We have placed at the commencement a calendar containing a sentence from our holy author for each day of the year, and we recommend its attentive perusal to the faithful.
May many souls profit by this collection of prayers, which is but a prolonged echo of those salutary words so often repeated by St. Alphonsus,
Pray, pray always!
Incarnate Word! Thou didst give Thy blood and Thy life to fulfil Thy promise of giving to our prayers a marvellous efficacy in obtaining all of which we stand in need. Why then, alas! are we so negligent as not even to give ourselves the trouble of asking for those graces which are necessary to our salvation? By conferring on us this great means of prayer Thou hast given us the key of Thy storehouse of divine treasures; but if we do not pray, we shall certainly remain in our present miserable state. Dear Lord! enlighten us that we may understand how powerful with Thine eternal Father are those prayers which we address to Him in Thy name and through Thy merits.
Mary, august Mother of God! do thou obtain for us the spirit of prayer, so that, in all our necessities, we may never fail to have recourse to thy divine Son and to thee, for thou art the distributor of all graces and the Mother of mercy; thou wilt not allow any client of thine to go away empty-handed. All-powerful Virgin, thou dost obtain from God all that thou askest in behalf of thy faithful servants.
