Tuesday in Rogation Week

Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation

We will meditate on two other conditions of a good prayer, which are: 1st, fervor; 2d, perseverance. Our resolution shall be: 1st, better to appreciate the excellence of the spiritual graces we ask God for, and consequently to infuse into our prayers a greater desire of being heard; 2d, to persevere in prayer even when we have no taste for it, and even when we do not obtain what we ask for. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Psalmist, “The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor” (Ps. x. 17).

Meditation for the Morning

Let us adore the Spirit of God inspiring David with so great fervor in his prayers, that in order to express the vehemence of it the holy king calls it a great cry which comes from the bottom of the heart to go right to the heart of God (Ps. cxxix. 1; ci. 2). Now the cry of the heart, says St. Augustine, is the ardor of love, it is the fervor of desire, and it is that which gives wings to prayer and raises it up to heaven; if the heart is cold, it is mute, and cannot say anything to God (St. Augustine, in Ps. xxxvii.); in order that the incense of prayer may reach God, it must be burnt within with the flames of holy desires. Penetrate me, O Lord, with so important a truth.

FIRST POINT

Fervor in Prayer

Fervor in prayer is nothing more than the ardent desires to be heard, which are exhaled in pious sighs, by means of which, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we pray to God, like a child in its extreme distress prays and solicits its father (Rom. viii. 26, 15). These were the holy desires which made the prayer of Daniel to be granted. “Because thou art a man of desires,” the angel says to him, “I am come” (Dan. ix. 23); and that of David, in accordance with what he tells us himself: “I opened my mouth and panted, because I longed for Thy commandments” (Ps. cxviii. 131). “Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee” (Ps. xxxvii. 10). In order to understand how fervent should be these desires which ought to be associated with prayer, it is sufficient to consider the greatness, whether it be of the graces we beg God to grant us, or of the evils from which we pray Him to preserve us. 1st. We ask Him to put us into possession of His paradise, of His glory, of His riches, of His own happiness, of the eternal possession of Himself. We ask Him for the gifts of His Holy Spirit; His graces, of which the least is worth more than all empires; His virtues, the least participation in which is greater than all imaginable treasures. We ask Him for the adorable blood of His Son, His merits, His humility, His charity, His meekness, all His perfections. Now, is it not evident that such great blessings ought to be greatly desired; that to ask for them with indifference or with very little ardor is to misconceive the excellence of them and to render ourselves unworthy of them? Great things ought to be asked for with a great affection for them, and the vehemence of the desire ought to be in proportion to their excellence. Let us examine if it be thus that we ask God for His graces. Alas! where is our reason, where is our faith? We often ask God for His paradise and His graces with less desire than a thirsty man would ask for a glass of water. How could God grant our prayers? 2d. In prayer we ask God to preserve us from hell, into which we may fall at any moment, and into which no one can tell whether he may not any day fall. Now, is it requisite to tell a traveller who is threatened by a tempest to beg ardently for the helpful hand which is capable of saving him? Oh, how earnestly he prays for it, how ardently he calls on all who may be able to come to his aid! And we, men of little faith that we are, we sail upon a stormy sea, fruitful in shipwrecks, of which the consequences are eternal; and we pray so little, we pray so coldly, with so little desire of escaping hell! Ah, it is not thus that we ought to beg of God to be preserved from so terrible a misfortune. Let us, then, better understand what ought to be the fervor which should mark our prayers.

SECOND POINT

Perseverance in Prayer

To pray for a moment, and to expect an immediate answer, is to be wanting in respect towards God; it is to forget that He is master of His gifts, and that He has the right to choose the moment for granting them; it is to misconceive the excellence of these same gifts, which are well worth the trouble of being asked for several times. A poor man is not tired of asking several times for alms. Lastly, it is to forget that our dearest interests are implicated in our being obliged to persevere in prayer: 1st, because delay in our being granted the graces we ask of God makes us better appreciate their greatness (Euseb. Em. Hom. ii.); 2d, because it is essential to our salvation to habituate ourselves to a life of prayer. Prayer is our spiritual food, and the soul cannot any more cease to pray often than can the body to eat often; otherwise it falls into a state of weakness, and dies (Ps. ci. 5). It is our armor in temptations and trials; it is in regard to conquering our enemies like the golden sword given from heaven to Judas Machabeus (II. Mach. xv. 16). If we give it up, we are vanquished. It is the mysterious ladder of Jacob, by which the angels ascend to heaven to carry thither our petitions, and descend to bring us the gifts of God. It is the key of graces; to abandon it is to renounce the assistance of God, and condemn us to be powerless in conquering our passions and triumphing over our miseries. It is, lastly, the means of maintaining within us faith, hope, charity, thoughts of heaven and of the future life, love of our duties and courage to fulfil them; so true are the words of the Lord: We must pray always, and never cease (Luke xviii. 1). Is it thus that we appreciate the necessity under which God lays us to pray perseveringly and continually? What reproaches have we not to address to ourselves on this point!

Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.