In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

129 SERMON 10 PETITE ET ACCIPIETIS Sermon on the Sunday before the Feast of the Ascension (authenticity uncertain)1 John 16.24: Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. Part 1: Prothema SK, AND YOU will receive, so that your joy may be complete ” [Jn 16.24]. St. Jerome says that the Lord’s Prayer ought to precede all our works, and the working of the graces ought to follow. Hence he says in a letter of his to Paula: “Pray the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of any work of yours and press the sign of the Holy Cross upon your forehead.” Likewise: “Just as it does not befit a soldier to go to war without arms, so it does not befit a soldier of Christ to go to war against a demon unless he would be protected by these arms: the Lord’s Cross and the Lord’s Prayer.” And I add to this: the angel’s greeting.2 And hence we will first say an Our Father and a Hail Mary beforehand, et cetera. “ 1. Since there is no parallel either between themes in this sermon and Thomas ’s commentary on the Gospel according to John or between this sermon and his exegesis of the parallel text Mt 7.7, the Catena Aurea, or passages in Thomas’s theological works where he speaks about prayer (e.g., ST II–II 83), and since one of the two reportationes of this sermon mentions a certain William Brito as the author, it is not very likely that this sermon is Thomas’s. 2. The Hail Mary, Ave Maria; the second part of the prayer, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, . . . our death,” was not part of the prayer in the 13th century; it is a later addition. Cf. Thomas’s Collationes on the Hail Mary: Expositio Salutationis angelicae; and on the Our Father: In orationem dominicam and ST II–II 83,9. 130 THOMAS AQUINAS Part 2: Sermo “Ask,” et cetera. [Jn 16.24]. The Apostle says in Rom 12.12 that quite often we do not know what we ought to ask. Therefore , our Advocate, Jesus Christ, of whom John says in his letter [1 Jn 2:1–2] that “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he is the atonement for our sins,” this Advocate invites us today to pray, and he promises to give to us, yes, he even swears to give to us, provided that we ask in the name of the Savior the things that are necessary for our salvation. Thus at the beginning of today’s Gospel this Advocate of ours invites us to ask and teaches us to formulate our petition, saying: “Very truly, I tell you, if you ask the Father for something in my name, he will give (it) to you” [Jn 16.23].3 Accordingly he touches in these words upon three things. (1) First, the Lord invites us to pray: “Ask.” (2) Second, he assures us about our obtaining: “and you will receive.” (3) And third, so that we may rightly ask, he underlines what is necessary for us to have, when he adds: “So that your joy may be complete.” For elsewhere it is said: “To every one who has, it will be given, abundantly even” [Mt 25.29]; and elsewhere, in Lk 11.9:4 “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened for you.” “Ask” with confidence; “and you will receive” the gift of prosperity by which the body is upheld; “seek” carefully ; and “you will find” the good of grace by which the soul is refreshed; “knock” ceaselessly, and the door of paradise “will be opened” for you, so that your heart may be filled with “joy.” E (1) So first, the Lord invites us in these words to ask; in this we see the highest courtesy of him who so courteously invites us to ask. There are four things that really ought to move us to ask: (1.1) first, our poverty and want; (1.2) second, the greatest generosity of Christ; (1.3) third, the favorable time for asking; (1.4) fourth, the surety of obtaining. 1.1 I say that the first thing that ought to move us to ask is 3. Cf. Thomas’s discussion of this verse in ST II–II 83,7,2. 4. Cf. Thomas’s discussion of Mt 7.7...

Share