Saturday, December 2 : Saint John-Mary Vianney

To show you the power of prayer and the graces which it brings down upon us from heaven, I need only tell you that by prayer alone the elect obtained the grace of perseverance. Prayer is to our soul what the rain is to the soil. Fertilize the soil ever so richly, it will remain barren unless fed by frequent rains. You may perform good works as much as you like; if you do not pray frequently and pray properly you will not be saved, for prayer opens our mind’s eye and shows our soul the magnitude of our misery and the necessity of divine assistance. The Christian confides solely in God and not in himself. Yes, indeed, my friends, prayer has given perseverance to the saints. What was it that caused them to make such sacrifices, to leave their earthly possessions, their relatives and friends, and the commodities of this life, and to retire into the woods, there to pass the remainder of their earthly existence in bewailing their sins? It was prayer, my friends, which inflamed their hearts at the thought of God; it was prayer which awakened in them the ardent desire to please God and to live solely and alone for Him. Do we not, from the moment that we neglect our prayers, lose all taste for heavenly affairs, and is not our mind continually occupied with worldly subjects? As soon as we seek recourse again to prayer, so soon do we feel a longing for heavenly things.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team