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Necessity, to make a virtue of, 35, 44
Nestorius's error concerning the Person of Christ, 161
Novelty of St. Thomas's teaching, 6, 7
"Obsecration" as a part of prayer, 147-149
Observance, strictness of, 257
Occultism, 3
Office, attention at the Divine, 128
Origen on sanctity, 47;
on not swearing, 148
Passion, Meditation on the Sacred, 59, 63, 128
Perfection, 44
Peter Lombard, 25
Philosophy is better than riches, 236
Postillæ, 24
Prayer to St. Thomas before study, A, 16
Prayer: defined, 68, 69, 76, 78, 85, 102, 105, 127, 136, 148;
it is an act, 161;
not an act of the appetitive powers, 68, 71, 77;
it is an act of the virtue of religion, 76-80, 161;
after devotion, prayer is the highest act of the virtue of religion, 77;
it is a conversation with God, 74;
by it we become God's beggars, 110;
it is peculiar to the rational creation, 112-114;
in what sense the brute creatures pray, 114;
prayer is a gift from God, 139;
three requisites for prayer, 146;
four requisites for prayer, 138;
the real meaning of "petition," 78, 79;
the prayer of desire, 92, 105;
in what sense desire is not prayer, 77, 78;
prayer is a real cause, 72, 74, 166
Why we should pray:
prayer is reasonable, 71-76, 107, 120, 147;
the merit of prayer, 125, 137-143;
the effects of prayer, 71, 120, 125, 132, 138;
prayer causes union with God, 70, 71
Errors concerning prayer:
in general, 72;
it is not an adjuring of God, 148;
it never wearies God, 79, 80;
"much speaking" in prayer, 135;
it cannot change God's decrees, 72, 73, 86, 107, 161;
it does not "bend" His will, 86;
God knows beforehand what we would pray for, 73, 75, 80, 86, 120
Of prayers heard and unheard:
the condition necessary if our prayers are to be heard, 89, 96, 141, 144;
of prayers heard in anger, 142, 143;
in what sense the prayers of sinners are heard, 143-146;
the prayers of the poor are speedily heard, 69;
how the prayers of the Saints are heard, 162, 168;
the prayers of the Martyrs and Apostles, 162, 163;[Pg 267]
why prayers are not heard, 142;
of unheard prayers, 140;
why our prayers for others are sometimes not heard, 96;
in what sense the prayers of sinners are heard, 143-146
How we should pray:
at regular intervals, 134;
our attitude in prayer, 150, 151;
beginning occupations with prayer, 70;
prayer "without ceasing," 91, 137;
attention at prayer, 125;
three kinds of attention, 120, 133;
distractions, 121, 127-133;
the length of our prayers, 133-137;
hindrances to prayer, 75;
the recitation of Psalms, 123;
prayer "in spirit and in truth," 126;
weariness in prayer, 134
What we should pray for:
the impetratory value of prayer, 138, 141;
what we should pray for in general, 129, 142;
for Beatitude, 85-87;
prayer for definite things, 84-88;
for "sufficiency of life," 89;
against death, 83;
for continence, 87;
for knowledge of Holy Scripture, 88;
for deliverance from toothache, 92, 94;
for others, 95, 97, 98, 229;
for the wicked, 97;
for the good, 98;
for our inferiors, 98;
for temporal blessings, 89-95;
for the predestinate, 167;
for our enemies, 99-102;
the Saints in Heaven pray for the resurrection of their bodies, 116
To whom we should pray:
not to God alone, 80-84;
to the Angels, 81;
to the Saints, 157-161;
to the lesser Saints, 117
Who pray for us, and how:
the Angels pray for us, how, 114;
in what sense the Son and the Holy Spirit are said to pray, 113, 115;
how the Holy Spirit helps our prayers, 85;
the Saints pray for us, 115-118;
how, 156, 163, 166, 167;
how we merit the prayers of the Saints, 162;
how our prayers are known to the Saints, 152-157;
those in Limbo prayed for those on earth, 118;
those in Purgatory cannot pray for us, 117
Divers forms of prayer:
vocal prayer, 119-125;
ejaculatory prayer, 134, 135;
prayer in secret, 121;
prayer of the heart, 124;
thanksgiving as a part of prayer, 149;
postulations as a part of prayer, 146-148
The Lord's Prayer:
we say not "my Father," but "our Father," 96;
the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer, 102-111;
the Lord's Prayer not said without distractions, 132;
in what sense we are tied to the Lord's Prayer as a formula, 136, 137
The Church's prayers:
in general, 76, 147, 158;
public and private prayers, 119, 121, 122, 135;
how the prayer "of many" avails, 98;
the prayer of the Consecration at Mass, 149, 150
Prelates and Contemplative Life, 236
Prosper, St., the Book of Sentences Gleaned from St. Augustine, 140
Prudence: its relation to the other Moral Virtues, 224;
it is requisite for the Active Life, 223-226
Purity of soul, 252
Purgatory: why the suffrages of the Church do not empty it at once, 167, 168;
the souls in Purgatory do not know our needs, 83;
neither do they pray for us, 83, 116, 118;
Brother Romanus passed sixteen days in Purgatory, 12
