Introduction
To PRAY means to commune with God — to converse with God. This is why we have chosen for the
present work the main title, "With God."
Discussing the question: Is Mental Prayer Easy? a spiritual writer says :
"In order to pray with fruit and without distraction it is very useful and in most cases necessary to spend some time in meditation or pious thought on some definite subject, and from this fact, as before stated, the whole exercise is often called mieditation. instead of mental prayer. This often misleads people into imagining that meditation, that is, the use of the intellect in thinking on a holy subject, is the main end to be aimed at, whereas in fact it is only a means to the end, which is prayer or conversation with God. Meditation furnishes us with the matter for conversation, but it is not itself prayer at all. When thinking and reflecting the soul speaks to itself, reasons with itself; in prayer it speaks to God."
Our sub-title reads: Book of Prayers and Reflections," and accurately describes the purpose of this work, which is to aid not any particular class, but the faithful in general, in those precious hours when they turn away from the distracting occupations and pleasures of life to give attention to " the one thing necessary," their one real business here below, the salvation of their immortal souls, by reflecting on the eternal truths, by uplifting their hearts to heaven and communing with God in prayer, so as to secure His grace now, and eventually that everlasting and inexpressibly blissful union with Him which He has promised to those who love and serve Him faithfully to the end. What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul ? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul ? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels : and then will He render to every man according to his works" (Matt, xvi. 26, 27).
In prayer we speak with God," says St. Anselm ; how attentively and reverentially should we converse with the Lord of lords, the King of kings ; how humbly and gratefully with our supreme Benefactor ; how trustfully with our best Friend !
Prayer is truly a conversation between God. and the soul ; in prayer we address ourselves to God and He, our Heavenly Father, in His love and kindness speaks to us ; in prayer the soul breathes the atmosphere of paradise, and by its union with God and its elevation to heavenly contemplation, it enjoys a foretaste of the happiness of the Saints in the celestial Eden.
What greater joy can earth afford Than holding converse with Our Lord? A pledge of life to come is this, A foretaste here of future bliss.
The Royal Psalmist says : "The Lord is nigh to all them that call upon Him in truth ; He will do the will of them that fear Him ; He will hear their prayer and save them" (Ps. cxliv. 18, 19).
"Prayer," says Hettinger, "is the bridge between this life and the life to come, upon which the Creator and the creature meet."
St. Augustine calls prayer "the key of heaven." Pere de Ravignan, S.J., constantly urged those who came under his influence to pray constantly; "for prayer," he said, "is the strength which saves, the courage which perseveres, the mystic bridge thrown over the abyss, which joins the soul to God."
"More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of." — Tennyson.
This book of prayer might also be called "Manna of the Soul," inasmuch as it is the result of at least a conscientious effort to furnish devout souls with substantial spiritual nutriment in such abundance and variety as to satisfy all reasonable demands, but without any highly-seasoned condiment or sauce of mawkish sentiment.
There are devotions and devotions. In regard to this we read in one of the Sacred Heart League Leaflets, entitled Points for Promoters:
"Are we drifting away from our moorings? Is it true that we are abandoning time-honored Catholic customs and practices? Are the good old devotions disappearing, the solid and enduring ones that inspired the faithful for ages, to make way for a newfangled piety more emotional than substantial? What has become of St. Joseph?
"Even to St. Joseph there are devotions and devotions, some of them sensible, a number of them not very sensible, and it is no wonder, nor any loss, if the latter have disappeared as they should; only it is a pity that those who have never practised solid devotion to the saint should be deprived of it utterly in every form when they grow out of the puerile and sometimes unreasonable practices they were taught to follow in his honor.
"There is no need of specifying any of these practices here. It is rarely wise to condemn any form of devotion, unless it is clearly superstitious or dangerous in tendency. There are all sorts of souls, and what may seem superficial or frivolous to one may be deep or serious enough for another. It may sound smart to condemn or disparage certain devotions; but no prudent or reverent person will ever do so, simply because modesty will prevent him from asserting his views or preferences, while due regard for others will make him not only tolerate, but respect what they choose to do."
Doubtless the best prayers are contained in the liturgy of the Church, and our favorite devotions are certainly commendable if they bear the stamp of the Church's approval. To our pious readers we commend the careful perusal of the chapter Devotion and Devotions (page 63). In the present work, "With God," two methods of assisting at Mass are mainly from the Roman Missal ; another method is made up entirely of Indulgenced Prayers. There is, indeed, in this little volume, so large a collection of indulgenced prayers, of prayers approved by the Church, forming not only a separate section, but running like a chain through all the various devotions, that it might well be entitled a "Book of Indulgenced Prayers." We call particular attention to this fact because it distinguishes the present work from others of its class, and constitutes a worthy reason for its appearance.
The careful reader will also observe that all through the book we have laid such stress upon "devotion to the holy souls in purgatory" and intertwined so many prayers and ejaculations for their relief that it is worthy of being called Holy Souls' Book." "Take we up the touching burden of November plaints,
Pleading for the holy souls, God's yet uncrowned saints.
Still unpaid to our departed is the debt we owe; Still unransomed, some are pining, sore oppressed with woe.
Friends we loved and vowed to cherish call us in their need:
Prove we now our love was real, true in word and deed.
'Rest eternal grant them, Lord !' full often let us pray —
Requiem ceternam dona eis, Domine!"
— From Forget-Me-Nots from Many Gardens.
Another point that merits the consideration of critical readers is this, that the book contains most of the latest additions to "The Raccolta" sanctioned by the present illustrious and saintly ruler of the Church, Pius X. Furthermore, it has been our aim to make "With God" a Vade Mecum for those who assist at Mass and receive holy communion daily or frequently, and to equip the same so lavishly with Eucharistic devotions as to make it a very pleasing and helpful Companion for Visits to Jesus in the Tabernacle, and in particular for the Holy Hour or the Hour of Adoration; it is, therefore, a Book for Frequent Communicants and for Fervent Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament. "With God," we trust, will also prove acceptable to the members of the Holy Name Society and to all who zealously venerate and render special honor to the Most Holy Name of Jesus. The Little Office of the Holy Name, besides many prayers, devotions, psalms, hymns, and the latest indulgenced invocations and ejaculations in honor of the Most Holy Name, have been incorporated in this book; hence it may not inaptly be called Book of the Holy Name."
Nor have we failed in this little book of prayer to do what we have loved to do in all our previous works, viz., to inculcate and urge upon pious souls the frequent use of indulgenced ejaculations and invocations. St. Philip Neri says: "It is an old custom with the servants of God always to have some little prayers ready, and to be darting them up to heaven frequently during the day, lifting their minds to God out of the filth of this world. He who adopts this plan will get great fruit with little pains." St. Francis de Sales and St. Thomas Aquinas often made use of ejaculatory prayers. Every time that St. Ignatius heard the clock strike, he recollected himself and elevated his heart to God. St. Vincent de Paul observed the same pious practice . " With God " aims to foster meditation , or mental prayer, as well as vocal prayer; it is a Book of Devout Reflections; it contains a little Treasury of Winged Thoughts from Holy Writ and other sacred sources — thoughts which we may make our own by earnest and devout reflection — thoughts which, in critical moments of trial and temptation, will serve to fortify us against the allurements of the devil, the world, and the flesh, and to stimulate us, in the scorn of consequence, at all times to do what is right, and to walk unfalteringly in the way of salvation.
We beg our pious readers not to slur over or utterly disregard the introductory chapters on Vocal Prayer , Meditation, Ejaculatory, and Continual Prayer. These are subjects of vast importance in the spiritual life, and we made at least an honest effort to treat them in a practical, succinct, and comprehensive manner. These Introductory Reflections form a distinctive feature of this book of prayer; they are calculated, by the help of divine grace, to instruct and enlighten the faithful with regard to the different kinds of prayer, so that from a better understanding and a deeper appreciation of the necessity, value, and efficacy of prayer, they may be led to a more perfect, a more practical, a more continual, a more fervent and fruitful use of this great gift by means of which we raise our souls to God, and enjoy a sweet communion with our heavenly Father.
Father de Ravignan, S.J., in one of his famous exhortations, says:
Believe me, my dear friends, believe an experience ripened by thirty years in the sacred ministry. I do here affirm that all deceptions, all spiritual deficiencies, all miseries, all falls, all faults, and even the most serious wanderings out of the right path, all proceed from this single source — a want of constancy in prayer. Live the life of prayer; learn to bring everything, to change everything into prayer — pains and trials and temptations of all kinds.
"Pray in the calm, pray in the storm.
"Pray on awaking, and pray during the daytime.
"Going and coming, pray.
" Tired out and distracted, pray.
" Whatsoever your repugnance may be, pray.
"Pray, that you may learn to pray. "' Teach us, O Lord, how to pray. '
"'But I can not pray.' That is heresy. Yes, you can always pray. If you feel a disgust, nay, a horror of prayer, pray on, pray in spite of yourself, against yourself. Beg for the courage in prayer which our agonizing Saviour merited for you by His pangs in Gethsemani and upon Calvary. Pray, for prayer is our salvation."
Most reverently we dedicate this little work to Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament, with the prayer that our august Queen and tender Mother may inflame the hearts of our readers with a greater love of Jesus in the Sacrament of His love, and that in prayer, especially before the Tabernacle, they may enjoy even on earth the presence of God, and through prayer, may by His grace be received into the heavenly kingdom where the Saints dwell in the fulness of joy eternally "with God."
Francis X. Lasance.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Feast of Corpus Christi, 1910.