Oh, if you only knew what it is to pray! oh, if GOD would only give you
the grace to love prayer! What peace to your soul, what love in your
heart!
What joy would shine in your countenance, even though the tears streamed
from your eyes!
_Prayer_, as the first cry escapes the lips, indicates to GOD that some
one would speak to Him, and GOD, so good and gracious, is ever ready to
listen (with all reverence we say it), with the prompt attention of a
faithful servant, He manifests Himself to the soul with ineffable love,
and says to it, "Behold Me, thou hast called Me, what dost thou desire of
Me?"
_To pray_ is to remain, so long as our prayer lasts, in the Presence of
GOD, with the certainty that we can never weary Him, no matter what may be
the subject of our prayer, or at those times when we are speechless, and
as in the case of the good peasant quoted by the Cure d'Ars, we are
content to place ourselves before GOD, with only the recollection of His
Presence.
_To pray_ is to act towards GOD as the child does to its mother, the poor
man towards the rich, eager to do him good, the friend towards his friend,
who longs to show him affection.
_Prayer_ is the key to all celestial treasures; by it we penetrate into
the midst of all the joy, strength, mercy, and goodness Divine, ... we
receive our well-being from all around us, as the sponge plunged into the
ocean imbibes without an effort the water that surrounds it ... this joy,
strength, mercy, and goodness become our own.
Oh, yes! if you knew how to pray, and loved prayer, how good, useful,
fruitful, and meritorious would be your life!
Nothing so elevates the soul as prayer.
GOD, so condescending to the soul, raises it with Him to the regions of
light and love, and then, the prayer finished, the soul returns to its
daily duties with a more enlightened mind, a more earnest will. It is
filled with radiance divine, and sheds of its abundance upon all who
approach.
If you would succeed in your study, with the success that sanctifies,
_pray_ before commencing.
If you would succeed in your intercourse with others, pray before becoming
intimate.
Nothing so smooths and sweetens life as _Prayer_.
There is the _solitary_ prayer, when the soul isolated from all creatures
is alone with GOD and feels thus towards Him: "GOD and I;" _God_ to love;
_I_ to adore, praise, glorify, thank.
_God_ to bestow, _I_ humbly to receive, to renounce, ask, hope, submit!...
Ah! who can tell all that passes between the soul and its GOD?
There is the _united_ prayer of two friends, bound together by a holy
friendship, their desires and thoughts are one, and as one they present
themselves before GOD, crying, "Have mercy upon me!"
There is the prayer of two hearts separated by distance, made at the same
hour in the same words. Soothing prayer, that each day reunites those two
sad hearts torn by the agony of parting, and who in GOD'S Presence,
strengthened with the same HOLY SPIRIT, recover courage to tread the road
to heaven, each in its appointed sphere.
Then there is Public Prayer, that which has the special promise of GOD'S
Presence; prayer so comforting to the feeble, guilty soul, who can cry in
very truth, "My prayer ascends to GOD, supported by the prayers of
others."
Oh! if you knew how to pray, and loved prayer, how happy and faithful
would be your life!