The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-02-11
OUR DAILY PRAYERS.

Few things are of more Importance
for our considerations at the openin:
of new year than an eXamina tioI
into our daily prayers. What is pray
er? What are our prayers? How
! much time. each day, do we give t
! God in prayer? asks the SACRED
! Heart Review
Prayer means to speak with God. Ii
| means that we put aside from us
worldly affairs. pleasures, active du-
| ties while. to spend a shorter or a
| longer time, as it may be, in talking
with Him who gave us all the time We
! have. There are different kinds OF
| prayer-vocal prayer, meditation, con-
| temptation. Each has its use, its
meaning. its important place. Yet all,
finally may be classed under the one
precise head of talking with God. be-
| cause even in the highest kind of
prayer we are holding intercourse with
Him. Though there may be no sound
Of words. He is understanding us, we
are understanding Him.
But we must never in any case. lose
sight of the Importance of those,
daily. ordinary prayers that we learn
first at our mothers kneed. The Our
Father, the Hail Mary, the Greed. the
Confiteor. the Gloria, these are like so
many signs or tokens of the faithful
Catholic; they are words that he
should want to carry with him all
through life, to the very hour of death
Now, do we always remember to say
our morning and evening prayers. or
do we sometimes forget them? Do we
say them reverently, slowly, thought
fully? Or do We hurry over them in
slipshod fashion, not thinking what
we say? Do we omit our morning
prayers. even though we say our night
prayers? Do we love to pray?
1t is an old story. but it is always
worth repeating, how St. Bernard told
man once that he would give him
new horse if he could say an Our
Father without one distraction. The
man began with much assurance; it
seemed so easy to do little thing like
that! Yet. cTestfallen, he had to ac-
knowledge; ''Ah, father, / found my
self thinking what sort of d saddle |
would get for that horsel"
on the other hand, there was the old
woman who came in perpleXity to
St Teresa to tell her that she feared
she did not say her prayers rightly.
for she could not get past those two
beautiful and fascinating words, our
Father Only to think that she had
God for a Father-to love her, care for
her think of her, Our Father" so
holy. 50 wise, SO good, so kind. An
excellent prayer. st. Teresa told her.
Do we perceive the difference in these
two cases?
Well for most of us, possibly the
new saddle for the new horse in some
suise or another haunts our daily
prayers but does it spoil our prayers?
Oh, no. Let us put aside any such dis
couraging. painful idea as that God
wants our will. our love. Even if
hundred distractions annoy us, still let
US persist in kneeling down. night and
morning, and spending little while
with our Heavenly Father. At the be
ginning of the new year let us ask
ourselves how we have been acting in |
his regard; and let us make one firm
resolution that. with Gods help, we
will never omit our daily prayers to
Him, but will try to say them always |
as peacefully. lovingly and carefully as
We can. For. when we come to CON |
slider the matter how can we ever be |
20 unmindful and discOurteous as to |
unit to say Good morning and |
Goodnight to the Supreme Author |
If our days?