Son," says St. Paul, "but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also with Him given us all things (Rom. viii. 32.) "In prayer," says St. Anselm, "we speak with God. How attentively and reverentially should we speak with the Lord of lords! How humbly with the Supreme Judge, and how confidently with our best Friend and Benefactor!" "We have every reason to pray with confidence," says St. Peter Chrysologus; "for what will not God give to those who ask Him, since He already gives so much to those who do not ask Him?" "Our confidence," says St. Bernard, "is the measure of the graces which we obtain in prayer. If our confidence in God is great, we shall receive great graces; if it is little, we shall receive but little." If God has hitherto sparingly bestowed His graces on us, it was owing in a great measure to our little confidence in Him during prayer. Our prayer must be persevering. "God," says St. Gregory the Great, wishes us so to pray to Him as to overcome Him by our importunities." He usually defers granting our prayers, first, that we may the better prove our confidence in Him by persevering in our request; secondly, that we may desire His favors more earnestly and appreciate them so
