you will, and it shall be done unto you" (John XV. 7). God is faithful and just, and will, therefore, surely keep His promise to grant us the graces we need, because we have a claim to them. They are the price of the blood and merits of Jesus Christ, for He died to save us. His merits are, then, ours; and, when we claim by our prayers a share in them or in their fruits, God can not refuse to grant us what we ask.
The Holy Scriptures are full of examples of the efficacy of prayer as a means of obtaining whatever we need to secure our salvation. It was by his prayer that the publican was justified, by her prayer that the Samaritan woman was converted; it was by his prayer that David obtained the forgiveness of his sin, and that the good thief on the cross was converted and received the promise of paradise. We find in Holy Writ also many examples of prayer as an efficacious means of obtaining even temporal favors. It was by prayer that Moses obtained the victory over the Amalecites; Elias obtained rain after a three years' drought; Manassas, his deliverance from prison and his restoration to his kingdom; Ezechias, the prolongation of his life; Solomon, wisdom; Susanna, the proof of her innocence; Daniel, his deliverance
