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 from God.
In a sinner we have to consider two things: his nature, which God loves; his fault, which God hates. If, then, a sinner asks something of God formally as a sinner--that is, according to his sinful desires--God, out of His mercy, does not hear him, though sometimes He does hear him in His vengeance, as when He permits a sinner to fall still farther into sin. For God "in mercy refuses some things which in anger He concedes," as S. Augustine says.[246] But that prayer of a sinner which proceeds from the good desire of his nature God hears, not, indeed, as bound in justice to do so, for that the sinner cannot merit, but out of His pure mercy, and on condition, too, that the four above-mentioned conditions are observed--namely, that he prays for himself, for things needful for his salvation, that he prays devoutly and perseveringly.
Some, however, maintain that sinners do not by their prayers win anything from God, thus:
1. It is said in the Gospel,[247] _Now we know that God doth not hear sinners_; and this accords with those words of _Proverbs[248]; He that turneth away his ears from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination_. But a prayer which is "an abomination" cannot win anything from God.
But, as S. Augustine remarks,[249] the words first quoted are due to the blind man as yet unanointed--viz., not yet perfectly illumined--and hence they are not valid; though they might be true if understood of a sinner precisely as such, and in this sense, too, his prayer is said to be "an abomination."
2. Again, just men obtain from God what they merit, as we have said above. Sinners, however, can merit nothing, since they are without grace, and even without charity which, according to the Gloss[250] on the words, _Having an appearance of piety, but denying the power thereof_, is "the _power_ of piety." And hence they cannot pray piously, which, as we have said above, is requisite if prayer is to gain what it asks for.