Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/55

 of death,  or  in  danger  of  losing  their  innocence,  and  for all who  are  in  distress,  pain,  trouble,  or  sorrow.

"It behooves  us  daily  to  remember  in  our  prayers  the souls  in  purgatory,  particularly  the  souls  toward  whom we  have  some  special  obligation,  e.g.,  the  souls  of  our parents,  of  our  benefactors,  of  those  who  are  suffering on  our  account.  We  should  endeavor  to  gain  many indulgences  for  their  benefit.  If,  during  our  life,  we pray  for  them,  God  will,  after  our  death,  inspire  compassionate souls  to  pray  for  us  when  we  are  in  purgatory, for,  says  our  divine  Saviour,  'with  what  measure you  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again'  (Matt.  vii. 2)."

N the  first  place,  we  will  speak  of  the  ways  of  making vocal prayer. Besides the  ordinary  way  we  have  of reciting  our  vocal  prayers,  i.e.,  a  simple  repetition  of  the words, with  a  general  attention  to  God  and  to  the  intention for  which  we  are  reciting  them — there  are  two  other ways, highly  recommended  by  the  saints.

One is  to  recite  the  words  of  the  prayer,  say,  of  the Our Father,  very  slowly  and  thoughtfully,  attending  to the  sense  of  the  words,  and  pausing  an  instant  after  each sentence or  clause,  in  order  to  make  the  meaning  of  the prayer our  own. It is  well  to  get  into  the  habit,  in  fact, when we  are  alone  and  have  enough  leisure,  of  saying our prayers  slowly  and  thoughtfully,  and  with  great exterior and  interior  reverence,  even  though  at  times  we may  find  no  devotion  in  considering  the  meaning  of every  sentence,  but  only  have  in  our  souls  a  sense  of  the presence of  God. In that  case  it  will  be  better  simply to recite  the  prayer  slowly,  and  with  quiet  recollection of the  divine  presence.