Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/272

 that rests  upon  the  bosom  of  its  mother  does  not speak, save  with  its  loving  looks  and  its  apparent delight while  reposing  in  her  maternal  arms.

The essential  point  of  meditation  consists  in  the following things:

1. To  awaken  the  affections. — We ought  therefore to humble  ourselves  with  heartfelt  sincerity,  to  animate our  faith  and  our  hope,  and,'  above  all,  to  make acts of  contrition,  and  of  love  of  God,  of  conformity to his  holy  will,  and  to  offer  ourselves  up  entirely  to him. We should  repeat  the  same  affections  over  and over again,  especially  those  to  which  we  feel  the  most inclined.

2. We  must  make  petitions. — ft is  in  meditation  that God shows  us  our  misery,  and  how  much  we  need  his grace to  conquer  our  evil  inclinations. For this  reason the  time  of  meditation  is  the  fittest  time  for prayer. God ordinarily  gives  his  grace,  and  especially the grace  of  perseverance,  to  those  who  pray.

3. We  must  make  good  resolutions. — After having discovered by  meditation  what  we  have  to  do  on  our part in  order  to  live  in  conformity  with  the  holy  will of God,  and  having  asked  his  assistance,  it  still remains for  us  to  put  in  practice  what  we  have  thus seen to  be  necessary,  otherwise  our  meditation  will be fruitless. We must  therefore  make  a serious  resolve to  avoid  such  or  such  a fault,  to  do  this  or  that good work  the  very  first  occasion,  [t  is  necessary also, from  time  to  time  during  the  day,  to  recall  the good resolution  we  have  taken  for  fear  lest,  when the occasion  arrives,  it  should  be  already  forgotten. After the  good  resolution  comes  the  end  of  the meditation. Then we  must  thank  God  for  the  holy inspirations which  he  has  given  us,  and  beseech  him, for the  love  of  Jesus  and  of  Mary,  to  help  us  to  carry