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arrogance, which the instruction of Our Divine Master tends to eliminate. He begins with the grand foundation that such works, being chiefly of supererogation, merit a reward. Works done in a state of grace, even giving a cup of cold water, always do. The question arises shall the doers of these virtues be rewarded in this world or in the next? A beautiful question! and one seldom laid to heart. If they do them to be praised by men, they get praised and there is an end of it. If they do them for God, they must hide them as much as possible; or, otherwise they may lose their eternal reward.

2Ostentation is to be avoided also in the greatest act of a creature towards the Creator-Prayer and Sacrifice.

Questions are discussed sometimes here as to the proper attitude for prayer. Kneeling has generally been considered the fittest attitude for private and the more solemn parts of public prayer. Standing is more for ceremony and jubilation. Sitting at prayer is allowed when fatigued or otherwise unable to adopt the two other attitudes. In fact, to pray from your heart, no special attitude at all is needed.

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6. "Tu autem, cùm oraveris, intra in cubiculum tuum, et clauso ostio ora Patrem tuum in abscondito, et Pater tuus, qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi.

7. "Orantes autem, nolite multùm loqui, sicut ethnici: putant enim quòd in multiloquio suo exaudiantur.

8. "Nolite ergò assimilari eis: scit enim Pater vester quid opus sit vobis, antequàm petatis eum.

6. 'But thou, when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will reward thee.

7. And when you are praying, 'speak not much, as the heathens do: for they think that they are heard for their much speaking.

8. Be not you, therefore, like them. For your Father knoweth what you stand in need of, before you ask him.

1The same spirit which is manifested through the whole Sermon on the Mount comes out in its most forcible light on the occupation of man which brings him nearest to God. Prayer is forced upon us as a necessity by the consciousness of our own poverty and our sense of the infinite riches and bounty of God. Nature-yes, untutored nature-teaches the savage how to pray when he hears the voice of God in the storm or feels His power in the earthquake.

Public prayer is more or less a duty imposed by precepts or arranged as a pageant. This we have to observe. Private prayer is each individual's duty to heaven according to the suggestions of his conscience. Public prayer without an interior spirit may edify the hearer or beholder, but will profit the performer little. We should never parade our private devotions. They get withered by the air of exposure. All the Saints kept their private devotions secret.

Speak not much.-In very deed all masters of the spiritual life set very little store by vocal prayer. They all insist upon the practice of meditation or mental prayer. Vocal prayer is rather an assistance to the illiterate than a necessity of devotion. The anchorets and most monks spend the greater portion of their life in contemplation and mental prayer.

Litanies, Rosaries and such repetitions are found useful in occupying at least the tongues and voices, and an effort is made to occupy the mind with them. Our Lord repeated the self

same prayer in the garden and spents nights in prayer. Prayer is then a grand work and may be the engrossing work of a devout life; but it is empty in words and repetitions if there be no spirit, save only the exterior edification of a church service.

Your Father knoweth.-What is the use in praying if Our Heavenly Father knows? S. Jerome says "we are not narrators but suppliants. It is one thing to inform one who is ignorant, and another to entreat one who is already aware of our wants." God likes to be spoken to by His servants and servants ought to feel honoured in the privilege. "Ask and you shall receive." We may need; but we ought to be humble enough to ask.

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S. Luke gives the Lord's Prayer much later in the life of Our Lord, and gives merely five petitions. S. Matthew is not particular about chronological order, and hence some think that the Lord's Prayer did not form a part of the Sermon on the Mount. The best opinion on this matter is that of Jansenius, who thinks Our Lord repeated the Lord's Prayer for one who asked Him to teach him how to pray, and that this disciple, who

told the matter to S. Luke, left one of the petitions out, for the Greek has six. This Golden Prayer, has been considered by all the writers upon the subject, as a Breviary of prayer, just as our Office book is a Breviary of praise and devotion. It is short and expressive. Every child can learn it, and the wisest scholar cannot fathom its depth.

1Our Father.-No prayer is perfect without charity, and hence we pray for all and each other, as S. James recommends. My Father, would scarcely be appropriate except from the lips of Jesus Christ himself.

This was a change from the old terroristic way in which the Jews were accustomed to address the Deity. We were made His children by the Incarnation, and allowed to approach Him in that capacity.

2Who art in Heaven.-Because heaven is our home, and earth the place of our exile, etc. We see our fathers, whilst in exile, only by their letters and our imaginations; when at home we see them face to face.

Hallowed be thy name.-This is the first of the seven petitions. The four first are for good things, the three last against evils. The three first regard God chiefly, the four last ourselves. We beg here for God's extrinsic glory, that the whole world may be brought to reverence His Name, believe His doctrine, and observe His law.

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10. "Adveniat regnum tuum; fiat voluntus tua, sicut in cœlo, et in terrâ;

II. "Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodiè;

12. "Et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;

13. "Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos à malo. Amen.

10. 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11. Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.

12. 'And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13. And lead us not into temptation. "But deliver us from evil. Amen.

1Thy kingdom come.-The second petition is generally supposed to refer to the kingdom of God after the Day of Judgment, when all the elect shall be gathered into His home. It has other minor significations, such as His church, His sway in the hearts of the faithful, etc.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.-This is the third petition. In the original it is as in heaven so on earth. There are two forms of God's will. His good will (beneplaciti) which is always carried out. His wish (signi) which may be frustrated. It is by complying with this latter here, that we become fit for his kingdom hereafter. We prayed for that kingdom, and now pray for the means of getting there.

3Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.-The fourth petition is to ask for all that we stand in need of, food, raiment, lodging, and only for the day, as we may not be alive to-morrow. The word supersubstantial is rendered daily in S. Luke and this meaning has been adopted by the Church.

*And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.—Trespasses is now generally adopted. Both signify "sins." We do not make our forgiveness the measure of God's but we assign it as an appeal to His mercy. Can a man say the Our Father properly, when he is not disposed to forgive? Some say not; but the general opinion is that by praying he will get the grace to forgive, and, seeing his standard, he shall try to reach it.

And lead us not into temptation.-There are two kinds of temptation: God's trials, and the deceptions of the devil, the world, and the flesh. We pray not to be too sorely tried in the first, and ask God to take care of us in the second.

But deliver us from evil.-Some think this means the evil one; but the general opinion is that it refers to temporal evils and the consequences of sin, rather than sin itself.

Amen.-This Hebrew word has been adopted in all prayers, though some are of opinion that it did not originally belong to the text, but crept in in process of time.

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