Preces Quotidianae
Personal Burden Before God
Each person bears their own burden, and no saint can intercede for them.
we will have come, neither Job nor Daniel nor Noah can pray for us, but each one carries their own burden,
The Spirit's Intercession Through the Church
Augustine teaches that the Spirit intercedes for the Church with groans beyond words, and the saints' prayers together benefit the whole body.
Augustine.1 Against Maximinus.2 The Spirit intercedes for us with groans beyond words: is it your spirit or mine that is beyond words—when it is often nothing, often cold?✦3 But because there is no day, no moment, when the saints are not pleading with God—some more fervently, others more lukewarmly—and because they all make up one Dove, from this come groans beyond words: namely from all those shared groans that benefit everyone in the body of the Church.✦45
Mutual Prayer
Praying for others benefits oneself, while praying only for oneself isolates the prayer.
Whoever prays for others is working for himself:6 If you pray only for yourself, you'll pray for yourself alone. If you pray for everyone, they'll pray for you.
Psalm of Thanksgiving
A citation of Psalm 145:10, calling all creation to give thanks and the saints to bless the Lord.
Psalm 145. 10. Lord, let all your works give you thanks, and let your saints bless you.
The Necessity of Silent Praise
Augustine warns that those who are silent about God are mute, and that praise or psalm does not please God unless it comes from the heart.
Augustine, Confessions 1. 1. Woe to those who keep silent about You, Lord: for7 Even the most talkative fall silent. Lord, a psalm or a song of praise doesn't please you,8
Read the original Latin
venerimus, nec Job, nec Daniel, nec Noah pro nobis rogare possunt, sed unusquisque portat onus suum,
Aug. contra Max. Postulat Spiritus pro nobis gemitibus inenarrabihbus: num tuus vel meus spiritus est inenarrabilis, qui sspe nullus, sepe frigidus est? sed quia nullus est dies, nullum momentum, quo non a sanctis supplicatur Deo, ab uno ferventius, ab alio tepidius: et quia omnes unam Columbam constituunt, hine fiunt gemitus inenarrabiles, nempe ex omnibus in commune gemitibus, qui omnibus in Ecclesie corpore constituti prosunt.
Qui pro alis orat, pro se laborat:
Si pro te solo rogas, rogabis pro te solus.
Si oras pro omnibus, orabunt pro te.
Psal. cxlv. 10. Confiteantur Tibi, Domine, omnia opera Tua, et sancti Tui benedicant Tibi.
Aug. Conf. 1. 1. Νὰ tacentibus de Te, Domine: quoniam
etiam loquaces muti sunt.
"momn mow 1m lacet tibi laus vel Psalmus,
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rom.8.26 — In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
- ↩Rom.8.26 — In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
Notes
- 1 ↩Abbreviated citation label Aug. expanded as Augustine.
- 2 ↩Abbreviated work title contra Max. taken as Augustine's Contra Maximinum (Against Maximinus).
- 3 ↩Normalized corruptions: inenarrabihbus→inenarrabilibus; sspe/sepe→saepe (often).
- 4 ↩Normalized corruptions: hine→hinc; Ecclesie→Ecclesiae. Columba retained as Dove (Augustine's figure for the Church).
- 5 ↩unam Columbam: the one Dove, a traditional Augustinian image for the Church as a single praying body.
- 6 ↩Source has 'alis'; almost certainly a corrupt reading of 'aliis' (for others), required by sense and by the next section's contrast (praying only for yourself).
- 7 ↩Opening token Νὰ is not Latin; most plausible intended reading is Vae (woe), matching Augustine, Confessions 1.4 (vae tacentibus de te…), continued in the next section (etiam loquaces muti sunt).
- 8 ↩Supplied Latin is severely corrupt: `"momn mow 1m lacet tibi laus vel Psalmus,`. Readable core is `…lacet tibi laus vel Psalmus` (almost certainly `placet tibi laus vel Psalmus`). Prefix reconstructed as `Domine, non` on register/context grounds (private devotion; preceding silence theme; following clause about not attaining God’s works). Alternative reconstructions remain possible.
Preces Privatae (Private Devotions) companion
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