Pars 5, Cap. 10
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/5/d/5/q/bon-brev-p5-c10
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### Chapter X. *On the exercise of grace with respect to the things to be asked for and prayed for.*

Concerning the *petitions* of the Lord's Prayer this is to be held: that although God is most bountiful and readier to give than we are to receive, he nevertheless wills to be prayed to by us, that he may have occasion for lavishing the gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit. — And he wills to be prayed to not only by *mental* prayer, which is « the ascent of the understanding into God », but also by *vocal* prayer, which is « the asking of fitting things from God » — and not only through *ourselves*, but also through the *Saints*, as through helpers divinely given us, so that what we are less worthy to obtain through ourselves we may be able to obtain through the Saints. — And because *we know not what we should pray for as we ought*, lest we should wander in uncertainty he handed down to us a form in the prayer which he composed, in which, under the sevenfold number of petitions, the whole of what is to be asked for is comprehended.

Now the reason for the understanding of the foresaid is this: since the first principle, just as it is supremely true and good in itself, so is it *merciful* and *just* in its work. And because it is *most merciful*, therefore it most willingly condescends to human misery by the infusion of its grace. But because together with this it is *just*, therefore it gives the *perfect gift* only to him who desires it, gives grace only to him who gives thanks for it, expends mercy only upon him who acknowledges his misery — so that the freedom of choice may be kept safe, and the nobility of the gift may not be cheapened, and the worship of the divine honour may remain entire. Since therefore it belongs to one who prays to seek after the divine help, to plead his own defect and to give thanks for a benefit

freely given: hence it is that prayer disposes one to the receiving of the divine charisms, and God wills to be prayed to for this, that he may bestow his gifts.

Again, since for this — that desire may reach effectually upward to the obtaining of the divine gifts — it is necessary that our *affection* be fervent, and our *thought* gathered into one, and our *expectation* certain and firm; and since our heart is frequently lukewarm, frequently scattered, frequently also fearful because of the remorse of sin and not daring to appear of itself before the divine gaze: hence it is that the Lord willed that we should pray not only *mentally* but also *vocally*, for the arousing of our affection through words and for the recollecting of our thoughts through the sense of the words. — He willed also that we should pray through the Saints, and the Saints for us, to give confidence to the fearful, so that those who do not dare, or cannot obtain through themselves, may obtain through fit intercessors; and through this, that in those who pray *humility* may be preserved, in the Saints who intercede *dignity* may be declared, and in all the members of Christ *charity* and *unity* may be shown — by which the things that are lower may run back to the higher with confidence, and the higher may condescend generously to the lower.

Last, since God, being just and merciful, ought not to hear except in those things which regard his own honour and our salvation; and such are the things which regard the reward of the fatherland and the provision of the way, and the first are three, the following four: hence it is that the petitions of the Lord's Prayer, which teach what we ought usefully to ask, are seven. — For the things which regard the divine honour and the reward of the fatherland are three, namely the *understanding* of truth, the *reverence* of majesty and the *concord* of will; or, in other words, it is either the *vision* of the highest truth, which is not seen except by the clean and the holy — and this is asked when it is said: *Hallowed be thy name*, that is; may the knowledge of thy name be given to the perfect, the holy and the clean; or it is the *holding* of the highest arduous good, which makes kings and through which a kingdom is had — and this is asked when it is said: *Thy kingdom come*; or it is the *enjoyment* of the highest good, which is not given except to those who have their wills conformed to the divine will — and this is asked when it is said: *Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth*. — But the things which regard the passage of the way either look to the *conferring* of a good that profits or to the *removing* of an evil that harms. Now the *conferring* of a good that profits is asked for in the daily or supersubstantial bread, in which is asked whatever is necessary for the preservation of the present life, whether according to the spirit or according to the body. And the *removing* of an evil that harms is asked for in the three last petitions: because every evil either holds the character of the *past*, or of the *future*, or of the *present*; or otherwise, it either holds the character of the evil of *fault*, or of *battle*, or of *punishment*. The first is asked to be removed in the *forgiveness of debts*; the second, in the *victory over temptations*; the third and last, in the *deliverance* from the oppression of evils. — And so there are seven petitions in all, in which is asked universally whatever is to be asked; and this indeed quite rightly, so that the sevenfold number of petitions may answer to the sevenfold number of the divine charisms and of the gifts of the sevenfold grace.

On which account it is to be noted that sacred Scripture sets before us a sevenfold seven to be considered, namely of the *capital vices, of the Sacraments, of the virtues, of the gifts, of the beatitudes, of the petitions* and *of the dowries of glory* — three spiritual and four bodily, as will appear below: the seven of the *vices* as the first, from which we must withdraw; the seven of the *Sacraments* second, through which we must advance; the seven of the *dowries* last, which we must desire; the seven of the *petitions* next to last, by which we must ask; and the seven of the *virtues, of the gifts* and *of the beatitudes* the threefold middle, through which we must pass — so that thus, praising the name of the Lord and praying *seven times in the day*, we may obtain the sevenfold grace of the virtues, of the gifts and of the beatitudes, by which we may conquer the sevenfold battle of the capital vices and may arrive at the sevenfold crown of the dowries of glory, aided none the less by the sevenfold medicine of the Sacraments divinely appointed for the repair of the human race.

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