Since, therefore, it is certain — as we proved in Part One, Chapter I — that we have the need of praying in order to attain salvation, we must consequently also hold for certain that everyone has the divine help to be able actually to pray, without need of any other special grace, and by prayer then to obtain all the other graces necessary for observing the Commandments perseveringly, and so to gain eternal life; so that no one who is lost can ever have any excuse of having been lost for lack of the helps necessary to save himself. Just as God in the natural order has disposed that man is born naked and in need of many things to live, but then gave him hands and a mind with which he can clothe himself and provide for all his other needs, so in the supernatural order man is born powerless to obtain eternal salvation by his own strength, but the Lord in His goodness grants to everyone the grace of prayer, by which he can then obtain all the other graces he needs to observe the Commandments and save himself.
But before coming to explain this point, it is expedient to set forth two preliminaries. The first, that God wills the salvation of all, and that therefore Jesus Christ died for all. The second, that God, for His part, gives to all the graces necessary to save themselves, with which each one is saved if he corresponds to them.
About this translation
This English translation from the Italian was drafted with AI assistance using SWE-2 Max and prepared as a reading edition for this library. Review has included source provenance, section structure, and selected source comparisons and corrections. It has not included a complete independent, sentence-by-sentence translation audit.
Translated from the Italian author text transcribed by IntraText from Opere ascetiche, volume II (Rome, 1962), pages 3–178. Modern editorial apparatus is excluded. Inherited bibliographic citations are incomplete; the introductory note describes the restored passages and review limitations.
This is a reading copy, not a critical edition. No professional translation certification or ecclesiastical approval is claimed for this modern edition.
No general reuse licence is specified for this modern translation or its source transcription. The age of the original work does not by itself establish their reuse terms.
Remember Eternity · remembereternity.org. AI-assisted English translation drafted with SWE-2 Max from the Italian; selected source comparisons and corrections only. No complete independent translation audit or ecclesiastical approval is claimed. Translated from the Italian author text transcribed by IntraText from Opere ascetiche, volume II (Rome, 1962), pages 3–178. Modern editorial apparatus is excluded. Inherited bibliographic citations are incomplete; the introductory note describes the restored passages and review limitations. No general reuse licence is specified for this modern translation or its source transcription.