SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: Prayer (Secunda Secundae Partis, Q. 83)
Article 4. Whether we ought to pray to God alone?
Objection 1. It would seem that we ought to
pray to
God alone.
Prayer is an act of religion, as stated above (
Article 3). But
God alone is to be worshiped by religion. Therefore we should
pray to
God alone.
Objection 2. Further, it is useless to
pray to one who is
ignorant of the
prayer. But it belongs to
God alone to
know one's
prayer, both because frequently
prayer is uttered by an interior act which
God alone
knows, rather than by words, according to the saying of the
Apostle (
1 Corinthians 14:15), "I will
pray with the spirit, I will
pray also with the understanding": and again because, as
Augustine says (De Cura pro mortuis xiii) the "dead, even the
saints,
know not what the living, even their own children, are doing." Therefore we ought to
pray to
God alone.
Objection 3. Further, if we
pray to any of the
saints, this is only because they are united to
God. Now some yet living in this world, or even some who are in
Purgatory, are closely united to
God by
grace, and yet we do not
pray to them. Therefore neither should we
pray to the
saints who are in Paradise.
On the contrary, It is written (
Job 5:1), "Call . . . if there be any that will answer thee, and turn to some of the
saints."
I answer that, Prayer is offered to a
person in two ways: first, as to be fulfilled by him, secondly, as to be obtained through him. On the first way we offer
prayer to
God alone, since all our
prayers ought to be directed to the acquisition of
grace and
glory, which
God alone gives, according to
Psalm 83:12, "The Lord will give
grace and
glory." But in the second way we
pray to the
saints, whether
angels or men, not that
God may through them
know our petitions, but that our
prayers may be effective through their
prayers and
merits. Hence it is written (
Apocalypse 8:4) that "the smoke of the
incense," namely "the
prayers of the
saints ascended up before
God." This is also clear from the very style employed by the
Church in
praying: since we beseech the Blessed
Trinity "to have mercy on us," while we ask any of the
saints "to
pray for us."
Reply to Objection 1. To Him alone do we offer religious worship when
praying, from Whom we seek to obtain what we
pray for, because by so doing we confess that He is the Author of our goods: but not to those whom we call upon as our advocates in
God's presence.
Reply to Objection 2. The dead, if we consider their
natural condition, do not
know what takes place in this world, especially the interior movements of the heart. Nevertheless, according to
Gregory (Moral. xii, 21), whatever it is fitting the blessed should
know about what happens to us, even as regards the interior movements of the heart, is made
known to them in the Word: and it is most becoming to their exalted position that they should
know the petitions we make to them by word or thought; and consequently the petitions which we raise to them are
known to them through Divine manifestation.
Reply to Objection 3. Those who are in this world or in
Purgatory, do not yet enjoy the vision of the Word, so as to be able to
know what we think or say. Wherefore we do not seek their assistance by
praying to them, but ask it of the living by speaking to them.