(We don't want to become like that guy. Pay attention!)
True piety, as St. James here says, consists not only in knowing and recognizing the word of God, but in living according to its precepts and teachings; in subduing the tongue, the most dangerous and injurious of all our members; in being charitable to the poor and destitute, and in contemning the world, its false principles, foolish customs and scandalous example, against which we should guard, that we may not become infected and polluted by them. Test thyself, whether thy life be of this kind.
Then, in the Gospel of St. John, we hear Jesus telling us to ask the Father in His Name anything and it will be granted. This, of course, depends if that request is going to help our soul, and its' deliverance to eternal life. Just think, ask. And, remember, sometimes God says NO. Hard to imagine, isn't it?
A--ask
S--seek
K--knock
ASK. Get it?
We always ask in the Name of Jesus, and finish our prayers with His Name. By this is meant praying with confidence in the merits of Jesus. St. Cyril says: "Who, being God with the Father, gives us all good, and as mediator carries our petitions to His Father." The Church, therefore concludes all her prayers with the words: "Through our Lord, Jesus Christ." It means also that we should ask that which is in accordance with the will of Christ, namely, all things necessary for the salvation of our soul; to pray for temporal things merely in order to live happily in this world, is not pleasing to Christ and avails us nothing. St. Augustine says: "He who prays for what hinders salvation, does not pray in the name of Jesus." Thus Jesus said to His disciples: Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; "...because," as St. Gregory says, "they did not ask for that which conduces to eternal salvation." (And, remember this, that sometimes God says "NO", because He knows what is good for our souls. He doesn't 'un'-answer prayers!)
Consider this, child of God, when you pray. Pray as a child of the Lord should. When you have committed sin, make your peace with God. Pray as His child in the state of sanctifying grace; and pray with undivided trust in the name of God the Father, and your prayer will be heard! Amen!
But those also, who, if they do not live in mortal sin, still commit venial sins without number, should pray above all: "Lord, wash me clean, and cleanse me from every stain of sin."
If heretofore this has not been in your thoughts while you prayed, then you have not prayed in the name of the Son, the Saviour of the world; you have not prayed for anything.
Do we wish our prayer to be a true prayer, pleasing to God, and worthy to find a hearing? then we must pray in the state of grace, that we may have the right to call God our Father, as the first word of Our Lord's Prayer reminds us to do. In other words, our heart must be a temple of God, in which the Holy Ghost dwells, and into which He has poured out His love. It must be a heart inflamed with the fire of divine love through the Holy Ghost.
I (Fr. Xavier Weninger) recall once more the reply of the venerable Armella. When asked: "How do you occupy yourself so long in prayer?" She answered: "I love." Ah, indeed! were our hearts inflamed with the love of God as was the heart of a Teresa, a Xavier, a Francis of Assisi, an Ignatius, how would we then pray! It would no longer surprise us that the saints experienced such sweetness in prayer, and raised them from the earth--had, even on earth, a foretaste of heavenly bliss.
It is narrated in the life of St. Peter Regala, that on a certain occasion, whilst he was alone in the choir buried in prayer, a flame burst through the roof towards heaven. People thought that the monastery was on fire. They ran to the choir and beheld a visible flame, which, rising from the heart of the praying saint, made its way through the roof towards heaven an image and a sign of the love of God burning in his bosom. But even if we withdraw our minds from this extraordinary phase in the lives of the saints, whose prayer was an outpouring of their love for God, we may learn how important and necessary this condition of love of God is for every real, effective and acceptable prayer from the very nature of prayer.
For what is the nature and meaning of prayer? It is a raising of the heart to God, a colloquy with God, a union with God by praising Him, thanking Him. begging Him. In each of these aspects our love of God is an essential condition of true prayer.
With these things in mind, here is a prayer to the Holy Ghost that we should learn by heart. It's short, so even us old people, with our limited memory, can learn it.
HOLY GHOST, GOD OF LIGHT, REALLY AND TRULY IN MY SOUL, GIVE ME THY BLESSED LIGHT, THAT I MAY SEE ALL THINGS CLEARLY.
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