promises. ness and ness and mercy, from Christ's merits and passion, and from the Divine promise, therefore thou mayest fitly usher in thy demands by some of these following sayings:-'O my God, grant unto Thy servant, I beseech Thee, this grace for Thy supreme goodness' sake, that Thy most dear Son's merits may obtain for me the request of my petition. Remember, O my Lord, Thine own loving promise, and incline Thine ear to hear my prayer.' At other times, thou mayest ask by the merits of the most glorious Virgin and the suffrages of the Saints, which are powerful to prevail in thy pious demands. rance. 12. Seventhly. Thou art to pray with perseverance. 7. Perseve For if the continued importunity of the Widow in the Gospel moved the hard-hearted judge to give her what she asked,* how shall perseverant petitions be rejected by Him Who is mercy and goodness itself? TEXT. ened with 13. Eighthly. Therefore, after thy prayer, strengthen 8. Strength- thy soul with a lively hope in God, that through hope. His infinite love He will bestow on thee the asked-for grace or gift, or something that is better for thee, or both together. And although He so long delays His answer that thou mayest fancy He denies *And He spoke also a parable to them, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint. Saying: There was a judge in a certain city, who feared not God, nor regarded man. And there was a certain widow in that city and she came to him, saying: Avenge me of my adversary. And he would not for a long time. But afterwards he said within himself: Although I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will avenge her, lest continually coming she weary me.' Luke xviii. 1-6. what thou askest, yet remain constantly in this hope, and never slacken therefore either thy prayer, or thy exercise, or thy confidence. Yea, though it may seem. to thee that God rejecteth thee and thy prayer, yet do thou still humble thyself more and more before Him, increasing thy faith and comforting thyself with hope in thy Saviour. For the more fervently and frequently thou interposest this constant hope in God, even in such violent repulses, and, as it were, manifest rejections of thy prayer, the more thou becomest pleasing and grateful unto Him. thanks even prayer is 14. And therefore thou art always to return grateful thanks to Him Whom thou acknowledgest no Give less good, wise, and loving in thy behalf when when thy He seems to cast out thy petition, than when denied. He grants it. Keep, then, an ever-constant, courageous, and joyful mind in all events, whether good or bad; and humbly submit to the infallible wisdom and all-ordering providence of thy Lord God.* And when your prayer is sometimes rejected, comfort your soul with that saying of St. Augustine: God denies some things in His mercy which He grants in His wrath' (Init. Serm. xxxiii. de verb. Domini). Yet deem not your prayer to have been on this account altogether in vain. God is a loving Father; and if you sometimes seek piously what would not be conducive to your salvation, He will in its place give you something that will be profitable. If He denies you high spiritual graces, it is because He sees your poor soul is still too weak and sinful to receive them with due fruit. He stores up for you, however, in heaven, reward a hundredfold for every petition that you make with a right heart. For, as blessed Blosius declares, 'It is impossible that the least prayer rightly offered, the least sigh, or the least aspiration to God, should fail to bring forth much fruit, or to redound to thy greater glory in heaven.' Pray on therefore fervently and frequently. CHAPTER XXII. WHAT INWARD OR MENTAL PRAYER IS: WHAT CONTEMPLATION ; AND THE USE THEREOF. 1. INWARD or mental prayer is :—An elevation of Mental the mind to God. It always includes either either a vir- an actual or virtual petition of something. prayer in cludes tual peti A up tion, Virtual prayer is when the mind is lifted to God to obtain some grace from Him, showing Him our necessities simply and briefly, without any discourse or consideration of any other things. Thus, when I elevate my mind to God, and confess before Him my weakness both to do well and to defend myself from doing evil, this sort of prayer is properly termed virtual -because, when I thus briefly lay open my mind to God, He well knows what is wanting to me, and how much I stand in need of His help. And this virtually implies an humble supplication to His Divine Majesty that He will vouchsafe to supply thy necessities. And by how much ENLARGE- the more this confession of thine own want and weakness is real and manifest, and thy desire efficacious and thy confidence lively, by so much also thy demand shall be of more force and value. 2. There is also another kind of virtual prayer, TEXT. which consists in a simple beholding or contemplation of God in our minds. And this prayer is :When we silently desire and, as it were, put our Lord in remembrance of that grace we formerly demanded. Learn, O my beloved, this way of prayer, and make it familiar unto thee by the frequent use thereof. For experience will give thee to understand that it is the best armour against all enemies, adversities, and dangers. Have it therefore always in readiness, that where and whensoever need requires thou mayest make use thereof. tual asking expressed in 3. Actual petition,* or actual inward prayer, is :When grace is asked by words expressed in the or an acmind, in this or the like manner :-' Give me, O by words my Lord God, this grace, this benefit, for the the mind. honour of Thy most sacred name.' Or thus:-'I steadfastly believe, O my God, that it is Thy holy will I should beg of Thee this grace, which I stand in need of. Do Thou, therefore, O my God, accomplish Thine own pleasure in me.' Thus also thou mayest present before God's Divine Majesty thine enemy which annoys thee, or thy sins which afflict thee, joining therewith thine own weakness to resist them; and say:-O Lord, look upon Thine own creature, made by Thy holy hands, and redeemed by Thy precious blood. Behold also Thine enemy and mine outrageously reaching at me, and striving to take me from Thee, and tear me in pieces. O my God, to Thee only do I fly, in Thee only I trust. Consider my weakness and the strength of my enemy, who will infallibly subject me to his tyranny, if I am left destitute of Thy powerful protection.' 'Some there are who all their days abide in the exercise of acts. And they may well content themselves with such condition, which is both pleasing to God and sufficiently profitable to themselves.' The Divine Cloud, p. 248. CHAPTER XXIII. HOW WE MAY JOIN CONTEMPLATION TO THIS INWARD PRAYER. 1. IF sometimes thou art willing to devote thyself Take to mental prayer for a certain space of time, some points of Christ's apply them tues you ask for. For ex passion, and as an hour or more, thou mayest join to this to the vir- way of prayer certain meditations upon the Life and Death of our Saviour Christ, applying always His actions to that virtue thou then demandest, and so meditating upon them both together. ample:-Patience is the virtue thou art now in quest of. Choose, therefore, for the subject of thy meditation, some mystery of Christ's crucifixion, as: How cruelly He was despoiled of His garments, which were barbarously rent from His body, carrying away part of His sacred flesh, which cleaved fast unto them; with what outcries and curses He was crowned and uncrowned with thorns, His executioners iterating again and again that terrible torment; how this most innocent Lamb was fastened with nails to the wood of the cross, and lifted up into the air with unspeakable grief of His wounds, and new anguish of His whole body; and so of other like points. 2. And in these considerations, first, apply thy senses to feel, see, &c., the pain which thy dear Saviour thod of this The me endured in these passages in all the members exercise. of His sacred Humanity. Then, elevate thy heart to His holy soul, penetrate into His patience and meekness, and see how pleasantly He passeth over these |