Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori

 St. Alphonus Liguori, is a doctor of the Church, a teacher of faith and morals. Here is what I learned from his teaching on prayer. He writes, “One who prays is certainly saved. One who does not is certainly lost. All the damned have been lost by not praying. And this is their greatest torment in hell: to think how easily they might have been saved, just by asking God for his grace and forgiveness, but now it is too late.” ¹

The great theologian, Karl Rahner, affirms this teaching. He writes, “No one has ever been saved without prayer.” ² Why? Because prayer is awareness with love of God. To pray is an act of love, so “one who prays is certainly saved.”  

 

1. Barry Ulanov, The Way of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Kennedy & Sons, NY, 1961, 267.

2. Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, vol. 3, Theology of the Spiritual Life, 214