Page:Prayerbookforrel00lasa 0.djvu/66

 praying. While we  are  reciting  the  Our  Father  and  the Hail Marys  of  each  decade  of  the  rosary,  we  meditate or reflect  on  some  mystery  connected  with  the  life  of Jesus  Christ  or  of  His  blessed  Mother.

It is  also  useful,  in  using  the  prayers  of  our  prayer-book,  to  read  them  slowly  and  deliberately,  making  in the  meantime  practical  reflections  on  their  contents,  or pausing  from  time  to  time  to  meditate  a  little  and  apply the words  of  the  prayers  to  our  own  wants. If we  accustom ourselves  to  recite  our  vocal  prayers  in  this  way,  we shall  not  only  make  them  our  own  and  pray  well,  but we shall  also  gradually  acquire  the  habit  of  making mental prayer,  which  tends  to  unite  us  more  closely  to God,  and,  through  the  practical  imitation  of  our  divine Saviour's virtues,  to  render  us  conformable  to  Him.

RAYER is  called  by  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen  a conference,  or  conversation  with  God. St. John Chrysostom speaks  of  prayer  as  a  discourse  with  the divine majesty. According to  St.  Augustine  it  is  the raising up  of  the  soul  to  God. St. Francis  de  Sales  describes it  as  a  conversation  of  the  soul  with  God,  by  which we aspire  to  Him  and  breathe  in  Him,  and  He,  in  return, inspires us  and  breathes  on  us.

Father Bertrand  Wilberforce,  in  his  tract  on  "Mental Prayer, "  writes:

All prayer  is  the  speaking  of  the  soul  to  God. This may be  done  in  three  ways. For the  prayer  may  be  either in thought  only,  unexpressed  in  any  external  way,  or  on the  other  hand  the  secret  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  soul may be  clothed  in  words;  and  these  words,  again,  may either be  confined  to  a  set  form,  or  they  may  be  words of our  own,  unfettered  by  any  form,  and  expressing  the emotions of  our  soul  at  the  moment. In the  first  case