On Prayer 11.4

And so, at the very time of prayer, being reminded by the one who prays of what he needs, they accomplish what they can, as having received a general command. We may use some such image as this for this argument, to make acceptable what we have understood. Suppose a physician who cares for righteousness is standing by a sick man praying for his health, and knows how to treat the disease about which the man is offering his prayer. Clearly he will be moved to heal the one who prayed, perhaps supposing, not without reason, that this very thing has come about in God's mind, since he has heard the prayer of the one who prayed to be delivered from the disease. Or let someone who has more than enough of the necessities of life, and is generous, hear the prayer of a poor man who is offering a petition to God about his needs; clearly he too will fulfill the prayer for the poor man, becoming a servant of the Father's will, who has brought together at the time of the prayer, in the same place as the one who will pray, the one able to provide, who because of the goodness of his choice cannot overlook one who has need of these things.