[Question:]{.underline} Are prayers made while in the state of mortal sin useless?
[Answer:]{.underline} It would seem that prayers offered while in mortal sin---that is, of rebellion against God and His law---would be ineffective and useless, for the sinner is not a friend of God, and has nothing supernatural in common with Him.
This is, however, by the grace of the Good Lord, entirely false. As St. Thomas Aquinas explains with precision (IIa IIae Q. 83, a.15), there is a two-fold efficacy of our prayers, namely that of meriting and that of impetrating. Prayers offered to God in the state of grace are certainly vastly more powerful because they are meritorious, meriting an effectiveness that is infallible, provided that we are asking for graces necessary for our own salvation, and with piety and perseverance. This is the meaning of the wonderfully consoling words of our Divine Savior: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you” (Jn 15:7), and of St. John: “Dearly beloved, if our heart do not reprehend us, we have confidence towards God: And whatsoever we shall ask, we shall receive of Him: because we keep His commandments and do those things which are pleasing in His sight” (I Jn 3:21 & 22).
Yet even when a man is not in the state of sanctifying grace the second effect of his prayers still remains, the effect that our prayers have as a petition begging God’s help and grace. This can only be attributed to the divine Mercy, but is the whole reason for our justification, for if God did not listen to our prayers when we were dead in our sins, how would we receive the actual graces to accomplish His holy will? This is how St. Thomas puts it: “As to its efficacy in impetrating, prayer derives this from the grace of God, to Whom we pray, and Who instigates us to pray. Wherefore Augustine says: ‘He would not urge us to ask, unless He were willing to give’; and Chrysostom says: ‘He never refuses to grant our prayers, since in His loving-kindness He urged us not to faint in praying.’”
St. Thomas further points out that in the soul that is not in the state of grace, this efficacy of petition or begging derives chiefly from Faith, “because it is through Faith that man comes to know of God’s omnipotence and mercy, which are the source whence prayer impetrates what it asks for” (ibid., Ad 3). This is most evident in the prayers of sinners that Sacred Scripture tells us were heard, by which prayers the sinners attained justification. This is the case of the publican who went home justified after having prayed “O God be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk 18:13). It is also the case of the thief whom we call “good” because he converted and was justified on the cross, after having prayed: “Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into Thy kingdom” (Lk 23:42).
We must not, therefore, minimize the extraordinary and divine power of prayer, even that made when in the state of mortal sin. For this is a power that derives entirely from God’s mercy, and it has no limit. Such prayers will be heard on account of the Faith and the importunity of the soul begging God’s help, grace, mercy, and forgiveness, as Our Divine Lord Himself promised when He said “Ask, and it shall be given to you: seek and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened” (Lk 11:9 & 10). No greater service can we render to our neighbors and friends than inspiring and encouraging them to pray to Jesus and through Mary, whatever the state of their soul.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.