The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-06-17
HOW TO PRAY WELL.

IA real aHectl0n, personal love. we
should not be selfish. We should seek
Gods honor rather than our own con-
venience, and therefore it is not per-
sonal qualification nor JOY of spirit
that we should look for in our devo-
tions. We should strive to make Gods
will our will, and to desire nothing
which God does not desire. A sense
of GOODNESS is often greater grace
than a feeling of fervor. Il wish for
few things" says st. Francis de Sales,
land what l do desire, | desire for
God; l have scarcely any desires, but
were l to begin life again, l would
have or would wish to have none
at all. If God came to me, favoring
me with the sensible feeling of
His presence, l also would go to
Him, accepting His grace and cor
responding herewith; but if He did
not choose to come to me, would stay
where l was, and would not move to-
wards Him. What l mean is that |
would not strive after the feeling of
His presence, but would content my
self with experimenting Him by faith
alone" We must not be over anxious
then about experiencing a feeling of
devotion. To be sure, it is pleasant
to rest our head upon the breast of
Jesus and to feel the love-throbbing
of His Sacred Heart, but it may not
always be convenient for Him nor we'll
for us. If we realize Gods presence,
if we love Him, and if we are unset
fish we will pray we'll. Of course,
prayer must have certain qualities.
1t must be reverent, confident and
persevering. An irreverent prayer is
an offense to God. Reverence implies
a becoming posture, attention and
humility. Whether we sit or kneel,
stand or walk, we should remember
that we are speaking to our Lord and
Master the Creator of heaven and
earth. Our outward department
should express the reverence of our
mind and our heart. There should
be a sort of holy politeness in our
prayers. And this holy politeness, so
pray with attention. Attention we
must have, if we would not be num-
bered with them for whom Almighty
God expressed His abomination when
He said: This people honored me
with their lips, but their heart is far
from me-" Let us not imagine that
this attention is impossible. God does
not ask Representatives,. Distractions
will come. We cannot center our
minds entirely and absolutely upon
God. Unwillful distractions will
creep in upon us to mar our atten-
tion and chill our fervor, but they
cannot lessen the merit of our pray
ers. If we quietly resist them, calm
ly put them aside as soon as possible,
and remove their causes we shall
please God and increase our reward.
When we have to get down and blow
the Goals of devotion, poke and stir
our hearts to keep the flame alive,
then we say the best prayers of our
lives. And when everything goes
along so nicely and we are apt to
think: "Oh! how we'll I'm praying"
we are not praying we'll at all. When
we have to make an effort we pray
well. Recollect yourself before begin
ming prayer, place yourself in God IS
presence, avoid willful distrac tions,
and if unwished-for thoughts present
themselves be not disturbed but put
them gently by and go calmly on.
God asks no more Great anxiety
about distractions is in itself a dis
traction. Therefore be not anxious.
Reverence, also, as | have said, de-
mands humility. Try to realize your
own unworthiness and the greatness
and holiness of the God to Whom you
are speaking. 1t was humility which
prompted the ruler to fall down and
adore our Blessed Savior before ask
ing Him to come and lay His sacred
hand upon the dead girl that she
might arise; it was humility that
caused the poor woman to touch only
the hem of His garment that she
might be cured; it was humility that
bowed the head of the publican in the
temple and opened his lips with the
words: 20 God, be merciful to me,
sinner!" And it is often want of
humility that causes our prayers to
fall fiat and cold; it is want of hui
mility that incites us to desire to at
tract attention to ourselves, even in
the awful presence of Jesus in the
Blessed Sacrament; it is want of hui
mility that causes us to murmur when
we do not receive a precise answer
to our prayers. What would you think
of a beggar who would ask for dain-
ties and murmur if you gave him
bread? It is thus we sometimes act
with Almighty God. We ask for spe.
Cial things, which would do us harm
If we had them. And we murmur and
are dissatisfied when He gives us
something more substantial and bet
ter suited to our needs.
The second quality that prayer
should possess is confidence. And, in
deed, it is often wanting. How fire.
quently do we pray with some sort of
feeling that God will not hear us? We
really do not expect an answer to our
prayer. Yet, when we think of it,
this lack of confidence is a very seri-
GUS defect. We are not confident be-
cause we think either that God can
not or that He will not answer us.
In the first case we deny His omnip-
otence, in the second we question
His goodness. In neither case can
our prayer be blessed to our Heavenly
Father CAD thing whatsoever you