Part III, The Means of Grace: The Most Important Prayers

The Our Father is also known as the Lord's Prayer, because it was taught us by Christ Our Lord Himself.

1. The Our Father takes precedence of all other prayers; it is especially distinguished by its power, its simplicity and its comprehensiveness.

There is no more holy and excellent prayer than the Our Father. It has greater cogency than any other prayer, because in it we do not merely pray in the name of Jesus, but in His own words. Of this prayer more than of any other Our Lord's promise holds good : " If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it you " (John xvi. 23). It is the simplest of all prayers; its words are few, but it is rich in meaning. It is so simple that a child's lips may utter it devoutly; yet the theologian seeks in vain to sound its depths; it is suited to every class and condition of men. In the Lord's Prayer we ask for all things that are needful for our soul and our body; it comprises all for which we ought to pray ; nothing that can be found in the most excellent of prayers is lacking in it. It is an epitome of the holy Gospel ISTot only does it teach us the things for which we ought to ask, but the right order in which to ask for them.

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The Our Father consists of an address, seven petitions, and the word Amen.

2. The address places the soul in the right disposition for prayer; it awakens within us confidence in God and raises our thoughts to Him.

The word " Father " awakens confidence in God, the words " Who art in heaven " raise our thoughts to Him. Thus at the very commencement of this prayer we make acts of faith, hope, and charity.

We call God Father, because He created us to His image (Gen. i. 27), because the Son of God became our Brother by His Incarnation (Eph. i. 5), and because at baptism the Holy Spirit took up His abode within us, and made us the children of God (Rom. viii. 15).

In approaching the great ones of the earth, we are doubtful by what title we ought to address them; it is not so with God. We address Him as Father, and this familiar title pleases Him better than any other. No mortal would have dared to call the almighty Ruler of the universe by the name of Father, had not His only-begotten Son given us permission to do so. God would not have us address Him as our Creator, Lord, or King, because these titles convey an idea of severity, and inspire fear. He would have us call Him Father, because this is a title which bespeaks affection, and love is a far more exalted feeling than fear.

"We call God Our Father because we, as brethren, ought to pray for one another.

In the Lord's prayer the individual prays for all, and all for the individual, hence it is the common prayer of all Christians. Our own needs compel us to pray for ourselves ; fraternal charity urges us to pray for others. Our Lord Himself says : " All you are brethren " (Matt, xxiii. 8), and calls the apostles His brethren (Matt, xxviii. 10). The apostles spoke of the faithful as their brethren (Rom. i. 13; xii. 1). Those may rightly be called brethren, who have but one Father in heaven.

We say: " Wbo art in heaven," because although God is present everywhere, heaven is His throne, and there only is He beheld face to face (1 Cor. xiii. 12).

3. In the first petition we pray that God may he glorified.

Tbe meaning of tbe first petition is tbis : Grant, O God, that we may acknowledge and revere Tby majesty more and more.

To give glory to God is the end of creation, and consequently it is the highest aim of every creature.

4. In the next three petitions we ask for these blessings : Eternal salvation, grace to fulfil the divine will, and the possession of

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those things which are indispensable to the maintenance of our earthly existence.

The meaning of the second petition is this: Give unto us eternal life after death.

The meaning of the third petition is this: Give us grace to fulfil Thy will as perfectly on earth as the angels do in heaven.

The meaning of the fourth petition is this: Bestow upon us all that is necessary for the maintenance of life, such as food, clothes, money, health.

5. In the next three petitions we pray that three eT:ils may he averted from us: The evil of sin, the evil of temptation, and those evils which are prejudicial to life.

The meaning of the fifth petition is this: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

The meaning of the sixth petition is this: Deliver us from those temptations to which we should succumb.

The meaning of the seventh petition is this: Avert from us all things which are injurious to life, such as famine, pestilence, war, etc.

The evils mentioned in the last three petitions are exactly opposed to the blessings enumerated above.

Eternal happiness is opposed to sin, which makes us eternally wretched.

The grace of God is opposed to temptation; for grace enlightens the understanding and fortifies the will, whereas temptation darkens the understanding and weakens the will.

The things which are necessary for the maintenance of our life are opposed to those which are injurious to it.

The seven petitions may therefore be divided into three divisions, of which the first has reference to God, the two others to ourselves.

6. The word Amen is the answer of God to the suppliant; in this place it is equivalent to the words: Be assured that thy prayer is heard.

In other prayers the meaning of the word Amen is " So be it," or: We entreat most earnestly that our prayer may be granted.

As in the Lord's Prayer the word Amen is to be considered as God's answer, whenever it occurs in the Mass the priest says it, speaking in God's name; but at the conclusion of the other prayers and collects of the Church, the server says Amen. Our Lord often employed the word Amen, principally as an asseveration.

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The Our Father has from time immemorial been in use in the Church, both in holy Mass and almost all other public acts of worship.

The Ave Maria

The principal prayers to the Mother of God which are in common use are (1), The Ave Maria or the Angelical Salutation; (2), The Angelus; (3), The Rosary; (4), The Litany of Loretto and the Salve Regina.

Catholics almost invariably add the Ave Maria to the PaterNoster.

It has always been customary among Christians to imitate the example of the archangel Gabriel, and salute our blessed Lady in his words. The devotion to Mary was not introduced by the decree of a council, nor at the behest of any Pope; at all times the faithful have been wont to pay their devout homage to the Queen of heaven. She herself foresaw that this would be so ; that all generations would call her blessed (Luke i. 48).

The Ave Maria is also called the Angelical Salutation, because it commences with the words of the archangel.

1. The Ave Maria consists of three parts: The salutation of the archangel Gabriel, the greeting of Elizabeth, and the words of the Church.

The salutation of the archangel runs thus : " Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women" (Luke i. 28). The greeting of Elizabeth is this: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb " (v. 42). The remain ing words were added by the Church. The first and second parts are an ascription of praise, the third part is a supplication. The first and second parts were recited by the faithful in the earliest ages of Christianity in their present form, while the concluding words were varied. St. Athanasius used to add : " Pray for us, Patron and Lady, Queen and Mother of God." From the time of Luther it was customary to end with the words : " Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us." The final clause now in use dates from the reign of Pope St. Pius V., who directed it to be printed in all the authorized prayerbooks. After the heretic ISTestorius denied the right of the Blessed Virgin to the title of Mother of God, the Ave Maria was more frequently on the lips of Christians than it was in earlier times. And when, in the thirteenth century, other sects .arose who refused to give the saints the veneration due to them, the devotion to Our Lady assumed a more and more prominent place, and from that time forth the Ave Maria became an invariable adjunct to the Pater Nosier in all the public services of the Church.

2. The Ave Maria is a most potent prayer, and one which is full of meaning.

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The Ave Maria is especially efficacious in time of temptation; many saints recommend the faithful to recite it, when evil thoughts assail them.

By the words : " Hail Mar j " we testify our reverence for the Mother of God.

It is the part of the inferior to salute the superior. Mary is the Mother of the King of kings, she is the Queen of angels and saints, arid yet our Mother also. .The highest adoration of angels and men is due to her, and therefore we ought reverently to salute her. The words Ave Maria indicate that Mary is a second, a happier Eve; she is the Mother of mankind. Ave is a play on the name Eva, the order of the letters being reversed. Thus the words of the archangel seem to signify : " Eve was full of sin, thou art full of grace ; the devil was with Eve, God is with thee; Eve was cursed among women, thou art blessed among women ; Eve gave birth to the accursed Cain, whereas the fruit of thy womb is the blessed Jesus."

The words: " full of grace " have this signification: " Thou hast received the graces of the Holy Spirit in a higher degree than all the saints together."

As the moon gives more light than all the hosts of stars, so the Mother of God possesses the supernatural light of the Holy Spirit to a greater extent than all the saints. The full plenitude of grace was poured out on her, whereas it was bestowed but partially on all the other saints. So richly was Mary endowed with grace that she approaches more nearly than any other being to the Author of all grace. God might have created a greater heaven, a greater earth, but a greater Mother than Mary He could rot create. The name Mary means sea; she is indeed an ocean of grace. The angel said to her : " Thou hast found grace with God." Only that which was lost can be found : Mary had not lost grace, therefore she found what man had lost. Let those then who have by their sins lost the grace of God, hasten to Mary, that they may recover it at her hands.

The words: " The Lord is with thee," have this signification: " Thou art united, body and soul with God in the closest union."

In the Temple at Jerusalem, which was outwardly of a dazzling whiteness, and inwardly overlaid with gold, God was continually present in a luminous cloud. The Temple was a type of the Mother of God, for in her the incarnate God dwelt, making her the temple of the Deity. In celebrating Holy Mass the priest turns seven times to the people with the words: Dominus vobiscum; thus wishing them the closest union with the Godhead, through the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. Of old such forms of greeting were customary; Saul made use of similar words when dismissing David before his contest with Goliath (1 Kings xvii. 37) ; David when dying, addressed Solomon in the same manner (1 Par. xxii. 11) ; and Tobias did the same when his son was starting on his journey (Tob. v. 21).

The words: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus," have this signification : " Thou

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art the most blessed among women because thy child Jesus was supremely blessed."

As a tree is considered good if it bears good fruit, so Mary is lauded for the sake of her Son. She is the tree of life in paradise, and Christ is the fruit of that tree. All the angels of God adore the Child that was born of her (Heb. i. 6). Mothers who have had good children have always been called blessed; witness the woman, who after listening to Our Lord's discourse, lifted up her voice to extol His Mother (Luke xi. 27). It is not because Mary was blessed that her Child was blessed, but the contrary. He, the Author and Source of all grace, filled her with benediction. Christ is not said to be blessed among men, as Mary is among women, because He is the Creator of all men, and cannot be placed in comparison with His creatures. When Judith appeared before King Ozias after slaying Holofernes, he declared her to be blessed above all women on the earth (Judith xiii. 23). How much more does Mary merit this praise, since she co-operated in the redemption of the whole human race! Both the archangel and St. Elizabeth addressed the same words to her to indicate that she was to receive homage alike from angels and men.

At the close of the Ave Maria we entreat the Mother of God to pray for us in the hour of death, for then above all other times we have most need of assistance.

At the hour of death, in addition to physical suffering, we shall perhaps have to sustain violent assaults of temptation. "How vehemently," exclaims St. Bonaventure, " does the devil attack man in his last hour, and for this reason, because so short a time is left for him to accomplish his work." The uncertanty of our salvation also causes us terrible anxiety at the hour of death. In all these tribulations Mary is our surest helper, for she is " the Health of the sick, the Comforter of the afflicted, the Refuge of sinners." When she appears beside the dying, all evil enemies take to flight. Many a one who was devout to the Mother of God, owed it to her that he was reconciled with God on his death-bed, that he had the last sacra ments, or received other supernatural aid. She even appeared in person to several saints. " Mary," says St. Jerome, " assists her faithful servants in death; she goes to meet them on their way to heaven, she prevails upon the Judge of all men to give them a merciful sentence."

We speak of ourselves as sinners, to render the Mother of God more inclined to listen to us.

Mary is most ready to interest herself on behalf of sinners; she knows what it cost her divine Son to redeem mankind and restore to our fallen race the graces we had lost. It would seem as if Mary did not estimate at its true value the sacrifice of Christ, if she had no great love for sinners. There is no sinner fallen so low that the Mother of God would not willingly befriend him were he to invoke her aid with a real intention to amend. God has committed judgment to His Son, grace and mercy to His Mother's hands.

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The Angelus

If the Mohammedan three times a day turns his face towards Mecca, and calls upon God and His prophet Mohammed, how much more ought the Christian frequently to look up to heaven during the day, and invoke the divine Redeemer and His blessed Mother.

The Angelus is a prayer which is to be recited morning, noon, and night, when the bell rings, in honor of the Mother of God and in adoration of the mystery of the Incarnation.

The words are as follows: (1), The angel of the Lord (the archangel Gabriel) announced unto Mary (the birth of the Saviour), and she conceived of the Holy Ghost (through the operation of the Holy Ghost she became the Mother of Christ); (2), Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word (by these words Mary drew down from above the Son of God) ; (3), And the Word (the Son of God) was made flesh, and dwelt among us (for thirty- three years He lived on earth).

The cutsom of ringing the Angelus bell three times a day dates from the period of the crusades (1095).

At first the bell was only rung twice a day, half an hour before sunrise and half an hour after sunset, to call upon the faithful to pray God for the successor of the crusaders' arms. The midday bell was added about three centuries and a. half later. At first the prayer said consisted only of a Pater Noster, afterwards the Ave Maria was added. The manner of ringing three separate times at the interval of about a minute, an Ave Maria being said each time, was introduced later by order of the Holy See, the object of the prayer being to entreat the Mother of God to exterminate the heresies that had arisen. The Angelus as it is now said is of more recent date.

In some places after the evening Angelus the bell sounds again to admonish the faithful to pray for the souls in purgatory.

Pope Clement XII. granted an indulgence of one hundred days to all who, hearing the bell, should recite kneeling one Our Father and Hail Mary, with the versicle : " Eternal rest give to them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them."

The Rosary

The suppliant who prays fervently is wont to repeat over and over again words which come from the depth of the heart. Our Lord did this on Mount Olivet; David in Psalm cxxxv., exclaims no less than twenty-seven times " His mercy endureth forever," and St. Francis of Assisi spent whole nights repeating : " My God and my all." The devout servants of Mary used to address her frequently in the words of the archangel, adding one Ave Maria to another, as one places roses in a wreath.

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1. The Rosary is a prayer in which the Our Father, followed by ten Hail Marys, is repeated five or fifteen times, accompanied by meditation on the life, the Passion, and the exaltation of the Redeemer.

We begin the Rosary with the Creed and three Hail Marys, for the increase within us of the three theological virtues. While reciting the Rosary every one must hold his own rosary in his hand, and touch the beads as he says the prayers; but if several persons join in saying it, it is only necessary for one to hold the rosary, in order thereby to regulate the number of the prayers. The Rosary is divided into the joyful, the sorrowful and the glorious mysteries; in the first we honor God the Father Who sent us the Saviour; in the second, God the Son Who redeemed us; in the third God the Holy Ghost, Who sanctifies us.

2. The Rosary owes its origin to St. Dominic.

The hermits of the first centuries, who could not read1 the psalter, used to recite one Our Father and one Hail Mary in the place of every psalm; and in order to note the number they had said, they made use of small stones, or of seeds strung on a cord. St. Dominic was the first who made the custom general of substituting one hundred and fifty Hail Marys for the one hundred and fifty psalms ; hence the rosary used to be called the Psalter of Mary. When, about the year 1200, the heresies of the Albigenses wrought great mischief in the south of France and the north of Italy, St. Dominic was commissioned by the Pope to preach in refutation of their erroneous tenets. His efforts availed little, and he besought the aid of the Mother of God. She appeared to him, and bade him make use of the rosary as a weapon against her enemies. He accordingly introduced it everywhere, and before long it had effected the conversion of more than a hundred thousand heretics. The use of the Rosary soon spread throughout Christendom, and it became a most popular devotion. It is a method of prayer at once simple and sublime; the prayers are so easy that a child can repeat them, and the mysteries are so profound that they supply a subject for meditation to the most learned theologians. It is a prayer of contemplation as well as a prayer of supplication, for it places before the mind the principal truths of the faith. The Rosary is a compendium of the Gospels; a complete and practical manual of instruction wrherem the chief points of Christian doctrine are presented under the guise of prayer. By meditation on the events of Our Lord's life faith and charity are in creased; from the example of our divine Redeemer we learn to be humble, gentle, obedient ; we are incited to imitate the virtues which the mysteries teach, to strive after what they promise us. Moreover the union of vocal and mental prayer makes the Rosary easy, pleasant, and profitable. As a method of prayer it is unrivalled ; the longer and more devoutly it is practised, the more one appreciates its excellence and becomes convinced of its supernatural origin.

3. The Rosary is well pleasing to God, because of its humility, and because it is an imitation of the imceasing song of praise sung by the angels.

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The Rosary is the prayer of the humble, for in it well-known truths are simply stated and constantly repeated. The proud despise it, but God, Who looks down on the low things (Ps. cxii. 6), approves it. It is an imitation of the angel's song: we read in Holy Scripture that the angelic choirs cry to one another : " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; all the earth is full of His glory" (Is. vi. 3). And when we recite the Rosary, we praise the Mother of God in a similar manner. It is beyond a doubt that this form of prayer is most acceptable to the Mother of God, for when she appeared at Lourdes she had a rosary in her hand. Pope Pius IX. unhesitatingly asserts that it is her gift to men, and she loves no other prayer as well.

4. The Rosary is a most useful devotion, for by it we obtain great graces and sure help in time of trouble; many indulgences are besides attached to it.

The Rosary is a very treasury of graces. Many sinners owe their conversion to it. It possesses marvellous power to banish sin and restore the transgressor to a state of grace. By it the just grow in virtue. All the saints who have lived subsequently to the institution of the Rosary have been assiduous in its use, and this may have contributed largely to their sanctification. Several holy bishops and servants of God are known to have pledged themselves by vow to recite it daily; St. Charles Borromeo, despite the numerous and pressing duties of his position, recited it every day with the seminarists and the members of his household. Blessed Clement Hofbauer was accustomed to say the Rosary while passing through the streets of Vienna, and rarely did he recite it in vain for the conversion of a sinner. It is recorded of several distinguished officers and victorious commanders that they never engaged in battle without first saying the Rosary, and to this they attributed their military successes. The Rosary has been called " the thermometer of Christianity," for the reason that where it is diligently recited faith is ardent, and good works are manifest; and where it is neglected religion is at a low ebb. In seasons of general calamity, miraculous aid has been granted to Christendom by means of the Rosary; this was especially the case in wars with the Turks, the victory of Lepanto (1571), the deliverance of Vienna (1683), the victory of Belgrade were all owing to the power of the Rosary. It was said that the beads of the chaplet did more execution than the bullets of the soldiers. It was in thanksgiving for these victories that the Holy See instituted the feast of the Holy Rosary on the first Sunday in October. Pope Sixtus IV. declared that many dangers which threatened the world are averted, and the wrath of God is appeased by the prayers of the Rosary. Our Holy Father Leo XIII. says that, as in St. Dominic's time the Rosary proved a sure remedy for the evils of the age, so it may now effect much towards the amelioration of the ills that afflict society. Every one who recites the Rosary must feel its supernatural power; there is no prayer which affords more consolation in affliction, more tranquillity to the troubled breast. It soothes in sorrow, it imparts the peace spoken of in the Gospel. Another proof of its excellence is the hatred and contempt wherewith unbelievers regard it. The devil in-

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cites them to decry what is a fruitful source of grace to the Christian, and by which souls are wrested from his grasp. The Rosary has been richly indulgenced by the Holy See, and the recital of it strongly urged upon the faithful. An indulgence of a hundred days may be gained for every Pater and Ave, if five consecutive decades be said, on a properly indulgenced rosary. Our Holy Father Leo XIII. has decreed that every day during the month of October, the Rosary, together with the litany of Loretto, be said in church either during the parish Mass, or in the afternoon, with the Blessed Sacrament exposed. For every time of assisting at this devotion seven years and seven quarantines are granted. Pope Pius IX. bequeathed, as a legacy to the faithful, this admonition : " Let the Rosary, this simple, beautiful method of prayer, enriched with many indulgences, be habitually recited of an evening in every household. These are my last words to you; the memorial I leave behind me." Again he said : " In the whole of the Vatican there is no greater treasure than the Rosary."

The Litany of Loretto and the Salve Regina

The Litany of Loretto is a form of prayer in which the most glorious titles are given to the Mother of God, and her inter cession is unceasingly implored.

The litany of Loretto takes its origin and its name from the place of pilgrimage in Italy, Loretto, where the holy house of Nazareth now stands. In this litany first of all God is called upon for mercy, as in the Kyrie Eleison of the Mass. This is followed by the invocation of the most Holy Trinity. Then the Blessed Mother of God is invoked, and her intercession is besought. These invocations may be divided into six groups: (1), The first three invocations express her special prerogatives: her sanctity, her divine maternity, her immaculate virginity; (2), Then her perfections as a Mother are enumerated: Mother of Christ; (3), She is next extolled in virtue of her virginity: Virgin most prudent, etc.; (4), Her glories are then depicted under a number of figures and types : Mirror of justice,

tetc. ; (5), Mary is next shown in her relation to the Church Militant: Health of the sick, etc.; (6), And finally in her relation to the Church triumphant: Queen of angels, etc. At the conclusion of the litany, confiding in the mediation of our Advocate, we appeal to her divine Son, beseeching Him to spare, to hear, to have mercy upon us. Several of the invocations have been added by the Holy See in the course of centuries ; for instance, " Help of Christians " after the victory over the Turks ; "Queen conceived without original sin," after the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception; and recently, " Queen of the most holy Rosary," on the introduction of the custom of reciting the Rosary in public during the month of October. An indulgence of three hundred days may be gained for each recital of this litany. The Salve Regina or " Hail, holy Queen," as it is also called, was composed in 1009 by Blessed Herman, and in 1146 the illustrious St. Bernard added to it the sweet words : " 0 clement, 0 pious, 0 sweet Virgin Mary."

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