lasting and inexpressibly blissful union with Him which He has promised to those who love and serve Him faithfully to the end. "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul ? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul ? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels : and then will He render to every man according to his works" (Matt, xvi. 26, 27).
"In prayer we speak with God," says St. Anselm ; how attentively and reverentially should we converse with the Lord of lords, the King of kings ; how humbly and gratefully with our supreme Benefactor ; how trustfully with our best Friend !
Prayer is truly a conversation between God. and the soul ; in prayer we address ourselves to God and He, our Heavenly Father, in His love and kindness speaks to us ; in prayer the soul breathes the atmosphere of paradise, and by its union with God and its elevation to heavenly contemplation, it enjoys a foretaste of the happiness of the Saints in the celestial Eden.
What greater joy can earth afford Than holding converse with Our Lord? A pledge of life to come is this, A foretaste here of future bliss.
The Royal Psalmist says : "The Lord is nigh to all them that call upon Him in truth ; He will do the will of them that fear Him ; He will hear their prayer and save them" (Ps. cxliv. 18, 19).
"Prayer," says Hettinger, "is the bridge between this life and the life to come, upon which the Creator and the creature meet."
St. Augustine calls prayer "the key of heaven." Pere de Ravignan, S.J., constantly urged those who
