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CHAPTER I

EXCELLENCE OF PRAYER

PRAYER is intercourse with God, as uncon- strained as that of children with their father, in which we speak with Him of what con- cerns His glory, His good pleasure and the interests of our soul.

Such is the idea of prayer given us by Jesus Christ Our Lord in answer to the Apostle's request that He should teach them to pray: Thus shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven." This answer shows that in meditation we are holding converse not only with the Creator and Sovereign Lord of all things, but still more as respectful, loving and beloved children with their Father.

Our Lord adds: Hallowed by thy name! Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!" By these words He shows that the subject of the conversa- tion should be God's glory and His good pleasure, before all else.

He concludes with these words: "Give

PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER

us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." From which it is evident that the second subject of this con- versation are our own interests, that is, our eternal happiness and the means of attaining it.

In conformity with the teaching of Our Divine Lord, St. Gregory of Nyssa says that prayer is a communing and conversation with God,¹ and St. Chrysostom, that it is a colloquy with God.²

Now if one remembers that on earth many subjects are received in public audience by their king but very few are admitted to his familiar intercourse, the excellence of prayer will easily be understood. It is not a reception by the Creator of the creatures in common with others, but an intimate con- versation between God, the tenderest of Fathers, and His well beloved children. This is such a signal favor that reason could not con- ceive it; it had to be revealed to us by faith.

Isaias³ represents the Seraphim cover- ing their faces with their wings, to show

¹ De oral, domin,, cap. 1.

2 De orando Deo. lib. 1, and Homil. 30 in Gen. 3Is. 6: 2.