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 salvation. Woe to  the  man  who  ceases  to pray  —  he  is  lost!

4. The  necessity  of  prayer  for  every  Christian may  be  deduced  from  the  very  essence  of Christianity. Through Christ  we  become children of  God:  and  on  this  account  the Saviour taught  us  to  pray:  "Our  Father, Who  art  in  heaven." How could  we  say that we  had  the  spirit  of  a  child  of  God,  if  we were  not  to  pray?

Through Christ  we  are  made  living  temples of God. "The house  of  God." says the Lord, "is  a  house  of  prayer." A church which is  no  longer  used  for  prayer  becomes a nonentity;  it  is  no  more  than  a  ruin. This is an  image  of  a  soul  which  has  ceased  to  pray;  it is  a  crumbling  temple. Unhappy soul,  to  whom prayer has  become  strange  and  difficult!

5. Through  Christ  we  ought  also  to  become  His  followers;  we  ought,  as  the  apostle says, to  "put  on  Christ." But if  we  have "put on  Christ,"  if  His  Spirit  lives  and  rules in our  hearts,  we  can  not  but  pray. For Christ prayed  frequently  and  for  lengthened seasons on  the  occasion  of  all  weighty  affairs, and He  prayed  whole  nights  at  a  time.

It is  through  Christ  that  we  shall  finally attain to  the  eternal  vision  of  God,  to  eternal communion with  Him. How shall  we  attain to the  Beatific  Vision  and  everlasting  contemplation of  God,  if  we  have  not,  while  still  sojourning on  earth,  learned  how  to  pray,  and made it  our  constant  practice  to  keep  our-