November 16. On the Duty of Praying Always (Point II, Against discouragement in prayer)

CONSIDERATION.— The gospel continues, "Oportet semper orare et non deficere." "We ought always to pray, and not to faint." (St. Luke 18: 1.) The same lesson is contained in the parable which follows — that of the unjust judge, who is for a long time appealed to in vain by a poor oppressed widow. But at length the judge is compelled to do her justice; "because," as he says, "she is troublesome to me, I will avenge her." (St. Luke 18: 5.)

APPLICATION.— It was very necessary that our Lord, after having exhorted us to pray always, should urge upon us to continue in prayer, and not to give way, as we are often inclined to do, to discouragement and weariness. How many persons who at first prayed with fervor and confidence, finding their petitions unanswered, have lost heart and abandoned prayer! Had the widow of the parable thus acted, she would have obtained nothing. We are often discouraged, besides, by the remembrance of our unworthiness, our faults and our falls. We should console ourselves by reflecting that nothing is more pleasing to God than the prayer of a humble and contrite heart; that the greater our miseries, the more abundant His mercies; that the promise of our Lord, " Ask, and it shall be given you," proves that it is our prayer and not our merits that draws down on us the favor of Heaven; and that ofttimes, if we do not receive what we have asked, we obtain other and more precious graces.

COLLOQUY with our Lord, who has given us not only the precept but the example of prayer; after having labored all day, He frequently passed the night in prayer. "Erat pernoctans in oratione Dei." (St. Luke 6: 12.) Let us ask of Him the spirit of prayer, without which we can not accomplish anything great either for God, for ourselves, or for our neighbor.

THE SUPPER AT BETHANY

1st Prel. Imagine St. Mary Magdalene anointing our Lord's feet. 2d Prel. Ask for grace to love our Lord as she did.

POINT I THE CONDUCT OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE

CONSIDERATION.— Mary had anointed the feet of our Lord on a previous occasion, and also in the house of Simon of Bethany, probably the same St. Mark speaks of as Simon the leper. At this second supper, eight days before the Passion, Lazarus being present, "Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment." (St. John 12: 3.) This holy woman took every opportunity of showing the love and gratitude she bore our Lord. She had formerly taken pleasure in adorning her hair, and in rich perfume; now she makes a sacrifice of both in His service.

APPLICATION.— Let us also, following the example of this great penitent, lose no opportunity of showing love and generosity toward our Lord. Let us offer to Him in particular what it costs us most to relinquish, our judgment and our liberty, yielding them up willingly under the yoke of obedience. Let us be, as St. Paul expresses it, "Christi bonus odor," "the good odor of Christ," diffusing it around us by giving an example of perfect regularity, anointing the feet of our Lord by cherishing in a peculiar manner the poor suffering members of His mystical body.

AFFECTIONS.— Ask pardon for your want of generosity.