THE LORD'S PRAYER

    

LORDS PRAYER

                             

                                 Teach Us How to Pray

I have never known how to make use of prayer in speaking to God.
My Divine Master! Teach me this silent language that says so much. Teach me to keep myself in interior and exterior silence in Thy presence; to adore Thee from the very depths of my being, to expect all from Thee without asking for anything but the fulfilment of Thy will... Teach' me to let Thee act upon my soul and in it produce the simple and general prayer which puts nothing 
Into words, and says everything, which specifies nothing and includes everything. If Thou Grant I this grace how faithfully shall I consecrate to Thee a fixed time each day for prayer!
With what joy shall I fulfil this duty, and what care shall I not always take to preserve so precious a gift! But O Lord I know not what I am saying. I speak as if I were capable of making promises, or keeping them, if made, by my own strength, and as if my promises could cause Thee to do me
Any good I look at Thy bounty alone; grant me this favour for the glory of Thy name, and add the grace of making good use of it and of meriting its increase Amen
We all teach our children to repeat the Lord's Prayer: and yet we must often have been painfully aware that they were using words of which they did not know the meaning.
We could not pray to God rightly unless He taught us.
Now if I am actually told what to say, is there anything more I want before I may feel sure God will hear me when I pray? Yes: I must understand when I use these words, what the Words mean.