Photo Prayer:
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.
Prayer in its broadest sense includes almost all the actions that proceed from the virtue of Religion. It is, in general, the raising up of the mind and heart to God, or it is the approach of man to communication with Him. God has inclined Himself to us by creating us, and has followed this up by uniting His Son to humanity. Something more is required on our part to perfect the communication. Prayer completes the circuit, and establishes a direct and continual current of human action towards God, and of the divine action of grace towards us. God is the source of all the supernatural energy that works in us. This energy is ever ready to go forth in abundance, but it must wait for our action following on that of God, the action of prayer, which is an essential condition for the accomplishment of the divine operations in us. The first impulse of grace is from God, then prayer must intervene as the channel of the regular and continuous transmission of grace to us. Devotion, which proceeds from the virtue of Religion, finds one of its chief exercises in prayer. Prayer is one of the chief expressions of devotion, for it includes the recognition of God, aspiring to Him, rendering Him the homage of adoration and love, beseeching Him to bestow His gifts on us. This is one of the highest employments of the intelligence and will of man. It is specially distinctive of rational creatures; for although it prevails among the lowest races of men, there is no rudimentary form from which it can have been developed, in even the highest races of animals; and it is most effective in keeping man from reverting in life and morals to the animal type.
