1. Pray according to the Gospel request : Pray always. A religious who has not the spirit of prayer is like a warrior without arms; a town without fortification; a body without life.

2. Prayer comforts man. It lifts him above perishable things and permits him to rest in God alone, in this God who created and redeemed him.

3. The virtues of the saints have sprung from a continual prayer. In the light of prayer a man learns to know his duties, and he becomes wise. More wise than if he penetrated the highest philosophical systems; he becomes wise with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

4. Prayer purifies the inclinations of the heart and sanctifies the soul, it adorns it with gifts of grace, and renders it lovable in the eyes of God. This is why Christ wished us to pray; it is why He gave us His example.

5. How many times in the Gospel does it not tell us that He withdrew at the end of the day, into the mountains or to the desert, far from all creatures, in order to converse with His father.

6. He prayed continually. At the incarnation His first thought was directed towards the Father. Behold I come... and His last sigh on the cross was also to His father, All is consummated.

7. It is in Christ's prayer that all God's friends have found and increased their love of prayer.

8. Many withdrew from the society of man in order to seek no longer anything but intimacy with God; others have succeeded in the midst of the restlessness of the century in keeping pure the contact of the soul with God.

9. Many holy bishops, who direct the Church with dignity have combined with their pastoral functions the true spirit of prayer. It was not enough for them to work, minute by minute in the presence of God; they set themselves fixed hours of prayer, and remained faithful to them at the price of a great effort, and even at times at the cost of their sleep. They were convinced that prayer united man more intimately and more ardently to God, and that love becomes listless with him who does not pray enough.

10. Happy are those that pray! God loves them with a special love. Do they not follow the path of the saints, whose life was only a prayer, whose spirit as entirely at God's disposition, and whose every faculty bowed to receive His grace? The moments they have been unable to spend for the service of His glory, in this most profound contact, they called lost time. Their eternal bliss is nothing else than the brightness of the glance which through all afflictions here below, they cast towards Him with constant fidelity.

11. Those who are called to the tasks of the active life must certainly apply themselves to them with fidelity. They would be separating themselves from God's plan if they were to act otherwise. They must beware of illusions. They will surely fall if they do not reserve for themselves fixed hours for the exercises of the contemplative life. The more one is exposed by the duties of state to the distractions of the active life, the more one must watch to come into close contact to God in peaceful contemplation, so as to be always united to Him in an intimate love.

12. Prayer is the indispensable means of preserving from interior apathy each individual, as well as the entire religious congregation.

13. May the heart of each religious be like an altar always laden with offerings, where a sweet-smelling incense burns unceasingly; a deep contemplation reigns and all action is surrendered to God.

14. You must then lend your whole being to prayer; as it is your duty to serve patients at every moment, so in the same way must your heart be prepared every moment for prayer. Always live in the presence of God, and you will be carried spontaneously to prayer.

15. One must take an extreme care of prayer and spiritual reading, because these two exercises are a conversation with God.

16. Moreover, the soul must learn by them to listen to God who speaks.

17. Also read slowly, stopping here and there to meditate. The soul thus becomes ready to receive the light of God and be docile to His word. One tires oneself by wishing to read a great deal in a little time, and one is not comforted at all.