Page:The Lord's Prayer (Saphir).djvu/20

6 in addressing God, or speaking of Him, uses the expression "Our Father." He invariably says either "Father," or "My Father," or "Your Father." For even, when He gave to Mary Magdalene the assurance that the disciples were His brethren, He carefully reminded her that He is the only-begotten, and that His relation to the Father is essentially different from ours. But there are several prayers of Christ recorded in the Gospels, and they are an invaluable treasure and comfort to the Church.

The first word recorded of Jesus as a child, reveals to us that the days of His childhood were days of prayer and meditation. Afterwards we read, that, "being baptized and praying, the heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended on Him."* Again,† that He withdrew Himself from the great multitude who came to hear and to be healed; and went into the wilderness and prayed. Before He chose the apostles, He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.‡ And before He asked His disciples, "Whom say the people that I, the Son of man, am ?" He had been alone praying. It was while He prayed on the Mount, that the fashion of His countenance was altered. At the grave of Lazarus, He thanked God for having heard Him; before He fed the multitude,