Aug 22 Tue
On prayer, by St John Mary Vianney
This is the noble task of everyone, to pray and to love. To pray and to love, that is the happiness of man on earth.
Consider, children, a Christian’s treasure is not on earth, it is in heaven. Well then, our thoughts should turn to where our treasure is.
Prayer is nothing else than conversation and union with God. In it, God and the soul become like two pieces of wax molded into one; they cannot be separated any more.
After sin, we deserved to be left incapable of praying; but God in his goodness has allowed us to talk to him. Our prayer is incense delightful to God.
My children, your hearts are small, but your prayer enlarges them, and renders them capable of loving God. Prayer is a foretaste of heaven. It never leaves us without sweetness; it is like honey; it descends into the soul and sweetens everything. In a prayer well made, troubles vanish like snow under the rays of the sun.
Prayer makes time seem to pass quickly, and so pleasantly that one fails to notice how long it is. When I was parish priest of Bresse, once almost all my colleagues were ill, and as I made long journeys, I used to pray to God; I assure you, the time did not seem long to me. There are those who lose themselves in prayer, like a fish in water, because they are absorbed in God. There is no division in their hearts. How much I love those noble souls!
As for ourselves, how often do we come to church without thinking what we are going to do or what we are going to ask for. And yet, when we go to visit someone, we have no difficulty in remembering the motive why we came. Some appear as if they were about to say to God: ‘I am just going to say a couple of words, so I can get away quickly.’ I often think that when we come to adore our Lord, we should get all we ask, if we asked for it with a lively faith and a pure heart.
Today is the Queenship of Mary
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