affairs of the world, the holy Church has appointed her ministers to implore for themselves and for all the people of Christ the assistance of his divine majesty through the different hours of the day. For this end is the Office divided into seven Canonical Hours, that there may be always some praying for all, and in the best form of prayer; inasmuch as the Divine Office is nothing less than a memorial drawn up for us by God himself, through which he may more readily hear our prayers and succour us in our necessities, as he declares to us by the prophet Isaias: Verba mea quæ posui in ore tuo. Isa. lix. 21. In this our good God acts as a prince who, wishing to relieve the miseries of his vassals, draws up for them himself a form of supplication suitable to his dignity and their own wants, that he may be the better able to console them. Many private prayers do not equal in value only one prayer of the Divine Office, as being offered to God in the name of the whole Church and in his own appointed words. Hence St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi says that, in comparison with the divine Office, all other prayers and devotions are but of little merit and efficacy with God. Let us be convinced, then, that after the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Church possesses no source, no

treasure, so abundant as the Office, from which we may draw such daily streams of grace.

But St. Gregory says that true prayer consists not only in the pronunciation of the words, but also in the attention of the heart; inasmuch as our good desires prevail much more with God in obtaining his divine mercies, than simply our voices: Vera postulatio non est in vocibus, sed in cogitationibus cordis; valentiores namque voces apud aures Dei non faciunt verba nostra, sed desideria. S. Greg. Mor. lib. 22, cap. 13. It is, therefore, necessary, if we would please God, to pray not only with the voice, but with the spirit and the mind, after the example of the apostle: Psallam spiritu, psallam et mente. 1 Cor.

xiv. 15.

If Priests and Religious did all recite the Office as it ought to be recited, the Church would not behold herself in the miserable state to which she is reduced. How many sinners would be delivered from the slavery of the devil, and how many souls would love God with much greater fervour! And how would Priests themselves not find themselves ever the same, imperfect, irritable, jealous, attached to their own interests, and led away by vanities! Our Lord has promised to hear every one who prays to him: Omnis

enim qui petit, accipit. Luc. xi. 10. And how comes it that a Priest offering up so many prayers in a day, were it only in the Office which he recites, is yet never heard? He is always the same, as weak and prone as ever to fall not only into slight sins (to which he is habituated, and takes neither pains nor care to correct himself of them,) but into grievous sins against charity, justice, or chastity; hence when he recites the Office, he pronounces sentence of condemnation against himself, in these words: Maledicti qui declinant a mandatis tuis. And what is still worse, he feels little remorse, excusing himself as being of the same flesh and blood as other men, and not able to restrain himself. But if he said the Office with fewer distractions and less negligence, accompanying with his heart the many prayers which he offers to God in reciting it, he certainly would not be so weak, but would acquire fortitude and strength to resist all temptations, and to lead a holy life, such as becometh a Priest of God.

But, how, says St. Gregory, can God regard the prayers of him who knows not what he is asking, nor at all times desires to be heard? Illam orationem non audit Deus, cui qui orat non intendit Ass. S. Thom, 2. 2. qui, 83. art. 12. The apostle tells us that the

prayer of only the lips is fruitless: Si orem lingua......mens autem mea sine fructu est. 1 Cor. xiv. 14. As prayer offered with attention and devotion is a sweet-smelling incense, which is most pleasing to God, and brings down for us treasures of grace; so, on the contrary, prayer offered with distractions and indevotion, is an abomination in his eyes, which excites his indignation, and brings upon us his wrath.

The Almighty one day complained of this to St. Brigit, saying, that Priests lost much time every day, in entertaining themselves with their friends on worldly topics; but that when they came to speak with him in the divine Office, they were in such haste, that instead of honouring they dishonoured him. Hence St. Augustine said, that the barking of a dog was more pleasing to God than the chanting of such Priests. O God, how indignant would an earthly prince be, were one of his vassals, while in the act of petitioning him for some favour, to be so distracted and taken up with other things as not to know what he was saying! Hence the Angelic Doctor writes, that no one can be excused of sin, who at prayer, although not of obligation, is voluntarily distracted, because he thereby slights God, as one would do, who, speaking to another, paid no attention to what he

was saying: Non est absque peccato, quod aliquis orando evagationem mentis patiatur: videtur enim contemnere Deum, sicuti si alicui homini loqueretur, et non attenderet ad ea, quæ ipse profert. 2. 2. q. 83, art. 12.

Alas! of how many Priests will the Lord complain, as he complained of old of the Jews!, Populus hic labiis me honorat: cor autem eorum longe est a me. Matt. xv. 8. And of how many might be said what Peter of Blois writes? Libia sunt in canticis, et animus in patinis. Serm. 59. ad Sacred. While their lips pronounce the Psalms and Canticles, their minds are in the pleasures of the table; thinking how they may best gratify their appetites or their vanity, their thirst for riches or similar worldly desires. The council of Treves says: Quid est voce psallere, mente autem domum, aut forum circuire, nisi homines fallere et Deum irridere? Conc. Trevier. cap. 6. de Hor. Canon. What else is it to chant the psalms with the voice. and in mind to be going through the streets and squares, but to deceive men, by making them believe that you are praising God, when in reality you are mocking him, speaking to him indeed with your lips, but giving your minds and hearts to anything rather than to praising him and praying to him? Hence St. Basil justly concludes, that as,