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Objection 1: It would seem that we ought not to pray for others.
In praying we ought to conform to the pattern given by our Lord. Now
in the Lord's Prayer we make petitions for ourselves, not for
others; thus we say: "Give us this day our daily bread," etc.
Therefore we should not pray for others.
Objection 2: Further, prayer is offered that it may be heard. Now
one of the conditions required for prayer that it may be heard is that
one pray for oneself, wherefore Augustine in commenting on Jn.
16:23, "If you ask the Father anything in My name He will
give it you," says (Tract. cii): "Everyone is heard when he
prays for himself, not when he prays for all; wherefore He does not
say simply 'He will give it,' but 'He will give it you. '"
Therefore it would seem that we ought not to pray for others, but only
for ourselves.
Objection 3: Further, we are forbidden to pray for others, if they
are wicked, according to Jer. 7:16, "Therefore do not then
pray for this people . . . and do not withstand Me, for I will not
hear thee." On the other hand we are not bound to pray for the good,
since they are heard when they pray for themselves. Therefore it would
seem that we ought not to pray for others.
On the contrary, It is written (James 5:16): "Pray one for
another, that you may be saved."
I answer that, As stated above (Article 6), when we pray we
ought to ask for what we ought to desire. Now we ought to desire good
things not only for ourselves, but also for others: for this is
essential to the love which we owe to our neighbor, as stated above
(Question 25, Articles 1,12; Question 27, Article 2;
Question 31, Article 1). Therefore charity requires us to pray
for others. Hence Chrysostom says (Hom. xiv in Matth.) [Opus
Imperfectum, falsely ascribed to St. John Chrysostom]:
"Necessity binds us to pray for ourselves, fraternal charity urges us
to pray for others: and the prayer that fraternal charity proffers is
sweeter to God than that which is the outcome of necessity."
Reply to Objection 1: As Cyprian says (De orat. Dom.),
"We say 'Our Father' and not 'My Father,' 'Give us' and
not 'Give me,' because the Master of unity did not wish us to pray
privately, that is for ourselves alone, for He wished each one to
pray for all, even as He Himself bore all in one."
Reply to Objection 2: It is a condition of prayer that one pray for
oneself: not as though it were necessary in order that prayer be
meritorious, but as being necessary in order that prayer may not fail
in its effect of impetration. For it sometimes happens that we pray
for another with piety and perseverance, and ask for things relating to
his salvation, and yet it is not granted on account of some obstacle on
the part of the person we are praying for, according to Jer.
15:1, "If Moses and Samuel shall stand before Me, My soul is
not towards this people." And yet the prayer will be meritorious for
the person who prays thus out of charity, according to Ps.
34:13, "My prayer shall be turned into my bosom, i.e. though
it profit them not, I am not deprived of my reward," as the gloss
expounds it.
Reply to Objection 3: We ought to pray even for sinners, that they
may be converted, and for the just that they may persevere and advance
in holiness. Yet those who pray are heard not for all sinners but for
some: since they are heard for the predestined, but not for those who
are foreknown to death; even as the correction whereby we correct the
brethren, has an effect in the predestined but not in the reprobate,
according to Eccles. 7:14, "No man can correct whom God hath
despised." Hence it is written (1 Jn. 5:16): "He that
knoweth his brother to sin a sin which is not to death, let him ask,
and life shall be given to him, who sinneth not to death." Now just
as the benefit of correction must not be refused to any man so long as
he lives here below, because we cannot distinguish the predestined from
the reprobate, as Augustine says (De Correp. et Grat. xv), so
too no man should be denied the help of prayer.
We ought also to pray for the just for three reasons: First, because
the prayers of a multitude are more easily heard, wherefore a gloss on
Rm. 15:30, "Help me in your prayers," says: "The Apostle
rightly tells the lesser brethren to pray for him, for many lesser
ones, if they be united together in one mind, become great, and it is
impossible for the prayers of a multitude not to obtain" that which is
possible to be obtained by prayer. Secondly, that many may thank God
for the graces conferred on the just, which graces conduce to the
profit of many, according to the Apostle (2 Cor. 1:11).
Thirdly, that the more perfect may not wax proud, seeing that they
find that they need the prayers of the less perfect.
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