during private and public calamities; 2. In the morning and at night; before and after meals; when the Angelus bell rings; and when we are in the Church.
25. Why should we pray in the Church especially?
Because the Church is especially the house of God and of prayer, where all that we see and hear is intended to raise our minds and hearts to the meditation on Divine things.
26. For whom must we pray?
We must pray for all men: for the living and the dead; for friends and enemies; especially for our parents, brothers and sisters, benefactors, spiritual and temporal Superiors, and also for heretics and infidels.
'I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in high station, that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity' (1 Tim. ii. 1, 2).
Application. Consider how happy you are that you, a miserable worm of the earth, are allowed to speak to God, the Most High, as a child speaks to his father. Pray, therefore, often and willingly, and always with as much devotion as you possibly can, both at home and in the Church.
§ 3. The Lord's Prayer.
27. Which is the most excellent of all prayers?
The most excellent of all prayers is the Our Father, or the Lord's Prayer.
28. Why is the ' Our Father ' called the ' Lord's Prayer '?
Because Christ our Lord has taught it to us, and commanded us to say it (Matt. vi. 9-13).
29. What does the Lord's Prayer contain?
It contains a short Preface and Seven Petitions.
30. What do you call its 'Preface'?
These words: 'Our Father who art in Heaven.'
