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 His desire  to  bestow  His  graces  upon  us,  or the  necessity  we  are  under  of  asking  them  if we  wish  to  obtain  them. The holy  Fathers also continually  exhort  us  to  pray. And to speak  the  truth,  I  complain  of  preachers,  of confessors  and  spiritual  writers,  because  I  see that neither  preachers,  nor  confessors,  nor spiritual writers  speak  as  much  as  they  ought of the  great  means  of  prayer. I have,  therefore, written  at  length  on  this  subject  in  so many  of  my  little  works;  and  when  I  preach I do  nothing  else  than  say  and  repeat:  Pray! pray! if you  wish  to  be  saved."

Prayer, as  we  have  seen,  is  both  easy  and effective; and,  nevertheless,  numerous  are the complaints  that  our  prayers  are  not  heard. St. James  thus  answers  these  complaints: "You ask  and  receive  not,  because  you  ask amiss"  (James  iv.  3). St. Augustine  says that there  are  three  principal  reasons  why our prayers  are  not  granted  by  God. Some people, he  says,  are  unfit  to  be  heard  when they pray,  because  far  from  being  agreeable to God,  they  are  hateful  to  Him. Others are refused what  they  pray  for,  because  they  ask for unsuitable  and  even  for  dangerous  things. Others, finally,  are  not  heard  because  their prayers lack  some  of  the  qualities  of  a  good prayer. We should  pray  for  temporal  favors