With God/Devotion and Devotions
With God
Sanctification of the Day - of the Week - and of the Month
I
Sanctify the Day
1. By mental and vocal prayer, especially at morning and at night.
2. By means of the Good Intention or Morning Offering; by praying with the heart all day long in doing all things, and bearing all sufferings in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and for the greater glory of God.
3. By means of Ejaculatory Prayers, and especially short indulgenced prayers.
4. By the practice of the Presence of God.
5. By a Spiritual Reading, for instance, from "The Imitation of Christ," or "The Lives of the Saints"; by the Particular Examen and by the practice of a particular virtue in honor of your patron saint.
N.B. Father Bowden's Miniature Lives of the Saints for Every Day in the Year" is a very beautiful and practical work that we recommend to all classes. This precious little book contains just one leaf for each day. "The face of each leaf," the preface tells us, "contains a simple outline of the saint's life, in which great care has been taken to insure historical accuracy. The reverse bears as its title a virtue characteristic of the saint, and comprises an exhortation, a maxim of the saint or of some spiritual writer; an illustrative anecdote; and finally a text from Scripture.
"Each section is intended to enforce the lesson taught by the life, much as the lections, chapter, hymn, and antiphon of the breviary narrate the history, extol the virtues, and implore the suffrages of the saint to whose Office they belong."
Butler's "Lives of the Saints" and Benziger Brothers' "Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints" are also recommended.
Let us cultivate the devotion, which consists in venerating, imitating, and invoking a particular saint for each day, and with this end in view read daily from the Lives of the Saints." The saints are our models in the following of Christ; they teach us the way of salvation; let us honor them, imitate their virtues, and invoke their intercession that
we also may become saints. Excellent Spiritual Reading
DURiNG many weeks of extreme languor the Psalms have never been out of my hands. I was never wearied of reading over and over those sublime lamentations, those flights of hope, those supplications full of love, which answer to all the wants and all the miseries of human nature. It is nearly three thousand years since a king composed those songs in his days of repentance and desolation; and we still find in them the expression of our deepest anguish, and the consolation of our sorrows. The priest recites them daily; thousands of monasteries have been founded in order that these psalms might be chanted at every hour, and that this voice of supplication might never be silent. The Gospel alone is superior to the hymns of David, and this only because it is their fulfilment, because all the yearnings, all the ardors, all the holy impatience of the prophet find their accomplishment in the Redeemer issued of his race. — Ozanam.
The Psalms, besides their inspiration, their majesty and pathos, their sublime poetry, and their prophetic character, have a threefold claim to our veneration — as the Prayer of David, the Prayer of Jesus Christ, and the Prayer of the Church. Even, humanly speaking, the Prayer of David would be the prayer of every grade of life, of every spiritual necessity. The shepherd's youngest son, small in stature, ruddy and beautiful to behold, and of a comely face," he becomes the champion, the hero, and the sovereign of the chosen people. The changing scenes of his life display the beauty and constancy of friendship, the pangs of ingratitude, the grandeur of piety, the simplicity of its manifestation, the loss of virtue, the agony of remorse, and the fervor of that contrition which, amidst the plaintive melodies of the psaltery, poured itself forth in those deep, thrilling accents of sorrow which, to the end of our wayward history, must form the sad language of penance. Therefore, in the Prayer of David, every one who suffers, every one who rejoices, every one who is tempted, or falls, or repents, will be able to breathe forth his thoughts, his hopes, his praises, his desires, in strains of inspired poetry. But, as we learn from the New , Testament, David is both a prophet and a type of Jesus Christ, and the "Prayer of David " is therefore also the Prayer of Jesus Christ." Our Lord quoted the Psalms and applied them to Himself, He used them as His own prayers, He sung them with His Apostles, and on the cross, just before He gave up the Ghost, He cried with a voice those words of the Compline psalm, which in His sacred childhood He had heard chanted in the Temple of Jerusalem, "In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum "; "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit."
It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that the Psalms have, first in the Jewish Temple, and then around the Christian altar, formed the prayer of the Chosen People, the " Prayer of the Church," the "Divine Office," for now nearly three thousand years. — Crown of Jesus.
An excellent daily spiritual reading would be a combination of extracts from Holy Scripture, "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, and "he Lives of the Saints" (or St. Francis de Sales' "Devout Life"). A very serviceable book for this purpose is Le Masson's "Spiritual Reading for Every Day," edited by Kenelm Digby
Best of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Prayer in Verse[1]
Words and Deeds
Holy thoughts and tender words
Are at best mere leaves and flowers,
But the fruits are generous deeds —
Where, oh I coward soul, are ours?
Soon, too soon, will come the end:
God forgive what's past and gone !
Mary Mother I Angels! Saints!
Pray for me and help me on.
Prayers and good words within your memory store,
And at stray moments say them o'er and o'er.
'Twill help to hallow all your work and play.
And holy thoughts will keep bad thoughts away.
On through your round of duties plod,
Poor child of God!
Raising betimes your thoughts above
In faith and love;
And in your hearts a holy song
All day long.
1
Another day begins for me,
What day shall be my last?
Grant, Lord, that each new day may see
My heart more pure, more dear to Thee.
And oh! forgive the past.
2
Good day, my Guardian Angel!
The night is past and gone.
And thou hast watched beside me
At midnight as at dawn.
The day is now before me,
And, as it glides away,
O help me well to make it
A good and holy day.
3
Jesus, I offer up this day
And all my life to Thee —
My thoughts, words, prayers, and all that may
Be done or borne by me.
All, all, to gain Thy Heart's desires:
O light in mine Its heavenly fires.
4
Dear Mother of Our Lord! throughout this coming day
May'st thou be pleased with all I do and think and say
O look on me with love, and keep sin far away.
At Mass
The Four Ends of Sacrifice
Adore till the Gospel,
Give thanks till the bell;
Till Communion ask pardon —
Then all your wants tell.
O Sacrum Convivmm!
O Sacred Banquet! where on Christ we feed.
The memory of His Passion is recalled,
The soul is filled with grace for every need,
And heavenly glory in this pledge forestalled.
After Communion
Crede, dole, spera, grates age, dilige, adora,
Vtilnera pande animce sanctaque dona pete.
Believe and grieve and hope, thank, love, adore.
Show your soul's wounds, and holy gifts implore.
Before Leaving Your House or Room
Lord, send me forth to do Thy will,
But let me feel Thee present still.
Before Spiritual Reading
God speaks to us through every holy page
Of uninspired or inspired sage.
O listen humbly to each counsel given.
As to a message sent to you from Heaven.
Before the Rosary
Mother, now I'll say my beads.
For my soul some comfort needs;
And what better can there be
Than to raise my thoughts to thee,
Sweet Mother!
To Jesus
Unice cordis amor, timor cordis, Jesu! Cor tihi dono meum, cor mihi redde tuum.
Jesus, my heart's sole love, my heart's sole fear Thou art;
My heart to Thee I give, give now to me Thy Heart.
Forgive me!
Forgive me. Lord, forgive me!
'Tis all that I can say.
I love Thee: make me love Thee
More truly day by day.
More and More and More
With all my heart I love Thee and adore:
Lord, make me love Thee more and more and more.
God's Household
Let us love and help each other!
Our Father is in heaven,
And Jesus is our Brother,
And Mary is our Mother,
And the blessed Saints above
And the friends on earth we love,
Nay, every human creature is the child
Of our Father dear in heaven.
Let us love and be loved, forgive and be forgiven.
Pray for the Dying
This hour for some poor souls is life's last hour.
Saved, saved — or lost! — when this short hour's gone by.
A Cry from Purgatory
Have pity on me, you at least, my friends!
No, not with death true love, true pity ends.
Your prayers can still assist me on my way.
Take pity on me, O dear friends, and pray.
A Thought from St. Augustine
Our hearts were made for Thee, O Lord!
And restless must they be
Until — O Lord, this grace accord! —
Until they rest in Thee.
After Night Prayer
Another day is ended;
How many more to live?
Alas, too many wasted!
My God, forgive, forgive
To my Angel
Good night, my guardian Angel!
The day has sped away;
Well spent or ill, its story
Is written down for aye.
And now, of God's kind providence
Thou image pure and bright!
Watch o'er me while I'm sleeping —
My Angel dear, good night!
II
Sanctify the Week
"THE WEEK SANCTIFIED" IS a popular term applied to the custom in vogue among religious people, whereby each day of the week is consecrated to a particular devotion, thus:
Sunday. . . . To the Holy Trinity.
Monday. . . . To the Holy Ghost and to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
Tuesday. . . . To the Holy Angels.
Wednesday. . . . To St. Joseph.
Thursday. . . . To the Blessed Sacrament.
Friday. . . . To the Passion of Our Lord and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Saturday. . . . To the Blessed Virgin Mary. During the week prayers are said and devotions are practised in accordance with this classification. As "The Crown of Jesus" suggests:
"It would also be well to devote particular days to meditation on particular subjects, for instance:
"Sunday — the Holy Trinity — faith, hope, and charity — love of God — conformity to the will of God — desire of heaven.
"Monday — the Holy Ghost — the duties of your state of life — the sanctification of your actions — fidelity to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
"Tuesday — the Holy Angels — your ruling; passion — the virtues — venial sin — mortal sin.
"Wednesday — St. Joseph — the example of patron saints — the Childhood of Our Lord — the works of mercy.
"Thursday — the Blessed Sacrament — virtues taught by Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament (i.e., humility, silence, forbearance) — the Holy Mass.
"Friday — the Passion of Our Lord — the virtues specially taught by the Passion, i.e., resignation, fraternal charity, mortification — the Sacred Heart of Jesus. "Saturday — the Blessed Virgin Mary — her purity, humility, obedience, gentleness — her love to Jesus Christ — also death — judgment — eternity — purgatory — hell — heaven"
III
Sanctify the Month
MANY devout souls choose a patron saint for each month, in whose honor they cultivate a certain virtue. They also practise each month a particular devotion. The monthly devotions are usually arranged in the following order:
January . . . . The Holy Infancy and the Most Holy Name of Jesus.
February . . . . The Holy Trinity (also the Holy Family).
March . . . . St. Joseph.
April . . . . The Holy Ghost (also the Passion for Lent).
May . . . . The Blessed Virgin Mary.
June . . . . The Blessed Sacrament and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
July. . . . The Precious Blood of Jesus.
August . . . . The Most Pure Heart of Mary.
September . . . . The Holy Cross and Our Lady of Sorrows. October . . . . The Holy Angels and the Holy Rosary.
November . . . . The Holy Souls in Purgatory.
December (Advent) . . . . The Immaculate Conception.
A particular virtue may be assigned to each month as follows:
January — Love of Jesus Christ.
February — Humility.
March — Mortification.
April — Patience.
May. — Meekness — purity — the spirit of poverty.
June — Obedience — piety — dutifulness.
July — Simplicity — faith — liberty of spirit — cheerfulness.
August — Sanctification of our actions — diligence — edification — fidelity in little things.
September — Piety — fervor in the performance of sacred duties — the spirit of prayer.
October — Hope — trust in God — courage — perseverance.
November — Charity — kindness.
December — Conformity to the will of God — divine love. Gems of the Months with their Significance[2]
According to ancient tradition assigning certain stones to certain months.
January..... Garnet..... Perseverance; Constancy.
February..... Pearl Faith and Innocence.
March ..... Hyacinth Moral Beauty — Moral Goodness.
April..... Diamond Purity and Fortitude.
May..... Emerald Faith in God and Faithfulness in Friendship.
June..... Amethyst Peace of Mind; also Sincerity.
July..... Ruby Success; Devotedness to Duty.
August..... Sardonyx Felicity; Conformity to the Will of God.
September..... Sapphire Divine Love and Mercy. Love and Repentance in Man.
October..... Opal Happiness of a Pure Life; also Hope.
November..... Topaz Divine Providence; Resignation; Fidelity.
December..... Turquoise Piety; Fervor in God's
The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.
In sorrows. Lord, I'll try to see
Thy loving hand,
With wisdom guiding me unto
A better land.
Through the veiled future, Lord, be this
My prayer, my plea.
That it may bring me nearer still,
Dear Lord, to Thee.
Hymn
O Jesus, Jesus, Dearest Lord!
O Jesus, Jesus! dearest Lord!
Forgive me if I say
For very love Thy Sacred Name
A thousand times a day.
I love Thee so, I know not how
My transports to control;
Thy love is like a burning fire
Within my very soul.
O wonderful! that Thou shouldst let
So vile a heart as mine
Love Thee with such a love as this,
And make so free with Thine.
For Thou to me art all in all,
My honor and my wealth,
My heart's desire, my body's strength,
My soul's eternal health.
What limit is there to thee, love?
Thy flight where wilt thou stay?
On! on! Our Lord is sweeter far
To-day than yesterday.
Oh, love of Jesus! Blessed love!
So will it ever be;
Time can not hold thy wondrous growth,
No, nor eternity!
Devotion and Devotions
1.
With reference to what is meant by devotion, with many there is a delusion to which Father Segneri, in his treatise on devotion to the ever blessed Mother of God, alludes. Persons are supposed to be devoted to Our Lord, to the Blessed Virgin — taking these for examples — who are known to say prayers in their honor, go to holy communion on their great feasts, etc. Now Segneri says, with truth, that prayers, communions, pilgrimages, and such works may be helps to devotion, or the consequences of devotion, but they are not devotion in its real and true meaning. Devotion is something personal. Devotion to a person supposes great esteem, if not love, of that person — a sensitive feeling as to hurting or displeasing, a desire to gratify and please, a wish to be one as much as possible with such a person. Hence JohnI son, in his Dictionary," defines devotion to a person: Strong attachment and ardent love, such as makes the lover the sole property of the person loved" — one, as it were, vowed away and consecrated to another. Now it is quite possible that some Catholics — who say many prayers, hear many Masses, make many communions in honor of Our Lord or His blessed Mother — hold to their own will in many things, small if you like, which they know are not pleasing to one or the other; hold to their own ways against theirs; fail in sweetness of temper, charity of tongue, unselfish fidelity to the duties they owe to others, in patience and resignation when the cross comes — who are in some, perhaps in many ways, unlike them. Surely such persons could not be called, yet at least, devoted, in the full meaning of the word, to Jesus and Mary. Here, again, the true test of devotion is the hard thing — imitation. To perform any amount of lip devotion is easy, compared to the practice of that charity, patience, resignation, obedience in trying circumstances — which marked their holy lives.
In this matter of devotions persons may, and perhaps should, be guided by their own spiritual taste, practising those which they like best, and which help them most toward what should be the end of all devotions, namely, laboring sincerely to make themselves as like as possible to the person to whom they are or desire to be devoted. We may, however, study devotions, comparing one with the other, to see if there be a scale or gradation according to which we may place them as they are in themselves, and independently of any personal attraction one may have toward them.
I think it may be safely stated that devotions are the more approved of by the Church, and therefore the more solid, in proportion to their being more deeply founded in, or more intimately connected with, revealed and defined dogma, and therefore reaching back to the earliest ages. Keeping this before us as a standard, we may safely say that devotions to God, or to one of the three divine Persons, and to Our Lord, are of a higher order than devotion to any creature, angel, or saint; and that devotion to the Blessed Virgin is of a higher order than that to any of or to the whole court of heaven.
Confining ourselves to Our Lord, and keeping in mind that true devotion in its full and perfect meaning supposes love for and imitation of the person to whom we are devoted, we may securely say that the Passion and the Blessed Sacrament are the subjects best suited to create, increase inflame our hearts, first with love, and then with a real desire of imitation. Both are the clearest and strongest proofs of the love of His Sacred Heart for man, and therefore the best to excite love for Him in the heart of man.
"Let Him," says St. Augustine, "be nailed with the nails of love in the center of thy heart, who, for love of thee, was nailed by the hard iron nails to the wood of the cross." And the Blessed Sacrament is the Sacrament of love. As to imitation, Our Lord practised all virtues at all times; but heroically so in His Passion, because in the most trying circumstances, particularly those virtues which we need most — patience, charity, forgiveness, the sweet silence, or the right word in the right way, resignation, and obedience to His Father's hard will unto death. He called the bitter cup compounded by His enemies "the chalice of His Father," and drank it, slowly, feeling all its bitterness, to the dregs. Sts. Chrysostom and Bonaventure put well this lesson of imitation taught us by Him in His Passion, when they say. Nothing gives the common soldier such courage in the fight as to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, his King, in the front, and bearing all the brunt of it." "The common soldier will glory in his little wounds if he keeps his eyes fixed on the great wounds which his King bore, and bears for love of him." After devotion to the Passion and the Blessed Sacrament would come devotion to the Sacred Heart. This devotion always existed in the Church, but, in its earliest ages, it was confined to what I may call highly educated, refined souls. It has become the great popular devotion. At the same time, these three devotions are so intertwined, so logically connected, as to be inseparable. It would scarcely be possible for a person to have devotion to the Passion and Blessed Sacrament without having devotion to the Sacred Heart, and vice versa. On the one hand. Our Lord, in those revelations made to the Blessed Margaret Mary, always speaks of Calvary and the Blessed Sacrament as the great outcomes of the love of His Sacred Heart for man; while, on the other, when I seek the reason for devotion to the Sacred Heart, I at once find it in that great heart-love which made Him die for and remain forever with me in the Blessed Sacrament.
Besides keeping well in mind that the end of devotion is to become one by imitation with the object loved, these three devotions are the best for this purpose, because they bring us into personal contact with Our Lord, and keep Him before us as the Being the most to be loved and imitated.
I may here say a word of one form of devotion to the Passion: the devout performing of the Stations of the Cross. This is a devotion as simple as it is beautiful; all that is necessary is to pass from Station to Station, praying or meditating, or both, on the sufferings of Our Lord. It is, I believe, the most richly indulgenced devotion in the Church. It is commonly said that all the indulgences given to the Crusaders, or to those who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, are now attached to the Stations, and that at least fourteen plenary indulgences can be gained. The conditions are few — being in the state of grace, of course, and a few prayers for the intention of the Sovereign Pontiff. Confession and communion are not necessary.
With reference to devotion to the Sacred Heart and, at the same time, to the Blessed Sacrament, one would be inclined to suggest a pious and joyous celebration of the great feast of Corpus Christi and its octave, followed, as it is, immediately by the feast of the Sacred Heart, since these two feasts have been formally instituted by the Church — the former, because she felt that she could not worthily commemorate so wondrous a gift during the spiritual sadness and gloom of Holy Week: devotion to the first Friday, every first Friday, rather than to any fixed number, even the nine, because the Church has given a formal approbation to every first Friday.
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin is the old traditional devotion of Ireland; may it continue so to the end. There are persons living who can remember a time when there were no sodalities of the Sacred Heart, of the Holy Family, of the Children of Mary; when such forms of devotion were practically unknown, and yet when every Irish Catholic was a child of Mary, and devotion to her as prominent as it is to-day. One might find, in the poorest cabins, beads — ebony and silver — or portions of them, religiously preserved and handed down from parents to children. During more than two centuries we may well apply to Irish Catholics the words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews: "They had trials of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bands and prisons, wandering about, being in want, distressed and afflicted, in deserts and mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth, stoned, cut asunder, put to death by the sword." But they had their sword, too. Books were not to be had. But they took the beads in their hands, and, trusting in her, "terrible as an army in battle array"; in her, "to whom it is given to destroy all heresies," won the greatest spiritual victory in history, "the victory of her faith, which conquered the world." "She became valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners," and successfully resisted and defeated the greatest and proudest nation of the earth.
The best forms of devotion to Our Lady are — as to her divine Son — hearing Mass and receiving holy communion on her feasts or in her honor, paying visits to her or to her shrines. One may suggest the beads or rosary and the brown scapular — the first because it was the conquering sword of Ireland, and because of the marked approbation and indulgences given to it by many of the Sovereign Pontiffs, and by none of them more than by Pope Leo XIII; who has, we may say, dedicated the month of October to this favorite devotion in honor of the Mother of God. It is also one of the oldest forms of devotion. While respecting all scapulars approved of by the Church, I select the brown, because it is the oldest, the best known, and rich in indulgences. But note well that a child of Mary must be like, or earnestly working to become like, to her Mother — like to her in her purity, her patience, her charity of heart and tongue, her resignation in time of trial, her obedience and conformity to the will of God.
There is another form of devotion which is very helpful, namely, to perform some real act of mortification in honor of the person to whom I desire to be devoted — on Saturday in honor of the Blessed Virgin, on Friday in honor of Our Lord and His Passion; or, for a day now and then, to deny myself something I like much, and like all the more because it is so delightful and innocent — the pleasant book, the pleasant game, something particularly pleasing to the palate, at table, etc.
There are so many forms of devotion, particularly to Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin, that we must select some, as no one could practise them all. In this selection all should study their own spiritual taste, and practise those which they best like and which help them most. Of late years, devotions of what I may call the second or minor class have been multiplied, perhaps some might be inclined to think, too much. Devotions to particular saints, to pictures, statues, shrines, and places, seem to overshadow the greater, older, more approved and more solid forms of devotion; and some of these are "run" so earnestly by their votaries as to suggest the suspicion that they think no one has devotion who does not practise and uphold their special form. They advertise them in a most exaggerated way, as in themselves sufficient and all-powerful to save, concluding often with a money appeal. No one ought to take up any devotion which has no attraction for him simply because others press it. To do so would be insincere, unreal, and unprofitable. Persons should also carefully guard against multiplying devotions too much, or loading themselves with them. This would lead to neglect of more important duties, or to devotions and duties being carelessly hurried through.
There can be no doubt that a few solid devotions according to one's spiritual taste — which will fit into one's daily life without interfering with duty — faithfully kept to, are a great source of grace, and a help to holiness. This may be said even of any one devotional prayer or act patiently kept to for years. Who could tell the protective and, in the end, the saving power of some short prayer, if only the three Hail Marys faithfully said every day in honor of the Blessed Virgin? Some may object and say, "What great things could be expected as the result of such an easy and short devotion?" An answer to this may be found in the fact that God is so anxious to save all, that He seizes what we would call a small thing, and, in His generosity, makes it a great thing; also in the wondrous saving power of His blessed Mother, "the sweet bait by which He catches the worst sinners."
Another objection may take the following form: There is something presumptuous, if not superstitious, in thinking that salvation may be certainly secured by such a form of devotion. I agree with the objector if a person simply and formally practises it, and it alone, with this sole intention. We read rather amusing stories — I hope they are only stories — of robbers lighting candles, or performing some other form of devotion, in order to have success in their unholy work. I read lately of a notorious brigand in the south of Italy, whose hands were red with blood, having such a devotion to the Madonna. This of course would be, if true, rank superstition of the worst kind. It is generally spoken of as confined to the south of Italy. It is certainly not Italian devotion to the Madonna, which is as solid and beautiful as it is prominent in that country. But to the point: there is not the shadow of such perverted devotion elsewhere — above all, in Ireland. There are, it is true, persons, great sinners, who, even as such, have faith, and a hatred of their sinful ways, and are very conscious of their wretched state; who have a sincere — weak, if you will, — desire to get right with God; and who, because of the misery in which they are, will throw their whole hearts at times into a most sincere and earnest prayer, it may be every day, for grace, strength, mercy, forgiveness. The Italians have a saying that no one cries so loudly and earnestly for help as a person up to the chin in water and likely to be carried by the next wave beyond his depth. So a great sinner, because conscious of his awful danger, will pray at times more earnestly than a saint who is in no such danger. Judgment Day will, we may hope, reveal the wonderful effects of even one form of devotion persevered in through a long life.[3]
2.
THE author of "Where Saints Have Trod" writes on the subject of devotion and devotions:[4] The Church reserves to herself a certain right of discrimination in this matter. She meets the various devotions that arise with approval, or toleration, or condemnation, according as she judges them sound in doctrine or the reverse, and helpful or harmful or indifferent to the spiritual life. By her approval she guarantees that they are sound in doctrine and have it, at least, in them to be helpful to salvation and sanctification; by her toleration she ensures to them a certain negative virtue and harmlessness, without any assertion as to their being actually ennobling and useful. But here her mission ends. It is not as with the sacraments, which she presses on the use of the faithful; it is not as with her doctrinal definitions, which are to help on the life of spiritual knowledge as the sacraments that of grace; in this other field she assumes to herself no final responsibility, except in the merely negative manner which we have indicated; she approves in the name of doctrine, she permits in the name of liberty, but she commands nothing except that toleration and respect which she has herself manifested, and she refuses to take up that burden of individual responsibility which many are too ready to fling on to her shoulders at every turn of the spiritual life.
The right of choice and its duties remain to the individual soul, which has to manifest its loyalty by not cursing that which the Lord has not cursed, and by exercising, in things religious, that temperance and courtesy which are the spiritual counterpart of social good manners. We are not bound to practise all the devotions which the Church declares holy and harmless; but we are bound to restrain our criticism in the spirit of respect for our fellow Christians, and we are also called onto conform to certain general usages under pain of becoming boors in our religious communion. For, though not generally recognized, there are certain faults of the critical spirit which spring rather from want of manners than from want of faith.
Granted, then, the approbation or toleration of the Church, which ensures to certain devotions a general usefulness or, at any rate, harmlessness, and which demands, on our side, at least courtesy and respect, there arises the further question of their acceptance and use as regards ourselves personally. To be good in general they must be in accordance with faith and the general laws of the spiritual life; to be good for any one of us individually they must not be superfluous, nor oppressive, nor formal, nor artificial, but must minister to our true spiritual needs, and foster our true spiritual aspirations. . . .
By some, who are critically disposed in the matter of devotions, the question is far too roughly answered by a mere appeal to antiquity. To such as these what is old is respectable, and what is new contemptible. They will confound in one category the extravagant outbreak of enthusiasm for the utterly unknown St. Expeditus, and such deeply spiritual, though modern, devotions as that of the Sacred Heart. Devotions not known to the first ages should not be known to ours, and they will only worship in the manner of their ancestors.
There may be a resistance to new devotions, which comes from sheer lifelessness on the part of the objectors; they dislike all that disturbs routine and forces the attention to any fresh effort. But there may, on the other hand, be a reasonable repugnance on the part of those to whom new pieties are unattractive, either because they bring in themselves no fresh stimulus, or because the energy is already fully employed elsewhere, and the liturgy and sacraments are all that is needed to maintain spiritual strength and vigor.
It were but an unreasonable optimism to deny that there are practices of piety which spring rather from temporal greed than from spiritual earnestness. Not that they are to be condemned simply because they are the expression of material needs.
Our "daily bread" comprises that of the body as well as that of the soul, and Christ had pity on physical suffering as well as spiritual disease. But again it is a case of distinguishing, not between what is bad and what is good, but between what is good and what is better.
It is commonly urged in defense of the countless devotions, directed almost exclusively to the obtaining, of temporal favors, that they both prove and foster a strong, childlike faith, and that, consequently, even if they dip occasionally to the side of superstition, they should not be ruthlessly eradicated, lest we root up the wheat along with the tares. True as all this may be, we are surely urging the proposition to a most false extreme if we go on to assume therefrom that no one can have a deeper trust in his Creator than the man who summons Him instantly to his aid when he wants a change in the weather or a slight improvement in his circumstances. How much higher is the faith that cries out, Though Thou shouldst slay me yet will I trust in Thee!" and how much deeper the confidence that asks as proof no miracle, but just what Aquinas asked as reward, "Only Thyself, Lord!"
Introductory Reflections
1. On Prayer - Vocal Prayer in Particular
THE grace of prayer is a universal grace granted to all men; it is also a sufficient grace, for by it we can obtain every other grace necessary for salvation; it is a grace that is in every man's power; it is also a grace which every man must use if he wishes to be saved — in a word, prayer is the principal sufficient grace granted to all men for their salvation.
Prayer is a universal grace, because it is in the power of every man who has attained the age of reason and enjoys its use. Prayer is in everybody's power, for prayer is so easy that no one can reasonably pretend that he is unable to pray. Every man can pray, be he rich or poor, learned or illiterate, healthy or sick, strong or weak, young or old, busy or at leisure. "In speaking with God or praying," says St. Teresa, "we need not use many words or choice phrases; all that is requisite is that we remain deeply recollected in His presence, simply stating to Him our wants in our own words, or merely in our thoughts without uttering a single word, and reminding Him of His promise to help us."
Prayer is, indeed, so easy that every one can pray whenever he wishes, not only in health, but even in sickness and in agony of death; for, as long as the dying retain consciousness, they are able to raise their hearts to God in prayer. Moses, burdened with the cares of an immense multitude of an unruly people, Daniel in the lions' den, the three young men in the midst of the fiery furnace, St. Joseph in his workshop, St. Paul in his dungeon, St. Isidore at the plow and caring for his flock — found time to pray and delighted in doing so. We can, if we wish, imitate them amid our daily occupations, however laborious and distracting they may be in themselves. The grace of prayer is a constant grace, for every one can pray at all times; during the day and at night, as the early Christians used to do, according to the testimony of Tertullian. We can pray early and late, in all places, at home and in church, on land and on sea, in private and in public, in all occupations, whether mental or corporal; in all positions, even in walking and in lying down. God is everywhere present, and is ever ready to listen to our petitions for His help.
Prayer, if well made, is infallible in its results. We can, of ourselves, do nothing for our salvation, for Christ says: Without Me you can do nothing" (John xv. 5). Since God wills that we should attain a destiny beyond the reach of our natural powers. He must necessarily be willing to grant us His help to attain it, whenever we earnestly pray for it. In fact, says St. Augustine, "God is more willing to grant us favors than we are to receive them." "God is always ready," says St. John Chrysostom, "to hear the voice of His servants praying to Him; He has never yet neglected to hear it when called upon as He should be." The prophet Isaias (xxx. 19) had already said the same thing: "God will surely have pity on thee; at the voice of thy cry, as soon as He shall hear, He will answer thee." "The Lord," says the Royal Prophet, "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).
We have the formal and solemn promise of Our Lord Jesus Christ that God will hear our prayers and grant us all we ask, for He says expressly: Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you. . . . Ask, and you shall receive" (John xvi. 23, 24). "You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you" (John XV. 7). God is faithful and just, and will, therefore, surely keep His promise to grant us the graces we need, because we have a claim to them. They are the price of the blood and merits of Jesus Christ, for He died to save us. His merits are, then, ours; and, when we claim by our prayers a share in them or in their fruits, God can not refuse to grant us what we ask.
The Holy Scriptures are full of examples of the efficacy of prayer as a means of obtaining whatever we need to secure our salvation. It was by his prayer that the publican was justified, by her prayer that the Samaritan woman was converted; it was by his prayer that David obtained the forgiveness of his sin, and that the good thief on the cross was converted and received the promise of paradise. We find in Holy Writ also many examples of prayer as an efficacious means of obtaining even temporal favors. It was by prayer that Moses obtained the victory over the Amalecites; Elias obtained rain after a three years' drought; Manassas, his deliverance from prison and his restoration to his kingdom; Ezechias, the prolongation of his life; Solomon, wisdom; Susanna, the proof of her innocence; Daniel, his deliverance from the lions; the blind man, his sight; and the Church, St. Peter's deliverance from prison and death. When we pray, God in some manner obeys our will, as He obeyed that of Josue when by his prayer he commanded the sun to stand still: "The Lord," says Scripture, "obeying the voice of a man" (Jos. X, 14).
Prayer is, as the Wise Man says, "a shield wherewith to oppose the divine wrath." God is almighty; and yet to this question of the Psalmist, "Thou art terrible, O God, and who shall resist Thee?" (Ps. lxxv. 8) we can answer: Prayer!" because prayer also is almighty, and in some sense capable of overcoming God Himself. We have a most remarkable example of this in Moses. Holy Scripture thus relates the fact: "The people, seeing that Moses delayed to come down from the mount [Sinai], gathering together against Aaron, said: Arise, make us gods, that may go before us; for, as to this Moses, we know not what has befallen him. And Aaron said to them: Take the golden earrings from the ears of your wives and your sons and daughters, and bring them to me. And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron. And when he had received them, he made of them a molten calf; and they said: These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. And Aaron built an altar before it. And rising in the morning, the people offered holocausts and peace-victims, and sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play. And the Lord spoke to Moses: Thy people hath sinned. Let Me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them" (Exod. xxxii. 1-10). Why should God, who is almighty and irresistible, ask Moses to "let Him alone" — that is, not to interfere with His design of destroying the idolatrous Israelites? What could Moses effect against God? But Moses could pray, and, taking the hint, he did interfere, saying: "Why, O Lord, is Thy indignation enkindled against Thy people? Let Thy anger cease, and be appeased upon the wickedness of Thy people." His prayer met with perfect success, for it appeased God's wrath, compelling Him, as it were, to show mercy. "And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil He had threatened against His people."
Prayer is, then, in a certain sense, almighty, able to overcome God Himself; it is unfailing in its effects, and at the same time so easy as to be in the power of every adult whenever he wishes. "All excuse," says St. Alphonsus, "is taken away from those sinners who pretend that they have not the strength to overcome their temptations, because, if they had recourse to prayer and made use of this ordinary grace bestowed on all men, they would obtain all the strength they need to overcome temptation and save their souls. No one is damned for the original sin of Adam, but solely for his own fault, because God refuses to no one the grace of prayer whereby he may obtain His assistance to overcome every passion, every temptation.
"He who prays," says St. Alphonsus, in another place, "is certainly saved; he who prays not is certainly lost. All the blessed (except infants) have been saved by prayer. All the damned have been lost by not praying; had they prayed, they would not have been lost. And this is and will be their greatest torment in hell, to think how easily they might have been saved, had they only prayed to God for His grace; but that is now too late — for the time of prayer is now over for them." We have just seen how effective prayer is, because it is the infallible means of gaining heaven. St. Augustine is, then, right in calling prayer "the key of heaven."
The necessity of prayer is twofold, viz, as a precept of God and as an indispensable means of salvation. First, as a precept. God repeatedly commands us in the Old Testament to have recourse to prayer: "Cry to Me" (Jer. xxxiii. 3); "Call on Me" (Ps. xlix. 15). In the New Testament Jesus Christ expressly commands us to pray. "Ask," He says, "and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you" Matt. vii. 7; Mark xi. 24; Luke xi. 9J. "Pray, lest you enter into temptation " (Luke xxii. 40 and 46). "We ought always to pray " (Luke xviii. 1).
Prayer is necessary for all men as a means of salvation. Even were there no special commandment to pray, we should be obliged to pray in order to obtain the graces and means necessary for our salvation. We need God's grace for every thought and act pertaining to salvation; we are naturally weak and prone to evil, and can not of ourselves keep all the commandments of God. For this we need His special assistance, which, in the ordinary course of His providence. He grants only to those who pray for it. because He will not force His graces on the unwilling, and those who. really want them will surely ask for them.
Prayer is necessary for the good, for the just, as well as for the sinner. "After baptism," says St. Thomas, "continual prayer is necessary for man that he may enter heaven." The just man can not practise virtue without prayer, for, says St. John Climacus, "prayer is the source of all virtue; it is the channel through which flow to us all Christ's graces and all divine gifts; it is the best and most indispensable means of advancing in virtue."
The just man, although he is in the grace of God, is nevertheless naturally weak, prone to evil, and beset with many temptations from the world and the devil, and especially from his own passions. He can not escape temptation, and without God's assistance he can not overcome it. St. John Chrysostom says: "As water is required to keep plants from withering, so also prayer is necessary to preserve us from destruction. As fire is quenched by water, so are our passions extinguished by prayer."
The same misfortune will befall the just man who neglects to pray in time of temptation as befell St. Peter when he failed to pray according to Our Saviour's injunction. St. Peter loved Our Lord truly and dearly, and, we may say, with a greater love than that of any of the other apostles. And nevertheless he basely denied his divine Master thrice, and not only did he deny Him, but he even swore with fearful imprecations that he knew Him not. How came it that he fell so low, so deeply? It was because he neglected prayer.
At the Last Supper our divine Saviour foretold to His apostles that they would all abandon Him that night, saying: "You will all be scandalized in My regard to-night." "But Peter saith to Him: Although all shall be scandalized in Thee, yet not I. And Jesus saith to him: Amen I say to thee, to-day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice. But Peter spoke the more vehemently: Although I should die together with Thee, I will not deny Thee" (Mark xiv. 27-31). St. Peter was very sincere in his resolution to die with Jesus rather than deny Him. But he was weak, very weak of himself; he was warned of this in the Garden of Olives, when, not having heeded the injunction of Jesus to watch and pray with Him, he was thus spoken to by the loving Saviour: "Watch ye and pray, that ye enter not into temptation [that is, that ye yield not to temptation]; the spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh weak" (Matt. xxvi. 41). St. Peter did not heed this warning; he failed to pray, and when the temptation came he was deservedly left to his own weakness and helplessness, and denied Our Lord in the most cowardly and shocking manner. A sad experience records the fall of many formerly holy personages into degrading vices, because of their neglect of prayer in time of temptation. Had St. Peter prayed, had they prayed, God would have given them most efficacious graces to cope victoriously with temptation. The same misfortune will happen to us, if we, too, neglect prayer in temptation.
Prayer is also absolutely necessary to obtain the most excellent and necessary grace of final perseverance. What will all other graces avail us, if we do not obtain that of final perseverance? But we need, says the Council of Trent, a special grace of God to persevere finally in His friendship and die a good death. But this grace can not be merited even by the greatest saints. No one can claim a right to it. This is a terrible truth; for many who had a long time led a holy life and edified the whole Church did not persevere, but fell into sin and died in sin! But that grace of graces — final perseverance, which we can not merit or lay claim to on account of previous good works, we can surely obtain, says St. Augustine, "by daily prayer." But "we must pray for it daily," says St. Alphonsus, "that we may obtain it for that day/' If we neglect prayer a single day, we may fail to obtain it, and may then fall into sin and die in sin. But if we pray daily for perseverance, we shall most assuredly obtain it, according to the Saviour's promise.
"All the reprobate," says St. Alphonsus, "have been lost in consequence of their neglect of prayer; and all the saints have become saints by prayer; had they neglected prayer, they could not have become saints and should not even be saved. I would wish to do nothing else than write and speak always on this great means of prayer; for, on the one hand, I see that the Scriptures, the Old as well as the New Testament, exhort us so often to pray, to ask and cry out if we wish for the divine graces. 'Cry to Me, and I will hear thee' (Jer. xxxiii. 3). 'Call on Me, and I will deliver thee' (Ps. xlix. 15). 'All things whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you' (Mark xi. 24). 'You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you' (John XV. 7). 'If you shall ask Ale anything in My name, that I will do' (John xiv. 14). There are a thousand similar passages. I know not how the Lord could better declare His desire to bestow His graces upon us, or the necessity we are under of asking them if we wish to obtain them. The holy Fathers also continually exhort us to pray. And to speak the truth, I complain of preachers, of confessors and spiritual writers, because I see that neither preachers, nor confessors, nor spiritual writers speak as much as they ought of the great means of prayer. I have, therefore, written at length on this subject in so many of my little works; and when I preach I do nothing else than say and repeat: Pray! pray! if you wish to be saved."
Prayer, as we have seen, is both easy and effective; and, nevertheless, numerous are the complaints that our prayers are not heard. St. James thus answers these complaints: "You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss" (James iv. 3). St. Augustine says that there are three principal reasons why our prayers are not granted by God. Some people, he says, are unfit to be heard when they pray, because far from being agreeable to God, they are hateful to Him. Others are refused what they pray for, because they ask for unsuitable and even for dangerous things. Others, finally, are not heard because their prayers lack some of the qualities of a good prayer. We should pray for temporal favors conditionally — that is, under the condition that they either promote our salvation, or at least do not interfere with it; for we should never lose sight of this saying of Our Lord: " What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Matt. xvi. 26.)
"God," says St. Alphonsus, speaking on this subject, "has pledged Himself to grant us, not temporal, but spiritual goods, goods necessary or conducive to our salvation; for we can not ask ' in the name of Jesus ' for what is or may prove hurtful to our salvation. God does not and can not grant it. Why? Because He loves us. A physician who has any regard for his patient will not permit him things which he knows will prove injurious to him. Many people ask for health or riches, but God does not give them because He foresees that they will be an occasion of sin or of tepidity in His service. When we ask for temporal favors, we ought always to add this condition — if they are profitable to our souls. And when we see that God does not give them, let us rest assured that He refuses them only because He loves us, and because He sees that what we ask would, if He were to give them to us, redound to our spiritual injury."
The prayers of many persons are not heard because they are wanting in some of the necessary qualities of a good prayer, namely, attention, sincerity, humility, confidence, perseverance, and earnestness. Our confidence in God should be boundless. He is our most generous Benefactor, our most loving Father. He has already conferred numberless benefits on us without any merit or prayer of ours. Every moment of our life is marked by His renewed favors toward us. He loves us with a love greater than that of a loving mother for her own darling child, for He says: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee" (Is. xlix. 15). God has solemnly promised to grant us whatsoever graces we ask; and, being almighty, He is able to grant us all, and even far more than we can ask. He is so willing to bestow His favors on us that He complains of our not asking Him for them: "Hitherto," He says, "you have not asked anything in My name; ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John xvi. 24). God even commands us to ask Him for His favors: Ask, and you shall receive."
As a pledge of His love for us, God has gone so far as to give us His own beloved Son. "He that spared not even His own 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 much the more; and thirdly, that we may not forget Him, for were He to grant at once what we ask, we should be liable not to pray any more to Him until we want some other favor. "God defers hearing our prayers," says St. John Chrysostom, "not because He rejects them, but because He wishes to contrive to draw us to Him. Do not leave off praying until you are heard."
When He had taught the Our Father, our divine Saviour related the following parable: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves; because a friend of mine is com^e off his journey to me^ and I have not what to set before him. And he from within should answer and say: Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I can not rise and give thee. Yet, if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet, because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you; for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened" (Luke xi. 5-10). The greater and more intense our desire to obtain a thing, the more persistent we shall be in our efforts to secure it.
We have a beautiful illustration of this in the Gospel. "Jesus departed/' says the Evangelist, "into the confines of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Chanaan w^ho came out of those parts said to Him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously troubled by a devil. But He answered her not a word." But she was not discouraged, for she followed Our Lord, persevering in her prayer, so much so as to cause the apostles displeasure by her importunity. "And His disciples came and besought Him, saying: Send her away, for she crieth after us. And He answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel." But the woman persisted, for "she came and worshiped Him, saying: Lord, help me. But He answered and said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs." This severe rebuke of Our Lord did not discourage her, for "she said: Yea, Lord, for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall fromi the table of their masters." Her confidence and her earnest perseverance in spite of so many rebuffs were at last rewarded, for "Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith; be it done to thee as thou wilt. And her daughter w^as cured from that hour" (Matt. xv. 21-28). If we also persevere in prayer as she did, we also shall be favorably heard by God in His own good time.
A lack of perseverance in prayer argues a lack of earnest desire. God, by deferring to hear us, does not refuse our prayers, but will even grant us far more than we ask. Speaking on this subject, St. Jerome says: "God, knowing the weight and measure of His goodness, sometimes appears insensible to our prayers, in order to try us, to urge us to pray more earnestly, and to make us more holy through constant prayer."[5]
2. Vocal Prayer as Distinct from Mental Prayer
Ejaculations - Indulgenced Prayers
In regard to vocal prayer, as distinct from mental prayer. Father Girardey writes: [6] Although in itself vocal prayer is not so excellent as mental prayer, we should, nevertheless, beware of underrating its usefulness or necessity. All true Christians frequently recite vocal prayers, such as the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Apostles' Creed, the acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition. The Church prescribes vocal prayer very strictly to her priests and her Religious, in the Mass, in the liturgy, and in the Divine Office. She has enriched many vocal prayers with numerous indulgences, and has approved of many prayer-books filled with prayers suited to every want and devotion. Vocal prayer, then, is both useful and necessary for all men without exception — even for those who are soaring in the heights of contemplation. In reciting vocal prayers we should strive to attend to the meaning of the words, appropriating it to ourselves with all possible fervor and earnestness. A few short vocal prayers well said are far more acceptable to God than a great many long ones recited without attention or fervor.
"One of the best forms of vocal prayer is the frequent recitation during the day of some favorite aspiration or ejaculatory prayer, especially if we do so in time of trial and temptation. This commendable practice gradually imparts a habit of recollection, and renders all other prayers comparatively easy and free from distraction. We should, as far as practicable, prefer reciting those vocal prayers which the Church has enriched with indulgences, for we thereby gain a twofold advantage — the benefit of the beautiful and devout prayers themselves, and the indulgences, which help us to acquit ourselves of the great temporal debt which we have contracted toward the divine justice on account of our numerous sins. Or we may also apply said indulgences, when so applicable, to the souls in purgatory, who will be relieved thereby and will not fail to intercede for us in our wants.
"It would be well to join, to a certain extent, mental prayer with our vocal prayers, for the merit of the latter would be thereby greatly increased. We may do so in this wise. During the recitation of our vocal prayers we pause at short intervals to reflect either on their meaning or on some supernatural truth; or, without at all pausing, we reflect thereon while actually pronouncing the prayers with our lips. The Rosary is the most common and readily understood example of this manner of praying. While we are reciting the Our Father and the Hail Marys of each decade of the Rosary, we meditate or reflect on some mystery connected with the life of Jesus Christ or of His blessed Mother.
It is also useful, in using the prayers of our prayer-book, to read them slowly and deliberately, making in the meantime practical reflections on their contents, or pausing from time to time to meditate a little and apply the words of the prayers to our own wants. If we accustom ourselves to recite our vocal prayers in this way, we shall not only make them our own and pray well, but we shall also acquire the habit of making mental prayer, which tends to unite us more closely to God, and. through the practical imitation of our divine Saviour's virtues, to render us conformable to Him."
Necessity of Prayer
PRAYER is a ladder which reaches to heaven; cling firmly to it; by this means ascend to God. And if at times weariness and aridity creep over you, shake off this drowsiness and say to yourself: "I have not yet reached heaven; one unfortunate moment may prove my eternal perdition, therefore I must pray."
Impressed with this truth, you will be more zealous in saying your morning prayers, and throughout the day will more frequently raise your mind to God; you will never neglect to attend public worship; you will never lie down to sleep without having in prayer bewailed the faults of the past day. Before all things you must constantly beseech God to bestow on you the gift of prayer and the grace of final perseverance.
"TEACH, Lord, Thy servant how to pray,
To make my needs known unto Thee each day;
Then, when my heart is raised to Thee on high,
Grant me to feel that Thou art truly nigh."
With Keble say:
"Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love
Fit us for perfect rest above;
And help us this and every day
To live more nearly as we pray."
What Are the Graces We Should Pray for and for Whom Should We Pray?
ST. Alphonsus Liguori insists repeatedly that in all our devotions, at Mass, at holy communion, in all our visits to the Blessed Sacrament, we should pray for these four graces for ourselves, viz.: the forgiveness of our sins, the love of God, the love of prayer, and final perseverance. When these graces are secured our salvation is assured.
As loyal Catholics we should also pray according to the intentions of our Holy Father the Pope; for his welfare and for the needs and interests of our Holy Mother the Church; for bishops, priests, and superiors; for our country; for universal peace; for the conversion of sinners, heretics, and pagans; and last but not least for the poor holy souls in purgatory.
As we read in the treatise on "Prayer" quoted above: In praying for temporal favors for ourselves, we can claim unconditionally only the necessaries of life; in the Our Father we are taught to pray for 'our daily bread '; this does not include superfluities or luxuries; and the words 'deliver us from evil,' do not necessarily include, as we have seen, deliverance from physical evils, for the evil here meant is sin and all that leads to sin. We have no reason to hope that God will hear our prayers for those temporal favors that may prove hurtful to our salvation, or that He will exempt us from certain corporal pains and trials, if such an exemption would lead us to sin or endanger our salvation. The granting of such prayers would be, not a favor, but a terrible punishment. We should, then, ask for temporal favors conditionally — that is, under the condition that they may promote our salvation, or at least not hinder it. Let us not be so solicitous for temporal favors, which, after all, may prove hurtful to our soul, but let us rather pray for what is conducive to our eternal welfare. When we pray for temporals, and God, in His mercy, refuses them to us, it is because they would prove hurtful to us. 'But,' says St. Gregory of Nazianzen, 'he who asks God for a real favor (that is, for a favor that is necessary or useful for his salvation), obtains it, for God is bountiful and generous, and readily bestows His gifts.' 'When you pray,' says St. Ambrose, 'ask for great things; ask not for what is transitory, but for what is eternal. 'We should pray,' says St. Augustine, 'in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ. When, however, we pray for what is injurious to our soul, we do not pray in the name of Our Redeemer. In praying for temporals we should be moderate and timid, asking God to give them to us provided they are really beneficial, and to withhold them if they should prove hurtful. Many, when they pray, invoke God, but not as God, for the object of their prayer is opposed to His glory and favorable to their passions. They seem to consider God as a mere servant of themselves and of their passions, such as pride, covetousness, and lust. Let us pray, not for temporals. but for heavenly glory and the means of attaining it. The most precious and excellent of temporal things are but insignificant trifles in comparison to what is eternal.'"
When our prayers for temporal favors, either for ourselves or in behalf of others, are not granted, we should consider God's refusal a real benefit rather than a misfortune. In beseeching God for temporals, we should be indifferent as to the result of our prayers, being equally ready to accept a refusal or a favorable hearing from Him. If such should be our dispositions, God, when refusing our request, will not fail to compensate us by bestowing on us m_ore excellent favors which we do not think of asking. 'In vain does a child cry for a sword or a live coal,' remarks St. John Chrysostom; 'his parents justly refuse him what may prove very hurtful to him. In like manner God justly and kindly refuses us what is injurious to us; but, in His goodness, He will give us something better instead. Let us in all our prayers aim principally at the salvation of our soul, and we shall obtain also temporal favors from God, according to this saying of our loving Redeemer: "Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. vi. 33). For whom should we pray? We should, first of all, pray for ourselves, because our salvation is our first and most important duty. Although, by the law of charity, we are bound to pray for all men, there are, nevertheless, some for whom we have a special obligation or special reasons to pray. Children should daily pray for their parents, parents for their children, members of the same family and household or community for one another, inferiors for their superiors, both ecclesiastical and civil, and superiors for their inferiors. It is also incumbent on us to pray for our benefactors, both spiritual and temporal, for our relatives, for those who ask our prayers, and who pray for us, for our friends, and for our enemies also, whosoever they may be or whatever evil they may have done or may wish us. We ought, likewise, to pray for the perseverance of the just and for the conversion of sinners, of heretics, schismatics, Jews, and unbelievers. It is a most praiseworthy custom to pray for the sick, for those who are in their agony, for all who are in danger of death, or in danger of losing their innocence, and for all who are in distress, pain, trouble, or sorrow.
It behooves us daily to remember in our prayers the Souls in Purgatory, particularly the souls toward whom we have some special obligation, e,g., the souls of our parents, of our benefactors, of those who are suffering on our account. We should endeavor to gain many indulgences for their benefit. If, during our life, we pray for them, God will, after our death, inspire compassionate souls to pray for us when we are in purgatory, for, says our divine Saviour, with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matt. vii. 2).
3. Mental Prayer or Meditation
Raise Your Heart to God
We are traveling to an unknown land, to the land of eternity, let us hope, of endless delight. Our life on earth is a voyage to that country. The mistake into which many fall is that they make the journey to eternity in so thoughtless a fashion. You must beware of this folly. Therefore I exhort you to raise your heart to God daily, by means of serious reflection, by means of meditation or mental prayer.
You must already have remarked the wide difference which frequently exists among Christians who dwell beneath the same roof tree, and form but one family. Unfortunately, one not seldom finds in the present day Christians who commit sin boldly, and even with a sort of pride; but there are, thank God, other Christians, who dread nothing so much as sin.
Whence arises this difference? In the case of the latter, from the practice of mental prayer, in that of the former, from the thoughtless manner in which they live their daily life, and never reflect upon higher and eternal things. Truly it is not to be wondered at if a man who lives in this manner veers about like a weathercock with every wind that blows. He does not live quite like a Christian, nor quite like a heathen; he indeed believes in heaven and hell, but in a cold and careless manner.
How does it happen, on the other hand, that the true, earnest Christian stands as firm amid evil examples as an oak which has braved a hundred winters? Let us discover his secret, a secret more valuable by far than the secret of the alchemist. The true Christian also has his temptations; he has to fight with his own concupiscence, with the world, with the devil. But he is not careless and thoughtless; on the contrary, he is watchful and serious; in prayer he meditates upon religious truths and by the grace of God his faith becomes fervent and lively, so that he does not fall into grievous sin. but makes steady progress in the way of perfection. The bad and thoughtless Christian, on the other hand, boasts that he believes like any good Christian, but he does not live up to his profession. For this reason one of the saints used to say: "In my opinion, these bad Christians ought to be contained in an asylum for idiots; for how can a sensible, reasonable man believe in heaven and hell. and yet go on sinning?"
St. Alphonsus Liguori says in his "Devout Reflections ": [7]
"We are not created for this earth. The end for which God has placed us in the world is this, that by our good works we may merit eternal life. 'The end is life everlasting' (Rom. vi. 22). And therefore St. Eucherius used to say that the only affair that we should attend to in this life is eternity; that is to gain for ourselves a happy eternity, and escape a miserable one. "The business for which we work is eternity." If we make sure of success in this business, we shall be happy forever: if we fail in it. we shall be forever miserable.
"Happy he who lives with eternity always in view, with a lively faith that he must shortly die, and enter into eternity. 'The just man liveth by faith,' says the Apostle (Gal. iii. ii). It is faith that makes the just live in the grace of God, and that gives life to their souls, by detaching them from earthly affections, and reminding them of the eternal goods which God holds out to those who love Him.
"St. Teresa used to say that all sins had their origin in a want of faith. Therefore, in order to overcome our passions and temptations, we must frequently revive our faith by saying: ' I believe in the life everlasting. I believe that after this life, which for me will quickly finish, there is an eternal life, either full of delights, or full of torments, which will be my lot, according to my merits or demerits.'
Raise your heart to God by meditation, by mental prayer. Only in this way will your hope, as well as your faith, be maintained and kept from degenerating into presumption or despair.
The sinner often resembles the ostrich which lives in the sandy deserts of Africa. When it is pursued it buries its head in the deep sand, that it may not perceive its pursuer, and imagines itself to be unseen; all too late it discovers its mistake, when the fatal bullet has inflicted a mortal wound. After a similar fashion do sinners act. They reflect not upon the mighty hunter, Death, and refuse to think of him; but this does not prevent him from coming, and his cruel arrow fails not to reach its mark. How terrible a thing it is thus to trifle with death!
Wherefore, raise your heart to God, raise it frequently to Him, every morning and evening at least! Raise your heart to God in the morning, by making a firm resolution to avoid this or that besetting sin and to overcome your predominant passion. Raise it to God in the evening, by repenting of your sins, by meditating on death, judgment, heaven and hell, and by resolving to lead a more holy, a more virtuous life. Pray every night for the grace of perseverance.
Keep yourself all through the day in the presence of God. St. Basil says: "If you wish to find a short and compendious method, which contains in itself all other means, and is most efficacious for overcoming every temptation and difficulty, and for acquiring perfection, it is the exercise of the presence of God."
St. Bonaventure declares: "In the midst of our employments we ought to have God present to our minds, in imitation of the holy angels who, when they are sent to attend on us, so acquit themselves of the functions of this exterior ministry, as never to be drawn from their interior attention to God."
In the words of St. Augustine, "God sees thee; go in where thou wilt, He sees thee; light thy lamp, He sees thee; quench its light, He sees thee. Fear Him Who ever beholds thee. If thou wilt sin, seek a place where He can not see thee, and then do what thou wilt."
And again St. Basil exclaims: "Who shall dare, in presence of his prince, to do what displeases that prince?"
The Royal Psalmist says: "I remembered the days of old, I meditated on all Thy works: I mused upon the works of Thy hands. Make the way known to me (O Lord) , wherein I should walk; for I have lifted up my soul to Thee" (Ps. cxlii. 5, 8).
As we read in "The Crown of Jesus": "We can meditate when we sit in the house; when we walk on the way; when we lie down; when we rise up. We can meditate by considering all earthly things as types of holy truths. In trees, the wood of the cross, our Redemption; in dust, our origin. In the sky, heaven our reward. In the stars, the heavenly mansions of those who by their glorious deeds have brought many to justice. In the moon, the Queen of heaven. In the sun, the Son of justice. In the sea, the ocean of eternity. In the waves, the progress of time. In the seashore covered with the waters, our mortality. In the footmarks on the sand erased, fame. In the sudden darkness, mortal sin. In the bright light, God's grace. In the gentle wind, the breath of the Holy Ghost the Comforter. In bread, the Blessed Sacrament, the true Bread of life. In water, the cleansing grace of baptism. In oil. the anointing of the young and of the sick. In the sound of the clock, the irrevocable progress of time.
"We can meditate by adoring the presence of God all around us. as we walk in the midst of Him, or as causing by His Presence in each object we behold, its continued existence and its qualities of good. We can adore God in the center of our heart, dwelling there as in a temple, and by a spiritual union uniting to Himself the soul in grace.
"We meditate by reading slowly, devoutly, a spiritual book, with pious affections and practical resolutions. We meditate by contemplating with true dispositions the image of the crucifix, or the tabernacle over the altar where, in His sacramental presence, our sweetest Jesus reposes. We meditate by hearing the holy Mass, uniting ourselves with Jesus in His sacrifice. We meditate while we devoutly make the stations of the cross, or recite the holy Rosary in honor of the mysteries of the life of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary. We meditate when we interiorly consider and apply to our soul's need each petition of the Pater, or other prayer. We meditate when we reverently contemplate in others the type of God's mercy or power."
The soul that practises meditation, according to the Royal Prophet, is like a tree planted by the running water. It flourishes and brings forth fruit in due time. "Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do, shall prosper" (Ps. i. 1-3). Let us mark the words: "It brings forth its fruit in due time," which means at the time that he has some trial, some sorrow, some contempt to endure. St. Chrysostom compares meditation to a fountain gushing in the midst of a garden. Just as a garden that is freely watered brings forth an abundance of flowers and foliage, so does the soul that meditates present to the eyes of God the pleasing sight of ever increasing virtues. Her holy desires and aspirations are constantly ascending like a sweet odor to heaven. But whence has she received the first seeds of good? From meditation, which daily sheds fruitful dew on her heart. "Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard. . . . The fountain of gardens, the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus" (Cant. iv. 13, 15). If the fountains of the garden were to dry up, the flowers and foliage would soon wither for lack of water.
So it is with the soul. As long as it meditates, we find in it charity, modesty, humility, and mortification. But let mental prayer be neglected, and vanity, frivolity, love of ease and worldly pleasures, want of recollection and devotion, neglect of mortification — all these are the result. Water is wanting, the spirit is dried up. "My soul is as earth without water unto Thee" (Ps. cxlii. 6). The poor soul has forsaken mental prayer, and the garden of her heart is parched. It grows drier and harder day by day. St. Chrysostom looks upon such a soul as not only sick, but even lifeless. "He who no longer prays to God," he says, "who no longer desires constant communion with Him, is dead." When the soul ceases to kneel in prayer before God, she dies.
St. Ignatius of Loyola says, Meditation is the shortest road to perfection." He who makes great progress in mental prayer makes great progress, also, in perfection. It is in the time of meditation that the soul is replenished with holy thoughts, devout aspirations and desires, good resolutions, and most fervent love of God.
Lord, Thou hast made this wondrous soul
All for Thyself alone;
Ah, send Thy sweet transforming grace
To make it more Thine own!
4. How to Practise Mental Prayer
"In my meditation a fire shall flame out" (Ps. xxxviii. 4).
Make at least a short meditation every day. Mental prayer is a more appropriate and comprehensive term for that spiritual exercise which is so highly praised and commended by the saints and so conducive to holiness and perfection.
Mental prayer is within the reach of all who earnestly desire their salvation. Father Wilberforce says: " In order to pray with fruit and without distraction it is most useful and almost necessary to spend some time in meditation or pious reflection on some supernatural truth, and from this fact the whole exercise is often called meditation instead of mental prayer. "In mental prayer meditation (the exercise of the intellect) is only a means to the end, which is the elevation of the soul to God — conversation with God. When thinking and reflecting the soul speaks to itself, reasons with itself; in prayer that follows it speaks to God." It is plain that mental prayer or meditation is something more than mere spiritual reading.
But we can easily turn our spiritual reading into a meditation, as, for instance, when we read only a few lines at a time from "The Following of Christ"; then meditate, reflect, consider our own conduct in connection with the subject treated, make devout acts and pious resolutions, and finally pray to God for His grace that we may conquer our wicked inclinations, practise some particular virtue, and lead a holy life. After this we can read a few more lines; then meditate again.
Bishop Challoner in his translation of The Following of Christ" or "The Imitation of Christ," as this golden book is sometimes called, has added some excellent practical reflections at the end of each chapter.
"Meditation," as Madame Cecilia says in her admirable work, At the Feet of Jesus," "consists in occupying ourselves mentally and prayerfully with some mystery of the Faith. We call to mind the chief facts, ponder over them, and then stir up our will to regulate our conduct in consequence. Hence meditation is an exercise of the faculties of our soul — memory, understanding, and will."
"Meditation, as a part of oriental prayer," says St. Francis of Sales, "is an attentive thought voluntarily repeated or entertained in the mind to excite the will to holy and salutary affections and resolutions." It differs from mere study in its object. We study to improve our minds and to store up information; we meditate to move the will to pray and to embrace what is good. We study that we may know; we meditate that we may pray.
"In mental prayer," says St. Alphonsus, "meditation is the needle, which only passes through that it may draw after it the golden thread, which is composed of affections, resolutions, and petitions."
As soon as you feel an impulse to pray while meditating, give way to it at once in the best way you can, by devout acts and petitions; in other words, begin your conversation with God on the subject about which you have been thinking.
In order to help the mind in this pious exercise we must have some definite subject of thought upon which it is well to read either a text of Holy Scripture or a few lines out of some other holy book; for instance, " The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius," "The Following of Christ," " The Spiritual Combat; " Challoner's "Think Well On't;" St. Alphonsus Liguori's " Devout Reflections," or " The Way of Salvation," "The Love of Christ," and "The Blessed Eucharist;" St. Francis of Sales' "Introduction to a Devout Life," Meditations for Retreats," and other works; Bishop Hedley's "Retreat;" Cochem's "Meditations on the Four Last Things;" Baxter's " Meditations for Every Day in the Year; " or any one of the popular books of meditation used by Religious, such as Hamon's, De Brandt's, Segneri's, Vercruysse's, and Ilg's " Meditations on the Life and Passion of Our Lord." Father Gallwey's " Watches of the Passion," and Da Bergamo's " Thoughts and Affections on the Passion" are worthy of the highest commendation.
St. Alphonsus says: "It is good to meditate upon the last things — death, judgment, eternity — but let us above all meditate upon the Passion of Christ." This saint, the great "Doctor of prayer," has given us a beautiful work on "The Passion."
St. Teresa tells us that in her meditations she helped herself with a book for seventeen years. By reading the points of a meditation from a book, the mind is rendered attentive and is set on a train of thought. Further to help the mind you can ask yourself some such questions as the following: What does this mean? What lesson does it teach me? What has been my conduct regarding this matter? What have I done, what shall I do, and how shall I do it? What particular virtue must I practise? But do not forget to pray.
Do not imagine, moreover, that it is necessary to wait for a great fire to flame up in your soul, but cherish the little spark that you have got. Above all, never give way to the mistaken notion that you must restrain yourself from prayer in order to go through all the thoughts suggested by your book, or because your prayer does not appear to have a close connection with the subject of your meditation. This would simply be to turn from God to your own thoughts or to those of some other man.
To meditate means in general nothing else than to reflect seriously on some subject. Meditation, as mental prayer, is a serious reflection on some religious truth or event, with reference and application to ourselves, in order thereby to excite in us certain pious sentiments, such as contrition, humility, faith, hope, charity, etc., and to move our will to form good resolutions conformable to these pious sentiments. Such an exercise has naturally a beneflcial influence on our soul and greatly conduces to enlighten our mind and to move our will to practise virtue.
Meditation is a great means to salvation. It aids us powerfully in the pursuit of our destiny, to know God, to love Him, to serve Him that we may be happy with Him forever; it helps us to know ourselves and to discover the means of avoiding and correcting our vices, our faults, and weaknesses; it reveals to us the dangers to which our salvation is exposed and leads us to pray with a contrite and humble heart for the necessary graces to cope with temptations, to control our passions, and to lead a holy life. Mental prayer inflames our hearts with the love of God and strengthens us to do His holy will with zeal and perseverance.
As regards the place of meditation, St. Alphonsus says:
We can meditate in every place, at home or elsewhere, even in walking and at our work. How many are there who, not having any better opportunity, raise their hearts to God and apply their minds to mental prayer, without leaving their occupations, their work, or who meditate even while traveling. He who seeks God will find Him, everywhere and at all times. The most appropriate place for meditation, however, is the church, in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament."
"Not a few pious persons," says Father Girardey in his " Popular Instructions on Prayer, " "before setting out for their daily occupations, go to Mass in the early hours of the morning, make their meditation during the Holy Sacrifice, and thus draw on themselves the divine blessing for the whole day.
"As regards the time of meditation, it would be well if we were to make a meditation both in the morning and in the evening. If this is not feasible, we should, if convenient, prefer the morning to any other part of the day. The reason is because in the morning we are fresh in mind and have as yet hardly any cause for distractions, while later in the day we are apt to be more or less absorbed by our occupations and other worldly matters. Moreover, by a good meditation in the morning we begin the day well, drawing down God's blessing on us, and deriving grace and strength to avoid sin and fulfil our obligations. When we make our meditation in the morning, we ought to prepare its subject on the previous night before retiring to rest, and make thereon some brief reflections before falling asleep, and also after rising in the morning. We ought, moreover, to recall our meditation to mind from time to time during the day, recommending our resolution to the Blessed Virgin by a Hail Mary.
"We should endeavor to spend at least a quarter of an hour daily in mental prayer. The saints used daily to spend many hours therein; and when they had much to do they would subtract some hours from the time allotted to their sleep, in order to devote them to this holy exercise. If we can not spend in it half an hour every day, let us at least devote to it a quarter of an hour. The longer and the more fervent our mental prayer, the more we shall like it, and we shall learn by our own experience the truth of the saying of the Royal Prophet: ' Taste and see that the Lord is sweet ' (Ps. xxxiii. 9).
"Pope Benedict XIV grants to all the faithful making mental prayer devoutly for a whole month for half an hour, or at least a quarter of an hour every day, a plenary indulgence, if, truly penitent, after confession and holy communion, they devoutly pray for the intentions of the Church. This indulgence is applicable to the souls in purgatory.
"As to our petitions and resolutions, in mental prayer it is very profitable, and perhaps more useful than any other act, to address repeated petitions to God, asking with great humility and unbounded confidence for His graces — such as His light, resignation in adversity, patience, perseverance, etc., but, above all, for the inestimable gift of His holy love. ' By obtaining divine love,' says St. Francis of Sales, ' we obtain all graces;' 'For,' says St. Alphonsus, 'he who truly loves God with all his heart, will, of himself, abstain from causing Him the least displeasure, and will strive to please Him to the best of his ability.' If we feel dry or despondent and unable to meditate or pray well, let us repeat many times as earnestly as possible: ' My Jesus, mercy! ' ' Lord, for Thy mercy's sake, assist me!' ' My God, I love Thee!'
"Let us offer all our petitions for grace in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, and we shall surely obtain all that we ask. ' Mental prayer,' said a holy soul, ' is the breathing of the soul, as in corporal breathing the air is first inhaled and then exhaled, so in mental prayer the soul first receives light and other graces from God, and then by acts of self-offering and love, it gives itself wholly to Him.'
"Before concluding the meditation, we should make some specified good resolution, appropriate as far as possible to the subject of our meditation. This resolution should be directed to the shunning of some sin, or of some occasion of sin, to the correction of some defect, or to the practice of some act of virtue during the day.
"The preparation of our meditation consists of (i) an act oi faith in the presence of God, and of adoration; (2) an act of humility and of contrition, and (3) an act of petition for light. We should then recommend ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary by reciting a Hail Mary, and also to St. Joseph, to our Guardian Angel, and to our holy patrons. These acts should be brief but very earnest and fervent.
"The conclusion of our meditation consists of these three acts: (i) thanksgiving to God for the light He imparted to us; (2) purposing to fulfil our good resolutions at once; and (3) beseeching the eternal Father, for the love of Jesus and Mary, to grant us the grace and strength to put them into practice. Before finishing our meditation let us never omit to recommend to God the souls in purgatory and poor sinners. In concluding our mental prayer let us. after the advice of St. Francis of Sales, pick out a thought or an affection from our mental prayer, in order to reflect on it or repeat it from time to time during the day."
Prayer for Meditation[8]
Preparatory Prayer
ACT OF THE DIVINE PRESENCE
MY God, I firmly believe that Thou art everywhere present and seest all things. Thou seest my nothingness, my inconstancy, my sinfulness. Thou seest me in all my actions; Thou seest me in this my meditation. I bow down before Thee, and worship Thy divine majesty with my whole being. Cleanse my heart from all vain, wicked, and distracting thoughts. Enlighten my understanding, and inflame my will, that I may pray with reverence, attention, and devotion.
Prayer
O God, my Lord and my Creator, look graciously on Thy child, the work of Thy hands, and mercifully grant me the help of Thy grace, that all my intentions and acts during this meditation may be directed purely to the service and praise of Thy divine majesty, through Christ our Lord.
OFFERING OF THE RESOLUTIONS
MY God, I offer Thee these resolutions; unless Thou deignest to bless them, I can not be faithful to them. From Thy goodness, then, I hope to obtain this blessing which I ask of Thee in the name and through the merits of Jesus, my divine Saviour.
Holy Virgin, Mother of my God, who art also my Mother, my good angel, and my holy patron saint, obtain for me the grace to keep these resolutions with perfect fidelity.
5. Ejaculatory Prayers
IT WOULD be well if every breath could be a loving sigh to God, and if every moment could be filled with the thought of God. If this can not be, form a habit of recollecting yourself from time to time; the more frequently the better. Let the striking of the hour be a signal for recalling the presence of God. Accustom yourself to the easy and frequent use of ejaculatory prayers. We need but to love in order to pray and to sigh for God. These outpourings of the heart proceed from the Holy Spirit; they are a language of love readily understood by this God of love. We naturally think of what we love; hence we can not say we love God if we rarely or never think of Him.
"Aspire to God," says St. Francis of Sales, with short but frequent outpourings of the heart.
" As those who are influenced by human and natural love have their minds and hearts constantly fixed on the objects of their affections; as they speak often in their praise, and when absent lose no opportunity of expressing by letters this affection for them, and can not even pass a tree without inscribing on the bark the name of their beloved; so those who are possessed of divine love have their minds and hearts constantly turned toward the divine object of their love; they are ever thinking of Him, they long after Him; they aspire to Him, and frequently speak of Him; and were it possible, would engrave in the hearts of all mankind the name of their beloved Jesus."
Make use of short indulgenced prayers. Ejaculations approved by the Church are certainly most commendable.
Lift, O Christian, lift thine eyes
To thy home beyond the skies;
Eternal bliss awaits thee there
With which earth's joys can not compare.
6. The Apostleship of Prayer
"We must always pray, and not faint" (Luke xviii. i).
"Pray without ceasing " (i Thess. v. 17).
THE League of the Sacred Heart is the proper name of the Apostleship of Prayer" as an association. Its associates league together in certain easy but strong devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to obtain His Intentions, and their own, thus practising an "Apostleship of Prayer," with mutual share in merits. It numbers 30,000,000 associates in all parts of the world, including nearly all Religious Orders. Its motto is Thy Kingdom Come.
Its devotions are the Three Degrees.
First Degree: Every morning offer your prayers, works, and sufferings to the Sacred Heart. It may be done in your own words. Nothing more is required of the members.
Those whose zeal prompts them to do more may also practise the devotions of the second and third degrees, and gain thereby many indulgences.
Practice of the Second Degree: Members join Rosary Bands, and say daily one decade of the Rosary, viz.: one Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and one Glory be to the Father, etc.
Practice of the Third Degree: Members offer a monthly or weekly Communion of Reparation for sins against Our Lord in the holy Sacrament of the Altar.
I. Each associate's name must be registered at a local center. Apply to any Jesuit Father or to your parish priests.
II. Each associate receives a certificate of admission.
Morning Offering of the Apostleship of Prayer
O MY God, I offer Thee my prayers, works, and sufferings this day in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and offers Himself in holy Mass, in thanksgiving for Thy favors, in reparation for our offenses, and for the petitions of all our associates; especially this month for the particular intention of the Apostleship of Prayer.
or:
O, Jesus, through the immaculate heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Thy Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the intentions of all our associates and in particular for the intention recommended by our Holy Father, the Pope.
You know now that as members of the League of the Sacred Heart only one duty is imposed on you, viz. to make the Morning Offering. This may be done while you are walking from one room into another. It takes none of your time, it costs no money, it gives no pain. It requires only an act of your will. But you share every day in the prayers and good works of 30,000,000 associates, and of nearly all the Religious Orders in the world. You gain numerous indulgences, thereby satisfying for temporal punishments that may be due on account of your sins and omissions, and saving yourself from a longer purgatory. By these indulgences you may also help your friends and other poor souls who have gone before you into the next world, and who will in gratitude become your intercessors forever. You may keep away afflictions and trials that may be now in store for you on account of your lukewarmness. You will surely receive from God more abundant spiritual and temporal blessings.
"This devotion of the Morning Offering/' says Father Rickaby, S.J.,[9] "rests on the main and essential principles of Christianity; namely, that in Christ we have access to the Father (Eph. ii. 18); that there is no salvation in any other, no other name under heaven given to man, whereby we are to be saved (Acts iv. 12); that this salvation was wrought out by the death of Christ on the cross, who made peace through the blood of His cross, blotted out the handwriting that was against us, and took it away, nailing it to the cross (Col. i. 20; ii. 14); that this redeeming sacrifice and death of Our Saviour is continually shown forth and re-enacted in His own very body and blood, made present at the consecration in holy Mass (i Cor. xi. 24; Luke xxii. 19).
"Many things Our Lord intends and wills only conditionally if men co-operate with Him. Thus He does not intend to convert the Chinese, unless missionaries go to China. Prayers are a sort of missionaries. Many souls will be converted if they are well prayed for, and not otherwise. But the most efficacious prayer is that which goes up in closest union with Christ crucified, pleading in sacrifice for us. Christ crucified thus pleads in every Mass. In every Mass, as the Church says, 'the memory of His Passion is celebrated anew.' I can not spend my day in hearing Mass, traveling from altar to altar. It is not God's purpose that I should do that. But the Morning Offering of the Apostleship of Prayer, as sanctioned by the Holy See, puts me in relation with every Mass that is said that day, and lays upon every Christian altar my work and my play, my words and thoughts, my pains and sorrows, my delights and joys, and every conscious action of my will — always excepting that which is sinful, and so unacceptable, incapable of entering into holy union with the oblation of the body and blood of my Saviour. When I lie down to rest at night, I may ask myself: ^Of all that I have done to-day, of all my goings and comings, what shall endure to my eternal good? What have I laid up in the form of treasure for heaven? ' And, provided I have spent the day in the state of grace I may answer: ' All and every one of my deliberate acts of will that were right in themselves, and, very signally and specially, all that has received the consecration of my Morning Offering/ Of my strivings after the good things of this life, some will succeed, others will fail: but alike in success and failure, practising the Apostleship of Prayer, I may take to myself the Apostle's consoling words: 'Be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not vain in the Lord'" (i Cor. XV. 58).
7. Continual Prayer
APROPOS of the Apostleship of Prayer, a few words on continual prayer will not be out of place. The Gospel says: " We must always pray and not faint," and St. Paul exhorts us 'Ho pray without ceasing." What does this mean? The Gospel seems to enjoin continual prayer. How can we "pray without ceasing"? We can not be always engaged in either vocal or oriental prayer. Father Grou, S.J., has a chapter on this subject in his book "How to Pray." He says: "The words of the Gospel ought to have opened our eyes to see the necessity of another kind of prayer, which is of such a nature that every Christian can apply himself to it continually. And what is this prayer? It is the essential, the most absolutely necessary part of prayer, that which alone draws God's attention on us, that which gives value to all the rest; in one word, it is the prayer of the heart. This can be made without any interruption. No other can. So it is evidently this that is of precept, and there is no need of making any restriction of which the words do not seem to admit. It is the prayer of the heart, unknown to the Jews, for which Jesus Christ upbraids them, and that God through His prophet foretold should be the privilege of the New Law: 'In that day,' says He, 'I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of prayer' (Zach. xii. 10), a spirit of grace that will urge them to pray without ceasing, and a spirit of prayer that will incessantly draw down on them fresh graces; a double spirit that will keep up a constant communication between our heavenly Father and His children. It is this prayer of the heart to which the apostle St. Paul alludes when he exhorts the faithful to 'pray without ceasing' (i Thess. v. 17), and when he assures them that he continually remembered them in his prayers.
"It is just as easy and quite as natural to the heart to pray without ceasing, as to love always. We can always love God, though we are not always thinking of Him nor always telling Him we love Him. It suffices that we should be resolved at all times, not only never to do anything contrary to this love, but ready to give to God, on every occasion, proof of this by actions inspired by grace. Is it not thus that a mother loves her children, a wife her husband, a friend his friend? The cherished object never comes to our mind without calling forth a feeling of love; we would like never to lose sight of it, and if the mind is at times drawn off by other objects, the heart never is. Just so is it with prayer. We have the merit to be always praying when we wish so to be, when at every moment we are ready to follow the movements of grace. It would be quite a mistake to imagine that the avocations of life are an obstacle to this prayer. On the contrary, they are, or at least may be, an exercise of it, and there is a prayer that is correctly called the prayer of action. Every action done for God, as being His will, and in the way in which God wills, is a prayer, better even than an actual prayer that might be made at this time. It is not even necessary that the action be good and holy in itself; an indifferent act is no less a prayer in virtue of the intention with which we do it. Thus the Apostle virtually enjoins the faithful to pray always when he says: 'All whatsoever you do in word or in work, all things do you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him' (Col. iii. 17). And again: 'Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God' (i Cor. x. 31). We are always praying, if we are doing our duty, and are doing it to please God.
"As there is a prayer of action, so is there also a prayer of suffering, and this is the most excellent and pleasing to God. It is a very common thing for us to complain of not being able to pray because we are ill, we are suffering acute pain, or we are in a state of weakness or languor. Did not our blessed Lord pray on the cross, and the martyrs on the scaffold? Actual prayer at such a time is impossible, unless it be at intervals, and by short aspirations; neither is it expected. But suffer for God; suffer with submission and patience; suffer in union with Jesus Christ, and you will be praying exceedingly well.
"Thus it is that a truly Christian heart can and ought to pray unceasingly, partly by consecrating a fixed time for prayer, partly by acting, and partly also by suffering."
IN SECRET
OFTTIMES within your very heart,
Where only God can see,
Just whisper low to Him these words:
"My heart I give to Thee! "
— Leaflets.
"What doth it profit?"
WHAT doth it profit to gain the world,
Or madly to seek as our goal
Its honors and glory, wealth and joy,
If we lose, in the seeking, our soul?
— Leaflets.
"TAKE UP THY CROSS"
If any man will come after Me, Jet him deny himself and fake up his cross daily and follow Me."
CHARGE not thyself with the weight of a year,
Child of the Master, faithful and dear;
Choose not the cross for the coming week,
For that is more than He bids thee seek.
Bend not thine arms for to-morrow's load;
Thou may'st leave that to thy gracious God.
Daily only He said to thee,
" Take up thy cross and follow Me."
— Leaflets.
SAINTS did not do hard things because they were saints, but doing the hard things made them saints.
CONFIDENCE
MY fate is in Thy hands,
My God, I wish it there;
My heart, my life, my health I leave
Entirely to Thy care.
My fate is in Thy hands,
Whatever it may be,
Pleasant or painful, bright or dark,
As best may seem to Thee.
My fate is in Thy hands.
Why should I doubt or fear?
My Father's Heart will never cause
His child a needless tear.
— Leaflets.
ALL FOR THEE, O HEART OF JESUS!
How sweet it is to feel, dear Lord,
That Thou wilt surely see
Each work, or thought, or act of mine
That may be done for Thee!
That when I try, with pure intent.
To serve, to please, to love Thee,
Thy watchful Heart each effort knows.
Thy blessing rests above me.
Empty my soul of all desire
Man's idle praise to seek.
Hide me in Thee, for Thou dost know
How frail I am — and weak.
Take Thou my all, since for so long
Thy providence has sought me,
Make me Thine own since at such cost
Thy precious blood has bought me.
Live, Jesus, live, so live in me.
That all I do be done by Thee,
And grant that all I think and say
May be Thy thoughts and words to-day.
— Leaflets.
- ↑ By Fr. Matthew Russell, S J., in "All Day Long (London Catholic Truth Society Publication).
- ↑ Consult "The Floral Apostles," Rev. A. Ambauen.
- ↑ From "Vetera et Nova," by Rev. N. Walsh, S.J.
- ↑ London Catholic Truth Society Publication, 1903.
- ↑ From "Popular Instructions on Prayer," by Rev. Ferreol Girardey, C.SS.R.
- ↑ Vide " Popular Instructions on Prayer."
- ↑ "Devout Reflections on Various Subjects. " translated from the Italian by P. Edmund Vaughan, C.SS.R
- ↑ From Madame Cecilia's "Retreat Manual."
- ↑ Father Rickaby, S.J., "Ye are Christ's."