Page:MeditationsOnTheMysteriesOfOurHolyV1.djvu/49

 heart, " and having shut the door" of thy senses, " pray to thy heavenly Father in secret; and thy Father who" is there, and " seeth in secret, will repay thee," that is, will give you what you ask.

This truth of the presence of God within me and round about me wheresoever lam praying, I am much to quicken, that it may move me to reverence, confidence and due attention. And if with this consideration I perceive myself moved to these and other like affections of devotion, I may well detain myself to enjoy this taste that God gives me, for the time it will last; for this already is a prayer, and a very good one. But the ordinary rule will be to detain myself in this thought during a Pater-noster, although in all the time of my meditation I must not lose out of sight the presence of God, according to that of David: " The meditation of my heart is always in Thy sight:" but in the time of my petitions and colloquies I must renew it with more fervour, " pouring out," as David says, " my prayer," in the u sight" of our Lord.

2. Secondly, this done, I must make a great and profound reverence to the Majesty of God, bending before Him the knees of my heart, and of my body, once, twice, and three times, as they do that enter into the presence of kings. I am to adore him in spirit, acknowledging Him for my God and my Lord, the Father of immense Majesty, and the King most worthy of infinite reverence; and with my body to humble myself, even to the fastening my mouth to the ground; and yet more, to prostrate myself, as did our Lord Jesus Christ in the prayer of the garden, of whom St. Paul says, that He " was heard" by the Eternal Father, for the great " reverence" He bare Him; giving us to under-