Editor’s note: This is part 31 of a series, “The Kingdom of Grace.” Part 30 can be found here.
God is the one who causes the growth of grace in our souls, but you and I participate freely in the process. One of the most important ways to participate is by petitionary prayer.
Petitionary prayer holds a special place in the spiritual life and its role is often forgotten. Basically, you and I can ask God to cause his grace to grow in us. It is a simple petition: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, and please increase your grace in my soul.” Few people think of asking for such a thing, and some might even consider it a selfish thing to do. It is not selfish. It is, rather, the humble thing to do. To ask for the growth of grace is to acknowledge the power of God at work in our spiritual life and our need for him in everything – including the growth of grace.
It pleases God to grant the request. “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?… If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Mt. 7:9, 11) The Lord here is not referring simply to temporal blessings but even more to spiritual blessings. Yet, what greater spiritual blessing is there than an increase of sanctifying grace and union with God?
To ask for the growth of grace not only obtains the increase we seek but also attunes our awareness to the great significance of his grace in our souls. We can and should also ask, of course, for our family members, our friends, our fellow members of the Church, and for all the world. In this way, through petitionary prayer, you and I can impact the formation of souls for all eternity. In heaven, they say, you can see the effects of your old prayers on people like so many of your fingerprints in their glory.
Few people, however, even among devout Catholics, pray for themselves or others to grow in sanctifying grace. I know this because in my pastoral ministry I ask people whether they ever ask for such a thing. Hardly anyone says yes. It is almost as if we expect to grow in the spiritual life on our own. Even when people know they cannot grow on their own, and even when they know they need God for everything, it does not often cross their minds to ask for the growth of sanctifying grace – either for themselves or for others. The theme is not prominent in their minds.
Why not? For too long, too little has been preached or proclaimed of the wonders of sanctifying grace. As a result, few people know they can or should ask for grace to grow in their own souls or in the souls of other people. Personally, I never knew anyone could even ask for such a thing until well after I had joined the Dominican Order and learned something of the theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
It is high time for us to begin petitioning for such wonders. In the first part of our series, we considered many of the wonders of sanctifying grace. Yet, through petitionary prayer, all those wonders can grow in our souls. You and I can become better friends of God, more deeply united to the mystical body of Christ, more radically the temple of the Trinity, all the more divinized by growing in sanctifying grace. What would happen if everyone in the Church began offering rosaries, holy hours, novenas, and other sorts of prayers for themselves or their loved ones to grow in sanctifying grace? It would no doubt make a massive difference. It would seriously impact the spiritual life of the whole Church on earth, and through the Church it would affect the entire world.
Once we understand the special significance of petitionary prayer for the growth of grace, we can see more fully how important is the prayer of the Virgin. She is the model of all forms of prayer in the Church, and she is a particularly powerful intercessor on our behalf – second to none except the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Like every mother, she is keenly interested in the growth of her children. The Virgin is at the service of your soul.
We will say more about her later on, but if you want to grow in grace today, then fly to the Virgin. Submit to her the cause of your own spiritual growth as well as the spiritual growth of all the people on your heart. Once a petition to grow in sanctifying grace has been submitted to the Virgin at prayer…well, has anyone ever been disappointed?
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Father James Dominic Brent, O.P. is a Dominican Friar who lives and teaches at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. He is the author of The Father’s House: Discovering Our Home in the Trinity. His podcast is called Contemplata — a podcast for contemplative souls. He posts select homilies, spiritual conferences, interviews, and radio spots on on his personal Soundcloud site. He frequently lectures for the Thomistic Institute and appears on Aquinas 101.
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