaks thus to Mary: "Through thee we have access to thy Son, O discoverer of grace and Mother of salvation, that through thee he may receive us, who through thee was given to us." [In Adv. Dom. s. 2] ... So that whatever good we have from God, we receive all by the intercession of Mary. And why so? Because, says St. Bernard, it is God's will: "Such is his will, who would have us receive everything through Mary." But the more precise reason is deduced from the expression of St. Augustine, that Mary is justly called our Mother, because she co-operated by her charity in the birth of the faithful to the life of grace, by which we become members of Jesus Christ, our head: "But clearly she is the mother of his members [which we are]; because she cooperated by her charity in the birth of the faithful in the Church, and they are members of that Head." [De S. Virginit. c. 6] Therefore, as Mary co-operated by her charity in the spiritual birth of the faithful, so also God willed that she should co- operate by her intercession to make them enjoy the life of grace in this world, and the life of glory in the next; and therefore the Church makes us call her and salute her, without any circumlocution by the names, "our life, our sweetness, and our hope." (x)
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"Our prayers, then, must be humble and confident; but this is not enough to obtain final perseverance, and thereby eternal life. Individual prayers will obtain the individual graces which they ask of God; but unless they are persevering, they will not obtain final perseverance: which, as it is the accumulation of many graces, requires many prayers, that are not to cease till death. The grace of salvation is not a single grace, but a chain of graces, all of which are at last linked with the grace of final perseverance. Now, to this chain of graces there ought to correspond another chain [as it were] of our prayers; if we, by neglecting to pray, break the chain of our prayers, the chain of graces will be broken too; and as it is by this that we have to obtain salvation, we shall not be saved.
It is true that we cannot merit final perseverance, as the Council of Trent teaches: "It cannot be had from any other source but from Him Who is able to confirm the man who is standing, that he may stand with perseverance." [Sess. 6, c. 13] Nevertheless, says St. Augustine, this great gift of perseverance can in a manner be merited by our prayers; that is, can be obtained by praying: "This gift, therefore, can be suppliantly merited; that is, can be obtained by supplication." And F. Suarez adds, that the man who prays, infallibly obtains it. But to obtain it, and to save ourselves, says St. Thomas, a persevering and continual prayer is necessary:
"After Baptism continual prayer is necessary to a man in order that he may enter Heaven." [P. 3, q. 39, a. 5] And before this, our Saviour Himself had said it over and over again: "We ought always to pray, and not to faint." [Luke 18: 1] "Watch ye therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man." [Luke 21: 36]
The same had been previously said in the Old Testament: "Let nothing hinder thee from praying always." [Ecclus. 18: 22] "Bless God at all times, and desire Him to direct thy ways." [Job 4: 20] Hence the Apostle inculcated on his disciples never to neglect prayer: "Pray without intermission." [1 Thess. 5: 17] "Be instant in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving." [Col. 4: 12] "I will therefore that men pray in every place." [1 Tim. 2, 8] God does indeed wish to give us perseverance, says St. Nilus, but He will only give it to him who prays for it perseveringly: "He willeth to confer benefits on him who perseveres in prayer." Many sinners by the help of God's grace come to be converted, and to receive pardon. But then, because they neglect to ask for perseverance, they fall again, and lose all.
Nor is it enough, says Bellarmine, to ask the grace of perseverance once, or a few times; we ought always to ask it, every day till our death, if we wish to obtain it: "It must be asked day by day, that it may be obtained day by day." He who asks it one day, obtains it for that one day; but if he does not ask it the next day, the next day he will fall.
[...] Finally, if we wish not to be forsaken by God, we ought never to forsake praying to Him not to leave us. If we do thus, He will certainly always assist us, and will never allow us to perish, and to be separated from His love. And to this end let us not only take care always to ask for final perseverance, and the graces necessary to obtain it, but let us, at the same time, always by anticipation ask God for grace to go on praying; for this is precisely that great gift which He promised to His elect by the mouth of the prophet: "And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and prayers." [Zach. 12: 10] (x)
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"Oh, what a great grace is the spirit of prayer; that is, the grace which God confers on a soul to enable it to pray always! Let us, then, never neglect to beg God to give us this grace, and this spirit of continual prayer; because if we pray always, we shall certainly obtain from God perseverance and every other gift which we desire, since His promise of hearing whoever prays to Him cannot fail." (x)
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"Some devout souls spend a great deal of time in reading and in meditating, but pay but little attention to prayer. There is no doubt that spiritual reading, and meditation on the eternal truths, are very useful things; "but," says St. Augustine, "it is of much more use to pray." By reading and meditating we learn our duty; but by prayer we obtain the grace to do it. "It is better to pray than to read: by reading we know what we ought to do; by prayer we receive what we ask." What is the use of knowing our duty, and then not doing it, but to make us more guilty in God's sight? Read and meditate as we like, we shall never satisfy our obligations, unless we ask of God the grace to fulfill them.
[...] We should be always crying to God for aid to avoid the death of sin, and to advance in His holy love. Father Rodriguez relates, that the ancient Fathers, who were our first instructors in the spiritual life, held a conference to determine which was the exercise most useful and most necessary for eternal salvation; and that they determined it was to repeat over and over again the short prayer of David, "Incline unto my aid, a God!" [Ps. 69: 2] "This," says Cassian, "is what every one ought to do who wishes to be saved: he ought to be always saying, My God, help me! my God, help me!" We ought to do this the first thing when we awake in the morning; and then to continue doing it in all our needs, and when attending to our business, whether spiritual or temporal; and most especially when we find ourselves troubled by any temptation or passion. St. Bonaventure says, that at times we obtain a grace by a short prayer sooner than by many other good works: "Sometimes a man can sooner obtain by a short prayer what he would be a long time obtaining by pious works." St. Ambrose says, that he who prays, while he is praying obtains what he asks, because the very act of prayer is the same as receiving: "He who asks of God, while he asks receives; for to ask is to receive." Hence St. Chrysostom wrote, that "there is nothing more powerful than a man who prays," because such a one is made partaker of the power of God. To arrive at perfection, says St. Bernard, we must meditate and pray: by meditation we see what we want; by prayer we receive what we want. "Let us mount by meditation and prayer: the one teaches what is deficient, and the other obtains that there should be nothing deficient."
[...] What does it cost us to say, My God, help me! Lord, assist me! have mercy on me! Is there anything more easy than this? and this little will suffice to save us, if we will be diligent in doing it." (x)
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"For as God, in the natural order, has ordained that man should be born naked, and in want of several things necessary for life, but then has given him hands and intelligence to clothe himself and provide for his other needs; so, in the supernatural order, man is born unable to obtain salvation by his own strength; but God in His goodness grants to every one the grace of prayer, by which he is able to obtain all other graces which he needs in order to keep the Commandments and to be saved." (x)
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"He who prays is certainly saved. He who prays not is certainly damned. All the blessed [except infants] have been saved by prayer. All the damned have been lost through not praying; if they had prayed, they would not have been lost. And this is, and will be, their greatest torment in Hell, to think how easily they might have been saved, only by asking God for His grace; but that now it is too late,-----the time of prayer is over." (x)
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From The Glories of Mary:
Prayer for Perseverance by St. Alphonsus
Queen of Heaven, most Holy Mary, I was once a slave of sin, but now I consecrate myself to thee as thy client forever. I give myself to thine honor and service for the rest of my life. Do not reject me as I deserve, but accept me as thy servant.
I have placed all my hope in thee as my Mother. I bless and thank Almighty God, because in His mercy He has given me this confidence in thee. It is true that in the past I have shamefully fallen into sin; but I trust that, through thy prayers and the merits of Jesus Christ, I have been forgiven. But yet, my Mother, this is not enough. One fear I have which troubles me: that I may fall into sin again and lose the grace of God.
The dangers are constant; my enemies never sleep; and new temptations will assail me. O my Lady, protect me. Help me in the assaults of Hell, so I may never again offend thy Divine Son Jesus.
Let not the same thing happen again, that I lose my soul, Heaven, and God. This is the grace I beg of thee, O Mary; this is what I long for; obtain this grace for me through thy prayers. Amen.
Thus, I hope. Thus, may it be.
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Online sources of text found here and here
