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St. Joseph Marello - 1891

Prayer is no doubt a means, and an indispensable means,
to achieve our eternal salvation, and since it is a precept
enjoined on all by God, it has to be observed by all. We can see
the reason for such a precept: we need everything from God, and
there is nothing good in us that did not and does not come from
his hand. Besides, how can we resist so many and such grave
occasions to do evil without the special lights and helps that
support us? Now, if God gives us the first and highest graces, as
St. Augustine says, generously and providentially, even when he
is not asked, we still have to ask him the rest, and he can refuse
to give them if we neglect that duty. What needy person,
knowing that he need only ask a rich man for what he needs and
that he would receive it, would fail to ask? God, infinitely rich,
promises this to each one of us; in his goodness he promises to
always listen to us. He tells us: "Raise your voice to me and I
will answer you": clama ad me et ego exaudiam te (Jer. 33: 3);
"invoke me in the day of tribulation and I will rescue you":
invoca me in die tribulationis: eruam te (Psalm 49, 15);
"whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will have it and
it is yours": omnia quaecumque orantes petitis, credite quia
accipietis (Mk. 11, 24). Dearly Beloved, from where and from
whom does such an absolute, explicit and consoling promise
come? It comes from God himself, from our most loving
Savior, whose word is infallible. Therefore we cannot doubt the
efficacy that he promised to our prayer.
Let no one object that there are countless prayers
addressed by men to God that are never answered since we
could answer in the words of St. James: "You pray and are not
answered because you do not pray as you should": petitis et non
accipitis; eo quod male petatis (4:3); that is, because you prayer
is not right, or it is not accompanied by the correct dispositions.
He who does not receive can never say: I asked for the right
thing, and I asked it perseveringly, with humility, faith, and
love. He who prays in this way is always answered, not by any

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