The School of Love, March 1

SOME HINTS ON PRAYER, Part III

As a result of the remarks made in our last instruction on Prayer not a few have expressed a desire to see more illustrations of the method of prayer that is there advocated.

We proceed then to give further examples, but with a word of warning. Let it be remem­bered that they are examples and no more.

They are not "prayers" in the commonly accepted sense; they are not given merely to be read. They are an effort to show how the soul may guide itself in prayer; how much prayer may be expressed in few words; they are simply a suggestion of the way a soul may, as it were, steady itself in its upward flight.

Two illustrations of this method of prayer have been given, one to Our Lady, the other to Jesus Christ Our Lord; we proceed to give another addressed to the first Person of the Blessed Trinity, to whom after some experi­ence it is always most easy to pray.

A Prayer to God the Father
My Father,
You are so great,
I am so little,
You are the First and the Last,
The Beginning and the End,
Almighty, Everlasting,
And yet my Father,
You made me,
The creature that I am,
With my powers, my weaknesses,
Because you wanted me,
Even me,
You put me here,
You gave me this state of life,
You want me back,
I want to be yours,
I want to do your work,
When the end comes I want to go to you,
But without you I cannot,
You will not fail me,
You cannot fail me,
Let me not fail you.
I know my weakness,
I have learnt it from my falls,
Which you have permitted,
That I might learn,
Is it necessary to be taught more?
I can do nothing of myself,
I cannot desire to do anything,
I cannot keep from harm,
I cannot want to keep from harm,
Help me that I may,
Help me that I may desire it,
Give me the desire of sacrifice,
At least the desire of the desire,
I am an infant asking for bread,
Will my Father give me a stone?

The prayer concludes very naturally with the "Our Father"; which of itself, treated in a manner like the above, may easily "raise the mind and heart to God" for an hour....

[continued tomorrow]
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From The School of Love and Other Essays
by The Most Reverend Alban Goodier, S.J.
Burns, Oates, & Washburn, Ltd. 1918