Author Topic: Perseverance not granted if not specifically asked for (Read 552 times)

Disputaciones · « **on:** December 04, 2015, 11:40:54 PM »

I have read this in several places, most notably in St. Alphonsus' Prayer the Great Means of Salvation.

I think the same is said about chastity as well but I'm not sure.

Is the Paternoster a vain prayer then? I say this because one is already asking for perseverance in the Paternoster. So how can it possible be said you WONT persevere if you don't specifically ask for it?

Not being led into temptation means not sinning which means persevering.

Nishant · « **Reply #1 on:** December 05, 2015, 12:30:57 AM »

Disputaciones, St. Alphonsus is showing us how prayer is a certain and universal means of salvation. Because God in His Mercy and according to His promise never fails to give what man asks for piously, persistently and according to His will, the Doctor tells us, as the Savior did, that we must expressly ask and fervently desire what we hope to obtain from Him. It is in this sense that he writes we must explicitly ask for the grace of final perseverance throughout our lives, for chastity when we are afflicted with temptations against it etc. What he is saying is in the same sense as Trent forbidding the "rash presumption of obtaining the grace of perseverance" without making use of the means God has given us for that end.

You are right in observing that the Pater Noster is a prayer to be protected from evil and kept safe from temptation. Similarly, in the Ave Maria, we specifically request the prayers of the Queen of Heaven in the hour of our death, that we may be preserved from sin at that time and contrite over our past offenses. In no way is it the intent of the Doctor to disparage these or other prayers but to remind us of the need to ask and desire final perseverance throughout our lives. If a man, though justified, neglects these and other prayers to ask in any way for final perseverance, he risks falling from grace and being lost.

Final perseverance is a special gift of grace because it cannot be merited. When we are in the state of grace, our Faith teaches us good works and prayers are truly meritorious, they result in an increase of sanctifying grace within us. But as man in the state of nature cannot by himself merit entry into the state of grace, so man even in the state of grace cannot merit the grace of final perserverance, he cannot know with certainty without special revelation that he will be preserved from mortal sin till the end of his life in any circuмstance. It is purely a gratuitous gift, which God has nonetheless promised to give to those who make use of the necessary means for that end, which means is principally prayer. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, especially through the Holy Rosary, as all the Doctors and the Mother of God Herself teaches, "is a great sign of predestination" and thus of final perseverance. The Savior promises final perseverance to all who make the Nine First Fridays and receive Holy Communion in homage to His Sacred Heart.

Neil Obstat · « **Reply #2 on:** December 05, 2015, 01:26:59 AM »

I agree with Nishant, above. I would like to add that in his book Preparation for Death, St. Alphonse de Liguori mentions final perseverance in several places, each time building up the concept, until near the end of the book he explains that while this greatest of all graces is not something that can be earned by merit, it can nonetheless be obtained "as if by supplication," for after a lifetime of praying for it, a penitent sinner would not be refused in his last hour provided he continues to cooperate with God's grace.

In my own experience it has become clear to me that anyone who waits until the end of their life to start asking for the grace of perseverance is making a big mistake. As with the practice of penance, it is much too late to START learning to practice it when a crisis arrives. When we are faced with a disaster our immediate inclination is to do what we have habitually done throughout our life, and if we are not in the habit of making each inconvenience and hardship an act of reparation for sins (our own and others as well) and a sacrifice of penitential suffering offered to God, then the moment of disaster is, humanly speaking, a case of impossibility to overcome this bad habit.

I had kidney stones, on two occasions. Both times I ended up in the hospital, and both times I had the same experience. While I lay on the gurney in the ER, with a morphine drip making me sick to my stomach, every time I made a prayer of offering up the pain, immediately the pain INCREASED. I figured this was the devil trying to punish me for my voluntary act of expiation. Later I told a priest about this and he told me this was just like Our Lord's suffering while hanging on the cross. (He was talking about the increase of pain, not saying that kidney stones are as painful as crucifixion is.) Now, if I had not been practicing for years before that, following the message of Our Lady of Fatima and Catholic Tradition, I can't imagine that I would have been able to START making pain a sacrificial offering to God while enduring the excruciating pain of kidney stones.

Anyone with experience in caring for the elderly may be able to say they have seen some patients seemingly able to endure pain by practicing prayer, and other patients who want nothing to do with prayer seem to suffer a lot more. But just try to get such a patient who wants nothing to do with prayer to start praying while they're suffering pain, and you'll have a losing battle on your hands. The obvious reason is that they experience the pain getting WORSE every time they start to pray, and since they're not accustomed to prayer, they then see prayer as the CAUSE of their pain, and therefore want even LESS than nothing to do with it.

This all applies directly to final perseverance because the final agony of death is the time when we need to ALREADY be in the habit of perseverance, not just then giving it a first try.

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Stubborn · « **Reply #3 on:** December 05, 2015, 05:37:54 AM »

The Pater noster is not a vain prayer, that is the prayer that Our Lord Himself made to teach us how to pray.

When we pray for perseverance, we pray for "the grace of final perseverance". While this is a grace specific to our last hour or moments, it is a grace we must pray for every day so that persevering in the faith becomes habitual.

The saints teach us that it is in our final hour when we are at our most vulnerable to submit to temptation and despair.

The saints teach that for the faithful, it is in our final moments when the devil knows he's just about out of time, that is the time when he is most desperate to steal our souls by hook or by crook, then is when he musters all his minions, all his deceits and wiles to tempt you anyway he can with everything he's got unmercifully and unceasingly right up till your final end trying everything he can to get you to sin to he can get your soul. THIS is where the grace of final perseverance comes to your everlasting aid. THIS is where your life time of habitual sacrifice and prayer for this grace come to your everlasting defense and helps you do that which you've always done - flee temptation and resist the snares of the devil.

As Neil posted, "for after a lifetime of praying for it, a penitent sinner would not be refused in his last hour provided he continues to cooperate with God's grace."

Of course, my guess is that if you're already in mortal sin, the devil doesn't need to work so hard, more like he awaits drooling as he rolls his hands and fists together in anticipation. He already has you, all he needs to do is wait.

In the Litany of Saints, we pray; "From a sudden and unprovided death, oh Lord, deliver us."

This one short little snippet of a prayer from the Litany of Saints is, IMO, a prayer that should be prayed often throughout the day by all the faithful.

Quote

Another marvelous meditation can be found in the Novena to the Holy Ghost (Fourth Day)

The Gift of Fortitude

The Gift of Fortitude By the gift of Fortitude the soul is strengthened against natural fear, and supported to the end in the performance of duty. Fortitude imparts to the will an impulse and energy which move it to under take without hesitancy the most arduous tasks, to face dangers, to trample under foot human respect, and to endure without complaint the slow martyrdom of even lifelong tribulation. "He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved."

Prayer

Come, O Blessed Spirit of Fortitude, uphold my soul in time of trouble and adversity, sustain my efforts after holiness, strengthen my weakness, give me courage against all the assaults of my enemies, that I may never be overcome and separated from Thee, my God and greatest Good. Amen.