Letter 131: You speak the truth when you say that the soul, having its abode in a corruptible body, is restrained by this measure of contact with the earth, and is somehow so bent and crushed by this burden that its desires and thoughts go more easily downwards to many things than upwards to one. For Holy Scripture says the same: The corruptible body presse...

Augustine to Proba, greetings. A brief word to follow up on my longer letter about prayer. You asked a further question — whether it is proper to pray for the things of this life: for health, for safety, for the prosperity of your family, for the success of your affairs. Yes, you may pray for these things. The Lord himself taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" [Matthew 6:11]. This is a prayer for temporal provision. God does not despise our earthly needs. He made our bodies, and he knows they need food and shelter and rest. But — and this is crucial — pray for these things with an open hand, not a clenched fist. Hold your desires loosely before God. Say, in effect: "Lord, I would like this. But if you have something better in mind, give me that instead." The prayer that ends with "not my will but yours be done" [Luke 22:42] is the prayer that never goes unanswered — because it has already surrendered the outcome to the only one who knows what the outcome should be. Farewell, dear sister in Christ.

Letter 131 (A.D. 412) To His Most Excellent Daughter, the Noble and Deservedly Illustrious Lady Proba, Augustine Sends Greeting in the Lord. You speak the truth when you say that the soul, having its abode in a corruptible body, is restrained by this measure of contact with the earth, and is somehow so bent and crushed by this burden that its desires and thoughts go more easily downwards to many things than upwards to one. For Holy Scripture says the same: The corruptible body presses down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind that muses upon many things. Wisdom 9:15 But our Saviour, who by His healing word raised up the woman in the gospel that had been eighteen years bowed down Luke 13:11-13 (whose case was, perchance, a figure of spiritual infirmity), came for this purpose, that Christians might not hear in vain the call, Lift up your hearts, and might truly reply, We lift them up to the Lord. Looking to this, you do well to regard the evils of this world as easy to bear because of the hope of the world to come. For thus, by being rightly used, these evils become a blessing, because, while they do not increase our desires for this world, they exercise our patience; as to which the apostle says, We know that all things work together for good to them that love God: Romans 8:28 all things, he says — not only, therefore, those which are desired because pleasant, but also those which are shunned because painful; since we receive the former without being carried away by them, and bear the latter without being crushed by them, and in all give thanks, according to the divine command, to Him of whom we say, I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth, and, It is good for me that You have humbled me, that I might learn Your statutes. The truth is, most noble lady, that if the calm of this treacherous prosperity were always smiling upon us, the soul of man would never make for the haven of true and certain safety. Wherefore, in returning the respectful salutation due to your Excellency, and expressing my gratitude for your most pious care for my welfare, I ask of the Lord that He may grant to you the rewards of the life to come, and consolation in the present life; and I commend myself to the love and prayers of all of you in whose hearts Christ dwells by faith. (In another hand.) May the true and faithful God truly comfort your heart and preserve your health, my most excellent daughter and noble lady, deservedly illustrious. About this page Source. Translated by J.G. Cunningham. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102131.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.