If God already knows our needs, why do we need to pray?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states: “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

Earlier this year, Pope Francis preached on the vices and virtues in St. Peter’s Square.

“We sin against hope when we become despondent over our sins, forgetting that God is merciful and greater than our heart,” said the Pontiff.

“The world needs hope, just as it greatly needs patience, a virtue that journeys hand-in-hand with hope.

“Hope is the virtue of those who are young at heart; and here age does not matter because there are also elderly people whose eyes are filled with light, who live permanently striving towards the future. Think of the two great elderly people of the Gospel, Simeon and Anna: they never tired of waiting and they saw the last stretch of their earthly journey blessed by the encounter with the Messiah, whom they recognized in Jesus, brought to the temple by his parents.”

The mercy of God is the reason for our hope. We obtain both pardon and grace through the mercy of God. Pardon for sins removes the obstacles to our union with God, whereas grace brings about that union.

Hope is founded on the mercy of God and this mercy has no limit. Hence, St. Thomas teaches us that “man can never love God as much as he should be loved; neither can he believe and hope in him as much as he ought.”

Roman Catholics are called to hope without measure.

“We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful and so merciful,” said St. Therese of Lisieux. “We obtain from him as much as we hope for.”

St. John of the Cross agreed. “The more the soul hopes, the more it attains,” he said.

Jesus himself told St. Faustina, “The graces of my mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.”

St. Augustine defines prayer as an exercise of desire. God knows all our needs before we pray to him but he wants us to ask him so that by exercising hope in prayer our heart will be more ready to accept his gifts even though we must often wait for those prayers to be answered.

“By delaying, God strengthens our desire; through desire he enlarges our soul, and by expanding it he increases its capacity,” explained St. Augustine.

Formal prayers, especially liturgical prayers, help us to form our desire. The texts of those prayers teach us for what we should hope.

In this earthly life, suffering is unavoidable. The greater the suffering, the greater hope we need to help us through. Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical letter on hope, Spe Salvi, pointed out that in our many different sufferings and trials we always need the lesser and greater hopes.

In our lesser trials, lesser hopes like a kind visit or a favourable resolution may be sufficient. But in truly great trials, we need the certitude of the true, great hope of eternal life. The martyrs are shining examples of facing great sufferings and trials with such hope.

In times of suffering and trials, it is important to remember the words of St. Paul: “God is faithful and will not permit you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also give you a way out that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. 10:13)

The sins against hope are despair and presumption. Despair is the refusal to trust that God will give necessary help for one’s salvation. Presumption is the false hope of achieving salvation by one’s own efforts without God’s help, or by God’s help without one’s own efforts.

The remedies for despair are meditation on God’s goodness, confidence in Jesus who died for us upon the cross, and devotion to Our Lady.

Presumption is caused by pride and a lack of fear of God. The remedies for presumption are humility, and meditation on the justice and judgments of God.

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希望與忍耐同行

天主教教理指出：「望德是超性的德行，藉著望德我們期盼天國和永生，視之為我們的幸福；我們所信靠的是基督的許諾，所依賴的不是我們自己的力 量，而是聖神恩寵的助佑。」（教理 1817）。

教宗方濟各說：「當我們因自己的罪過而灰心喪志，忘記天主仁慈且比我們的心更偉大時，我們便是犯了對希望的罪…。世界需要希望，正如非常需要忍耐這個德行一樣，忍耐與希望攜手同行…。希望是那些心境年輕的人的德行；在這裡，年齡無關緊要，因為也有一些長者眼中充滿光芒，終身向未來奮進。想想福音中的兩位偉大長者，西默盎和亞納：他們從未厭倦等待，在他們世途的最後一程中獲得遇見默西亞的恩寵，他們在耶穌被父母帶到聖殿時，認出了祂。」

‌天主的慈悲引發我們的望德，讓我們獲得天主的恕宥，除去與天主結合的障礙，並藉祂的聖寵，使我們與祂合而為一。

‌望德建基於天主的無限慈悲，是無遠弗屆的。誠如聖師多瑪斯說：「我們對天主的愛，永不能達到祂應被愛的程度，我們也永不能達到對天主的信賴和仰望應有的程度。」望德中的仰望是無止境的。

‌聖女小德蘭說：「對天主美善的信心永不會過多，因為祂是全能全善的。仰望與所得是成正比。」聖十字若望寫道：「靈魂越仰望，就越有所成。」

耶穌對聖傅天娜說：「唯一汲取我慈悲聖寵的途徑，就是信賴。越信賴就越得償。」

‌聖奧斯定指出，祈禱是實踐期望。雖然天主在我們祈求之前，早已洞悉我們所需，但祂仍要我們在望德中作出祈求，讓我們的心靈，更善備接受天主的恩賜。聖奧斯定解釋為何天主並不常對我們的祈求作出即時的應允，他說：「天主欲借延遲來增加我們的渴求，藉以擴展我們的心靈，增加心靈的容量。」

‌既定的祈禱經文 — 特別是禮儀內的禱文，幫助我們正確地塑造渴求。禱文指導我們應渴求些什麼。

‌俗世的生命避免不了痛苦；痛苦越大，所需的希望也越大。教宗本篤十六世在其有關望德的通諭中，指出在不同的痛苦與試探中，我們需要大大小小的希望。

小試探需要較小的希望已足夠，但面對大試探，我們需要對永生存有堅定不移的真希望，才能應付 — 殉道聖人正是懷有這真希望的光輝實例。

‌‌經歷痛苦與試探時，緊記聖保祿宗徒致格林多人前書的話(10:13)：「天主是忠信的，祂決不許你們受那超過你們能力的試探，天主如加給人試探，也必開一條出路，叫你們能夠承擔。」

違反望德的罪是絕望和妄望。絕望是拒絕相信天主會賜予人獲得永生的所需；妄望是認為得救單憑一己之力，並非來自天主的助佑；又或者認為得救單憑天主之力，自己卻無需努力。

避免絕望，要多默想天主的美善、信賴為我們受死的主基督，和多恭敬聖母。

驕傲和缺乏敬畏天主的心，會導致妄望。謙遜和默想天主的公義及審判，則可棄絕妄望。

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