of union, and by it all grace and good are obtained. The Christian soul, aided by the Spirit, prays to God in Christ, and God, according to Christ's promise, hears and answers our prayers. He will answer them to our own spiritual advancement, as He said: "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you." He will answer our prayers for temporal blessings for ourselves or others, according as He sees the answers will be beneficial to them or to us.

I have sometimes been asked: "How shall we obtain answers to our prayers?" God has, it is my experience, been perpetually answering them. If I want anything, temporal or spiritual, I go to the Father, as His child, being sure that if it is for my own or another's good He will give it to me. I often say to myself: "I have an awfully rich Father, for He owns the whole universe; but I don't want anything except He gives it me; for my joy is not in the gift, but in my dear Father as the Giver." So I am always happy and contented and in want of nothing.

Before you pray, try

Will this, for which Desire nothing but

First, I would say to anyone: to think what is the will of God. I pray, forward His interests? what He wills. Be perfectly content that He should refuse your request if it is not His will. I have known persons to pray for the life of some relative or friend, and be sorry afterwards, when the person turned out badly, that they had done so.

If one is praying for some spiritual good to be done oneself, either by the removal of some temptation or the acquisition of some virtue, remember that God is

less likely to take away the temptation than to give strength to bear it; for we become holier, not by the absence of temptation, but by victory over it.

Again, we find that God answers our prayers for virtues by allowing a trial. The soul prays for faith. Now faith is not poured into us like a liquid into a vessel. Faith is the victory over doubt. So if we pray for more faith, the advanced soul is more likely to have doubt. So if we pray for the overcoming of our temper, God answers by allowing trials of temper to come. God may deal differently with the young novice in religion. He, in His tender care, takes the lamb up into His bosom. But He strengthens the advancing soul by spiritual discipline.

Again, He gives answers slowly. He does so to strengthen us in perseverance. He does so because He would train us in prayer. He does so because He would have us more gratefully prize the gift when it comes. He does so because He loves to hold communion with us and reveal to us the secret of His divine heart. Show me Thy face, said Moses, and he saw it on the Mount of the Transfiguration. The prayer of Zacharias was heard and answered, when it had become seemingly a physical impossibility.

At times every devout person desires to know God's will in his regard. Some question of duty has presented itself. He is called on to make a choice between two lines of action. He is to take up a certain work, and leave a certain position. He wishes to know God's will. How shall he do it? He betakes himself to prayer, and prays over the matter before

God. Possibly he argues the matter, stating the pros and cons in his prayer. But in this way he is more likely to get at his own will than at the will of God. Let him, in prayer, seek to get into a state of absolute indifference as to what God may decide for him. When this has really been done, let him wait, and by some providential act, or the realization of some strong argument on one side, he may conclude this is God's voice. But if, as it may occur, no sign is given, then whichever way he acts will be in conformity to the will of God.

In respect to interior inspirations, those of the human spirit, or even of Satan, are often mistaken for God's leadings. No inward inspiration can be trusted which is not in conformity with the teaching of the Church, and any such should be most carefully scrutinized as probably doubtful, if it is against lawful obedience.

To keep in the spirit of prayer during the day, one should practise ejaculatory prayer. It is a simple exercise on waking, to make the sign of the Cross and to utter the Holy Name. Thus the first act of the day and the first words we speak will be directed to God.

PUBLIC PRAYER

It is very blessed to unite with the other members of the mystical body in prayer and praise. Many persons complain that they suffer from wandering thoughts. It is not the greatest of sins, but it is a spiritually expensive one. One remedy is to try, in public worship, to realize God's presence. To the

degree in which you can keep Him before you, your prayer will be profitable. Some are helped by realizing the presence of our Lord. You have come into the Presence Chamber of the Great King. With the eye of the soul look to Him, and to Him address your prayer. Make a practice of this, and for a time do not think of the words. The words may be said mechanically. But if the soul in its devotion is fixed on the object to whom its prayers are addressed, we should pray effectively. It would be prayer, even if we said no words at all. Just the sense of God's presence will fill the soul with a special peace.

In saying the Psalter, remember it was our Lord's own Prayer Book. It was written purposely for Him, and for its highest use, for His recitation of it. There are many things in it you may not comprehend, but we may say them, in union with our Lord, just as a little child says its prayers after its mother. In saying the Psalter in the choir, where it is said antiphonally, it makes it more devotional to insert after the colon in each verse some word of adoration or love. Take such words as "Blessed God" or "Dearest Lord," thus: "Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, Holy God." "Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments, dearest Lord." "Let Thy loving mercy come also unto me, O Lord Jesus."

Saying the Psalm in this way makes it more devotional. It helps to deliver us from a mechanical recitation and the formalism of a routine service.

MEDITATION

There are persons who get puzzled by the rules given for meditation, and say they cannot meditate. Let them begin by what I have called "Praying on a subject," then they will find it easy. Let them kneel down and read over some small portion of Scripture and think: "That is God's word to me." Let them intersperse their own prayers with the reading.

Take, for instance, the Ten Commandments, or the Beatitudes, or the Twelve Fruits of the Spirit, or some parable; or let them take their own life and think how God has blessed them, protected them. Let them think over the many, many causes of thanksgiving and say in prayer: "I thank Thee, O Lord, for each and every one of them." Let them take the great mysteries of the Faith, the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Gift of the Spirit, the Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist. Let them bow down before God and repeat over and over again: "I adore Thee, I love Thee." Or say such praise as this: "O sweet Lord Jesus Christ, full of grace, I thank Thee for these mercies. Blessed is Thy most holy life, Thy Passion and Thy Death, and blessed is the Blood Thou sheddest for us," adding the separate blood shedding.

Of meditation there are two kinds or methods: the modern one, which has its prelude or picture, then the discourse upon the subject taken by the understanding, which consists in asking such questions as Who? What? Where? With what means? Why?