hat Eternal Good, the enjoyment of Which we merit. Now
prayer proceeds from charity by means of the virtue of religion whose
proper act is prayer; there accompany it, however, certain other virtues
which are requisite for a good prayer--namely, faith and humility. For
it belongs to the virtue of religion to offer our prayers to God; while
to charity belongs the desire of that the attainment of which we seek in
prayer. And faith is necessary as regards God to Whom we pray; for we
must, of course, believe that from Him we can obtain what we ask.
Humility, too, is called for on the part of the petitioner, for he must
acknowledge his own needs. And devotion also is necessary; though this
comes under religion of which it is the first act, it conditions all
subsequent effects.

And its power of obtaining favours prayer owes to the grace of God to
Whom we pray, and Who, indeed, induces us to pray. Hence S. Augustine
says[235]: "He would not urge us to ask unless He were ready to give";
and S. Chrysostom says: "He never refuses His mercies to them who pray,
since it is He Who in His loving-kindness stirs them up so that they
weary not in prayer."

* * * * *

But some say that prayer cannot be meritorious, thus:

1. Merit proceeds from grace, but prayer precedes grace, since it is
precisely by prayer that we win grace: _Your Father from Heaven will
give the Good Spirit to them that ask Him_.[236]

But prayer, like any other virtuous act, cannot be meritorious
without that grace which makes us pleasing to God. Yet even that
prayer which wins for us the grace which renders us pleasing to
God must proceed from some grace--that is, from some gratuitous
gift; for, as S. Augustine says, to pray at all is a gift of
God.[237]

2. Again, prayer cannot be meritorious, for if it were so it would seem
natural that prayer should especially merit that for which we actually
pray. Yet this is not always the case, for even the prayers of the
Saints are often not heard; S. Paul, for example, was not heard when he
prayed that the sting of the flesh might be taken away from him.[238]

But we must notice that the merit of our prayers sometimes lies
in something quite different from what we beg for. For whereas
merit is to be especially referred to the possession of God, our
petitions in our prayers at times refer directly to other
things, as we have pointed out above.