Dist. 17, Art. 2, Q. 2
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/3/d/17/q/bon-sent-III-d17-a2-q2
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### Question II. *Whether Christ in all his prayer was heard.*

Secondly it is asked whether Christ in all his prayer was heard. And that he was, it seems:

1. From what is said in John, chapter eleven: *But I knew that thou hearest me always*; but that hearing is nothing other than being heard: therefore etc.

2. Likewise, upon that of the Psalm: *Thou hast given him his soul's desire, and hast not defrauded him of the will of his lips*; the Gloss: « *Of the will of his lips*, that is, of his words, that is, through words uttered, thou hast not defrauded him; for whatever he said was done »: therefore etc.

3. Likewise, Christ is more worthy to be heard than his members, who ask in his name; but in John, chapter fourteen, it is said: *Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give you*: therefore much more strongly, whatever he himself asked, he obtained.

4. Likewise, Christ's will was conformed to the divine will, therefore he desired and asked nothing except what God willed; but everything that God willed, he did and does: therefore everything that Christ asked, he obtained.

5. Likewise, what Christ asked, he asked piously, perseveringly, and unto salvation, nor did he have in anything a remorse of conscience; but whoever asks thus, obtains what he asks: therefore everything that Christ asked, he obtained.

**On the contrary:**
1. In the Psalm it is said of Christ: *My God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear*: therefore he did not hear him in that which he cried out: therefore he did not hear him in everything that he asked.

2. Likewise, in the text it is said: « Christ crying out is not heard unto bodily salvation; he asked indeed a good thing, namely that he might not die; but it was better that he should die »: therefore Christ was not heard in everything that he asked.

3. Likewise, Christ asked and prayed that the cup might pass from him; but the cup did not pass from him: therefore he was not heard in everything that he asked.

4. Likewise, Christ prayed for those who crucified him; yet not all were saved: therefore he was not heard in all things.

5. Likewise, Christ prayed for his disciples, that they might be kept from evil, according to what is said in John, chapter seventeen: *Not for them only, but for them also who through their word shall believe* etc.; but not all were kept from evil: therefore he was not heard in all the things that he asked.

### Conclusion.

> Christ was heard in everything that he asked by the will of reason, or absolute will, but not in everything that he asked by the will of piety or of the flesh.

**I respond:** It must be said that, since prayer is a petition proceeding from will and desire, according as the human will was in Christ under a threefold difference, so too was prayer. For one prayer was expressing or proceeding from the will of reason, another from the will of piety, another from the will of the flesh. — The prayer proceeding from the will of reason proceeded from a will which indeed required to be heard; and such prayer is heard in all things, both because that will was in all respects conformed to the divine will, and also because he asked so worthily and holily that in all things it had to be heard on account of his reverence and dignity. — But the prayer proceeding from the will of piety and the will of the flesh was not heard in Christ through all things, both because by this will he was not conformed to God in every thing willed, as was held before; and also because that petition was ordered more to our instruction than to the divine hearing. For by this will he asked more that he might instruct us than that he might incline God to his petition.

From these things the response to the proposed question and to the reasons on either side is clear. For it must be granted that Christ was heard in every petition by which he asked to be heard, that is, in everything that he asked by the will of reason or absolute will. Hence the reasons which are adduced for the first part conclude truly. It must nonetheless be granted that he was not heard in everything that he asked by the will of the flesh or of piety, as the reasons adduced for the second part show. For he did not ask that he might be heard, but that we might be instructed; as he asked that the cup be removed from him, and that his crucifiers be forgiven, the one from the will of the flesh for the showing of the assumed nature, the other from the will of piety for the showing of kindness and mercy.

*To 1 and 2.* As to what is objected from the authority of the Psalm, it must be said that this is said of the head by reason of the members, as the Gloss in the same place explains; and many similar things are wont to be found in Scripture.

*To 3, 4, 5.* To the three following reasons the response is clear from what has already been said, because they do not bring an instance against any prayer whatever of Christ, but only against that which proceeded from the will of the flesh or of piety, as is clear to one who looks.