Prayer

If our facility in prayer increases we can always extend our program, but it is always better to be too short than too long. We have a long road before us, and the important thing is to persevere to the end.

Let it be always remembered that Christian life is an entering into Christ's life rather than the perfecting of one's own life, that Christian prayer is an entering into Christ's prayer rather than the flowering of one's own prayer, and that in the particular case under discussion, where we have to abandon our own prayer to join in the prayers of the congregation, we are really putting on Christ. Where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in the midst of them, as He has promised, and when we join in their prayer, we are really exchanging our own poor prayer for the powerful prayer of Christ.

One thing we insist upon. You must make a grim, ruthless resolve, that never, never, never, on any account whatsoever, will you give up the practice of attempting to pray thus daily, no matter how fruitless your attempt may seem. Until you make that resolve, your progress in the spiritual life will never be anything more than that of a cripple. No matter how often you take up the spiritual life, you will sooner or later be faced with the choice of giving it up, or making such a resolution about daily prayer.

This Tremendous Lover, M. Eugene Boylan, O.Cist.R

Jeremiah 29: 11-14

I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the Lord, and I will change your lot; I will gather you together from all the nations and all the places to which I have banished you, says the Lord, and bring you back to the place from which I have exiled you.

Protecting the Seed, St. Catherine of Siena

Without light you cannot walk along the straight way of the spotless slain Lamb. This is why my soul longs to see you and the others honest and courageous, not whipped about by any wind that might come along. See that you don't turn back, but always go forward, keeping in mind the teaching you have been given. Return every day to the garden of your soul to root out any brambles that might choke the seed, the teaching you were given, and to till the soil. I mean, every day strip your heart clean. You really have to do it continually. I've seen many people who seemed to have been stripped clean, but I've found--more by their actions than by their words--that they are not. It is their actions that show where their heart is, though their words might show the opposite. So I want you truly to strip your heart clean by following Christ crucified... The pain of being deprived of all creaturely consolation has called me [to look at] my lack of virtue, to recognize how imperfect I am and how utterly perfect is the light of gentle Truth, provider and acceptor of holy desires, who plays no favorites. He has not withheld his kindness from me because of my ingratitude or because of my dearth of light and knowledge. No, he has regarded only his own supreme goodness.

St. Catherine of Siena (died 1380), Doctor of the Church, was a Dominican, stigmatist, and papal counselor.

Matthew 26:41

Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

The Heart of True Wisdom, by Dom Guillerand

There is no need to wait for that knowledge which is the result of study before acting in the region of our relations with God. Religion is belief: but above all, it is practice. It is not knowledge. It is a mutual exchange of love, and it is in this exchange that God reveals himself. He reveals himself in the measure in which we love him, not according to our learning, even in the matter of religion. It is not necessary to know precisely all the perfections of God, nor to be able to expound eloquently all the arguments which prove his existence. How many souls pass the whole of their lives without knowing these things, and yet how profound is their knowledge of him, how warm their fervor, and how intensely real their relations with him. These souls look upon God as a Father, who is unceasingly communicating to them his thoughts and desires, and it is by these thoughts and desires they live. He becomes, as it were, their very soul and their innermost life. His Spirit abides in the depths of their spirit, enlightening, encouraging, and directing all the inner resources that they possess. And they love the Father, and hold converse with him. They share with him their joys and their sorrows, and he is the secret confidant of all their hours. He is there, in the depth of their soul, waiting to receive them into his intimate dwelling-place the moment they turn to him. They recognize him, and they know it is he who is calling them, whenever an interior voice invites them to think of him. Their minds meet inevitably, and thus they enter into a relationship at once living, continuous, and full of delight -- a relationship between the soul and its divine Guest, which grows in intensity.

Dom Augustin Guillerand, O.Cart. (died 1945) was a French Carthusian monk and a revered spiritual author.

Psalm 31, pt. 1

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
   let me never be put to shame.
In your justice deliver me,
   incline your ear to me; make haste to rescue me!

Be my rock of refuge,
   a stronghold to give me safety.
You are my rock and my fortress;
   for your name's sake lead and guide me.

Free me from the net they have set for me,
   for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
   you will redeem me, Lord, faithful God.

But my trust is in you, O Lord;
   I say, "You are my God."
In your hands is my destiny; rescue me
   from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.

How great is your goodness, O Lord,
   which you have in store for those who fear you,
And which, toward those who take refuge in you,
   you show in the sight of the children of men.

The Holy Name of Mary, St. Bernard of Clairvaux

If the winds of temptations surge, if you run aground on the shoals of troubles, look to this star, call upon Mary! If you are tossed by the winds of pride or ambition or detraction or jealousy, look to this star, call upon Mary! If anger or greed or the allurements of the flesh dash against the boat of your mind, look to Mary! And if you are troubled by the enormity of your sins, confused by the foulness of your conscience, terrified by the horror of the Judgment, so that you begin to be swallowed up by the pit of sadness, the abyss of despair, think of Mary! In dangers, in straits, in perplexity, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her name be always in your mouth and in your heart, and, if you would ask for and obtain the help of her prayers, do not forget the example of how she lived. If you follow her, you will not go astray. If you pray to her, you will not despair. If you think of her, you will not be lost. If you cling to her, you will not fall. If she protects you, you will not fear; if she is your guide, you will not tire; if she is favorable to you, you will reach your goal. Thus you will experience personally how rightly it was spoken "And the Virgin's name was Mary."

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (died 1153) is considered the last of the Fathers of the Church and is a Doctor of the Church.

Psalm 54

O God, by your name save me,
   and by your might defend my cause.
O God, hear my prayer;
   hearken to the words of my mouth.

For the haughty have risen up against me,
   the ruthless seek my life;
   they set not God before their eyes.

Behold, God is my helper;
   the Lord sustains my life.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice;
I will praise your name, O Lord, for its goodness.

Deliver us

Deliver us from evil.

Very significant for me, not only from the Our Father, but from Dr. Dooley.

The Intercession of Michael, from The Apocalypse of Paul

When those who were in this very place saw me weeping with the angel, they cried out and themselves wept, saying: "O Lord God, have mercy on us!" And after that I saw heaven opened and the archangel Michael coming down from heaven, and with him the whole host of angels, and they came to those who were placed in the punishments. And seeing him they cried out again with tears, and said: "Have mercy on us, archangel Michael, have mercy on us and on the human race, for because of your prayers the earth continues. We have now seen the judgment and known the Son of God. It was impossible for us to pray for this previously before we came to this place. For we did hear that there was a judgment before we came forth from the world, but tribulations and a worldly-minded life did not allow us to repent." And Michael answered and said: "Listen when Michael speaks: It is I who stand in the presence of God every hour: As the Lord lives, in whose presence I stand, for one day or one night I do not cease from praying continually for the human race, and I pray for those who are still on earth. They, however, do not stop committing iniquity... and they do not help me in what is good while they are placed on earth. And the time during which you ought to have repented you used up in vanity. But I have always thus prayed and now I beseech that God may send dew and that rain may be appointed over the earth, and I continue to pray until the earth bring forth its fruit; and I say that if anyone has done even only a little good I will strive for him and protect him until he escapes the judgement of punishments. Where are your prayers? Where is your repentance? You have squandered time contemptibly. But now weep, and I will weep with you, and the angels who are with me together with the dearly beloved Paul, if perchance the merciful God will show mercy and give you ease." And when they heard these words they cried out and wept much and said all together: "Have mercy on us, Son of God." And I, Paul, sighed and said: "Lord God, have mercy on what you have fashioned, have mercy on the children of men, have mercy on your own image."