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PRACTICE OF MENTAL PRAYER

and no one can make it successful without the help of prayer. The first cleansing con- sists in never again committing a deliberate venial sin. Now, that is impossible to one who is aided only by that grace which God refuses to none. A powerful grace is required, which God grants only to fervent petition, the peculiar characteristic of prayer.

When the soul has succeeded in no longer committing deliberate venial sins, there remains a second and more difficult cleansing to be effected: the rooting out of nature's disordered inclinations. How is this to be done—again, by means of prayer.

In order to get rid of these evil inclinations two things really are necessary: to see them clearly and then to arm oneself with the courage and perseverance requisite for their eradication. Now it is during prayer that the Holy Ghost sheds a light on the soul which makes it see even its smallest defects. As long as night lasts, the gardener does not see weeds in his garden, but when the sun rises, he perceives them. In like man- ner when the soul does not meditate seriously, it does not see the multitude of its imper- fections, because it remains plunged in spir-