Introduction
As the woman of Canaan, by crying out much, moved many people to intercede, so shall we also cry out much by praying.
Divisio
Reasons to cry out [for help]: 1) To lay down that which hinders us: Qui preibant increpabant eum ut taceret (Luke 18), i.e. the “thoughts and fantasies that hinder the prayer”; the clamor orationis is hindered most by the remoteness of the one who cries out (elongatio clamantis), and the more human beings are immersed in vices, the more distant they are from God. Each of us must ask himself from what depths he addresses his prayer to the Lord (reference to Augustine) and, in any case, it’s better to cry out for help from the depths of sin in order to obtain salvation (exemplum: Jonah in the belly of the whale) than to cry out for help, uselessly, from the depths of hell. 2) To confund our enemies: one must cry out for help because of the rush and fear of temptation and because of the multitude of tempters, since non enim habes tot capillos in capite quanto anima inimicos; the clamor orationis puts enemies to flight (reference to Judges 7, where it’s told that Gideon and the people of Israel put the Midianites to flight by blowing trumpets (per tubas sonantes) and breaking jugs (per fractas lagenas); according to the interpretation proposed by the preacher, the breaking of the jugs symbolises the mortification of the body, while the blowing of the trumpets symbolises prayer: just as the trumpet receives the breath at one end and lets out the sound at the other, so the prayer receives its flatus in the world, but its sound is heard in heaven). 3) To move those who intercede: just as the woman of Canaan cried out so long that she had the apostles as intercessors, so our souls must cry out so long by preaching that angels, virgins, martyrs and apostles can intercede between us and God. 4) To obtain that which we need: we must cry out for help like a beggar asking for alms (references to Psalms 38 and 9), like a sick person asking for healing (reference to Psalms 29), like a blind asking for sight (reference to Luke 18), like a possessed person asking to be freed from the devil (reference to the woman of Canaan), like a tormented person asking for consolation (reference to Psalms 106) and like a dying man asking for escape [from the body] (reference to Daniel 13). Moreover, just as the serpent's tongue can hiss but can’t cry out, so the lingua venenate orationis non est clamor orantis sed sibulus serpentis apud Deum (“the tongue of a poisoned prayer is not the cry of a praying person, but the hissing of a serpent before God”).