will enable us to conquer the fiercest temptations. If such temptations assail you, and dangers threaten you, have recourse to mental prayer. Place before you as vividly as you can death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Thus will you be prevented from falling into sin, or at least from remaining in sin, and you will bridle and overcome your passion. Holy Scripture reminds us of this in the following words: "In ail thy works remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin."
4. St. Paul exhorts us to vocal prayer when he says: "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God." Obey this injunction; pray without ceasing, that you may be kept from temptation, or at least from falling when you are tempted. Our Lord teaches us to pray thus: " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." In another place He says: "Ask, and it shall be given you." Ask, and you shall receive strength in temptation, courage in the fight, deliverance from the bondage of sin, if you have been so unfortunate as to fall into it. As long as a young man continues to pray all is not lost; there is certainly hope for his salvation. But if he grows careless in regard to prayer, or ceases altogether to pray, there is everything to fear, as I know by experience. To take one instance of the many which have come under my observation: A young girl who had formerly been pious and good lost her innocence, to the grief of all who knew her. Her confessor spoke to her upon the subject, and asked how her sad fall had come about. " Alas! reverend Father," she exclaimed, bursting into sobs. " this is what one comes to if one neglects
