ory
are excluded from the number of those who pray for us because they are
not altogether our superiors, but by reason of their sufferings are
inferior to us, and need our prayers.

But the Fathers in Limbo were, it is clear, confirmed in charity and
were incapable of sin, neither were they liable to any peculiar or fresh
suffering. For while the pain of loss was common to them and to the
sojourners on earth, the former were free from all pain of sense, hence
they could pray for us. There is, however, this difference to be noted
between them and the Saints in the Fatherland--viz., that whereas the
former had it in common with the latter to pray for those sojourning on
earth, it is given only to the Saints in the Fatherland to see the
prayers of us sojourners addressed to them. Hence Jeremias is here said
to pray, he is not said to have heard their prayers or supplications
(_on_ 2. 2. 83. 11).

XII

Should Prayer be Vocal?

_I cried to the Lord with my voice, with my voice I made supplication to
the Lord._[198]

Prayer is of two kinds: public and private. _Public_ or common prayer is
that which is offered to God by the Church's ministers in the person of
the whole body of the faithful. And it is necessary that such prayer
should be known to the body of the faithful for whom it is offered;
this, however, could not be unless it were vocal; consequently it is
reasonably enacted that the Church's ministers should pronounce such
prayers in a loud voice so as to reach the ears of all.

_Private_ prayer, on the contrary, is that which is offered by private
individuals, whether for themselves or for others; and its nature does
not demand that it should be vocal. At the same time, we can use our
voices in this kind of prayer, and this for three reasons: Firstly, in
order to excite interior devotion whereby our minds may, when we pray,
be lifted up to God; for men's minds are moved by external
signs--whether words or acts--to understand, and, by consequence, also
to feel. Wherefore S. Augustine says to Proba[199]: "By words and other
signs we vehemently stir ourselves up so as to increase our holy
desires." Hence in private prayer we must make such use of words and
other signs as shall avail to rouse our minds interiorly. But if, on the
other hand, such things only serve to distract the mind, or prove in any
way a hindrance, then we must cease from them; this is especially the
case with those whose minds are sufficiently