Yes, if prayer wasn't a work, then the poor pious and devout people who can't perform any corporeal works of mercy since they dont have any money wouldn't "do" any works at all.
Thaumaturgus: there was a time when people walked around town
using this word in everyday conversation. That was a different age.
In those days, when you would say that so-and-so is a 'thaumaturgus'
you would basically be saying that he was a wonder-worker. Notice
the use of "worker" in that. It's referring to a person who works
miracles. Therefore, miracles are a work, too.
But as I said in the previous post, you won't find many miracle
workers who will dare to take credit for the prodigious signs that
followed them like a shadow. For example, St. John Vianney, when
they came from far and wide to acclaim him for his miracles, he
would point to St. Philomena and say,
"It was none of my doing!
SHE IS THE ONE who is responsible for all these things,
every one of them!" Or if someone tried to tell Padre Pio they thank him for his grace
and blessing, he would usually have some dry crack bordering on
biting sarcasm, although at the same time, mixed with a quiet note
of recognition. And sometimes, the recognition wasn't so quiet. For
example, a man practically lost his face in an industrial accident,
and had no nose, no ears, no eyelids, nearly blind, lips gone. He
asked Padre Pio to cure him and so he slapped him on the left
side of his face and the man's face was instantly restored, but only
on the left side; and the man was so overcome with surprise that
he went away in amazement. But then he came back after a few
days, and said, "I want to thank you for healing my left side, but
I must tell you that I can't sleep, I can't work, I can't go out in
public, I can't see my own family, and I came back to ask you if
you can help me again." Padre Pio's reply was a fast left hook to
his right cheek, as he scolded the poor man, "Oh, so you liked that,
eh, well then here! Have another one!" And this second slap did
the same as the first one, this time curing the right half of his face,
leaving no scar or clue that he had ever been injured.
It also makes me think of all the monks, hermits, ascetics etc. who lived by themselves in the desert etc. and all they did was pray and do penance, they wouldn't have done any works either if prayer didn't count for works.
You would think that someone who had been forgiven
personally by Our Lord, and who had kissed His feet and
collected His blood at the foot of the Cross, would have
been assured of her salvation. But St. Mary Magdalene
spent the last 40 years of her life as a hermit in a cold,
wet, lonely cave in the hills of France. She was entirely
devoted to doing her penance right here on earth. She
wasn't going to postpone it for Purgatory. Ascetics and
hermits are very busy with the
real work of
salvation.
And not a few others benefit from their penances. But we
are ALL called to this voluntary WORK of offering sacrifice.
We are called to it by the fact of our baptism. It is a kind
of priesthood, really, a thing that gives us the right and the
duty to bring our WORKS with us to Mass, and offer them
with the priest in the Offertory, asking God to accept them
because we hope they have been made perfect for our
presentation to Him at the altar. Newchurch would have
you believe it is just MONEY that we offer at Mass. But it
is primarily our voluntary WORKS of penance that we offer.
You can take this principle too far and say there is no
difference between the priesthood of the laity and the
priesthood of the ordained religious.
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Topic: Is prayer considered a "work"? (Read 1250 times)