Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/197

 ing thereto. Convinced as  I  am  of  the  necessity  of  prayer,  I  say  that  all  books  treating  of spiritual  subjects,  all  preachers  in  their  sermons,  all  confessors in  every  confession  which they hear,  should  attach  the  greatest  importance to  inculcating  the  necessity  of  constant prayer on  the  minds  of  their  readers  and hearers, and  they  should  never  tire  of  impressing it  on  them  and  of  repeating  over  and  over again: Pray,  pray  always;  if  you  pray,  you will certainly  save  your  souls;  if  you  do  not pray, you  will  certainly  lose  them. It is  true that many  excellent  ways  of  persevering  in the  grace  of  God  may  be  recommended  to souls;  for  instance,  avoiding  occasions  of  sin frequenting the  sacraments,  resisting  temptation, listening  to  sermons,  meditating  on  the eternal truths,  etc.,  all  of  which  are  most salutary practices,  as  every  one  must  admit but, I  ask,  of  what  good  are  sermons,  meditations,  and  the  other  means  suggested  by the  masters  of  the  spiritual  life,  without prayer? since Our  Lord  has  declared  that He will  only  grant  His  grace  to  those  who pray for  it:  'Ask  and  ye  shall  receive'  (John. xvi.  24). According to  the  ordinary  course of Providence,  all  our  meditations,  resolutions, promises,  are  useless  without  prayer, if we do  not  pray,  we  shall  always  be  faithless to  the  lights  we  have  received  from  God and to  the  resolutions  we  have  taken. Because, in order  to  do  right,  to  overcome  temptation, to  practise  virtue,  to  observe  God's