But while it is true that prayer rests principally upon faith,
this is not for its power of meriting--for as regards this it
rests principally on charity--but for its power of winning
favours; for through faith man knows of the Divine Omnipotence
and Mercy whence prayer obtains what it asks.

* * * * *

_S. Augustine:_ Men, then, love different things, and when each one
seemeth to have what he loves, he is called happy. But a man is truly
happy, not if he has what he loves, but if he loves what ought to be
loved. For many become more wretched through having what they love than
they were when they lacked it. Miserable enough through loving harmful
things, more miserable through having them. And our Merciful God, when
we love amiss, denies us what we love; but sometimes in His anger He
grants a man what he loves amiss!... But when we love what God wishes us
to love, then, doubtless, He will give it us. This is That One Thing
Which ought to be loved: that we may dwell in the House of the Lord all
the days of our life! (_Enarr. in Ps._ xxvi.).

_S. Augustine:_ In those tribulations, then, which can both profit us
and harm us, we know not what we should pray for as we ought. Yet none
the less since they are hard, since they are vexatious, since, too, they
are opposed to our sense of our own weakness, mankind with one consent
prays that they may be removed from us. But we owe this much devotion to
the Lord our God that, if He refuses to remove them, we should not
therefore fancy that we are neglected by Him, but, while bearing these
woes with devout patience, we should hope for some greater good, for
thus is power perfected in infirmity. Yet to some in their impatience
the Lord God grants in anger what they ask, just as in His mercy He
refused it to the Apostle (_Ep._ cxxx. _ad Probam_).

"Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication; give ear to my
tears. Be not silent: for I am a stranger with Thee, and a
sojourner as all my fathers were. O forgive me, that I may be
refreshed; before I go hence, and be no more."[243]

XVI

Do Sinners gain Anything From God by their Prayers?

S. Augustine says[244]: "If God did not hear sinners, in vain would the
publican have said, _God be merciful to me a sinner_"; and S. Chrysostom
says[245]: "_Every one that asketh receiveth_--that is, whether he be
just man or sinner." Hence the prayers of sinners do win something f