On Prayer

Prayer occupies a central place in the spiritual and theological vision of St. Thomas Aquinas, not as a pious sentiment added on to a life otherwise lived by reason, but as an act that flows necessarily from the right ordering of the intellect and will toward God. In On Prayer, Aquinas addresses the nature, purpose, and practice of prayer with the same systematic precision and pastoral depth that characterize his greatest theological works. For Aquinas, prayer begins in desire, specifically, the desire for eternal life that rightly governs every other human aspiration. To pray is to acknowledge what we most fundamentally need, to orient ourselves toward the only good that can ultimately satisfy us, and to submit ourselves in reverence to the God who is the author of all that is genuinely good for us. Prayer is not the attempt to inform God of our needs, which he already knows, but the means by which we come to know and feel our own dependence on him more fully. This volume brings together Aquinas's most important writings on the theology and practice of prayer, offering readers a guide to the interior life drawn from one of the most penetrating theological minds in the history of the church. Both intellectually rigorous and spiritually nourishing, On Prayer is an essential companion for any serious student of Aquinas or Christian spirituality.