Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/180



174 THE RIGHT ORDERING OF CHRISTIAN LIFE.

and give help to us in our weakness and misery. By such a condition of mind, in which, as is fitting, we think humbly of ourselves, God is greatly moved to mercy, for God resisteth the proud, but to the humble He giveth grace}

Let, then, the habit of prayer be sacred to all; let the mind and heart and voice pray together; and let our life be in conformity with our prayer, so that by keeping the divine laws, the course of our days may seem a continual ascent towards God.

The virtue of prayer of which we are speaking is, like other virtues, produced and nourished by divine faith. For God is the author of all true and alone desirable blessings; and to Him also we owe our knowledge of His infinite goodness, and of the merits of Jesus our Re- deemer. But, on the other hand, nothing is more fitted for the nourishment and increase of faith than the pious habit of prayer. And the need of the virtue of faith is seen plainly at this our time through its weakness in most men, and its absence in so many. For faith is es- pecially the source whereby not only each one's hfe may be amended, but also right judgment may be obtained as to those matters which by their conflict hinder States from living in peace and security. If the multitude thirsts and raves for excessive liberty; if the indignation of the lower orders is with difficulty constrained; if the greed of the wealthier classes is insatiable, and if to these be added other evils of the same kind which We have elsewhere fully set forth, it will be found that nothing can remedy them more fully or more surely than Christian faith.

And here it is fitting that We should turn Our thoughts and words to you whom God has made His helpers, by giving you His divine power to dispense His mysteries. If the sources of public and private moral welfare are examined, it will, without doubt, be found that the lives of the clergy may be of immense influence. Let them

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