afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven," [1] and the woman, a sinner, who, moved with sorrow, washed the feet of Christ our Lord, with her tears, [2] illustrate the great efficacy which Christian humility imparts to prayer.
The next disposition is a feeling of poignant sorrow, arising from the recollection of our past sins, or, at least, some sense of regret, that we do not experience that poignancy of sorrow. If the sinner bring not with him to prayer both, or, at least one of these dispositions, he cannot hope to obtain the pardon of his sins.
There are some crimes, such as violence and murder, which oppose the greatest obstacles to the efficacy of our prayers, and we must, therefore, preserve our hands unstained by outrage and cruelty: " When you stretch forth your hands," says the Lord, " I will turn away my eyes from you; and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear, for your hands are full of blood." [3] Anger and strife we should also studiously avoid: they have great influence in preventing our prayers from being heard: "I will that men pray in every place," says St. Paul, "lifting up pure hands, without anger and contention." [4] Implacable hatred for injuries received is another obstacle to the efficacy of prayer, which we cannot be too cautious in avoiding: under the influence of such feelings, it is impossible that we should obtain from God the pardon of our sins. " When you shall stand to pray," says our Lord, " forgive, if you have aught against any man;" [5] " but if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offences." [6]
Insensibility and inhumanity to the poor we should also scrupulously avoid, if we hope that our prayers shall prove acceptable to God; "He that stoppeth his ear," says the book of Proverbs, " against the cry of the poor, shall also cry himself, and shall not be heard." [7] What shall we say of pride? Its hatefulness in the sight of God, we learn from these words of St. James: " God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble." [8] What of the contempt of the divine oracles? " He that turneth away his ears," says Solomon, " from hearing the law his prayer shall be an abomination." [9] Here, however, we are not to understand that the humble acknowledgment of the injuries done to our neighbour, of murder, anger, insensibility to the wants of the poor, of pride, contempt of the divine oracles, in fine, of any other sin, is excluded from the objects of prayer, provided we implore pardon from God for these crimes.
Of this preparation of the soul, another essential quality is faith. Without faith, we can have no knowledge of the omnipotence or mercy of God, which are the sources of our confidence in prayer: "All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing," says the Redeemer, " you shall receive." [10]
