List of points

Saint Luke the Evangelist tells us that Jesus prayed… What must his prayer have been like!

Contemplate this fact slowly: the disciples had the opportunity of talking to Jesus and in their conversations with him the Lord taught them by his words, and deeds, how they should pray. And he taught them this amazing truth of God’s mercy: that we are God’s children and that we can address Him as a child addresses his Father.

When you start out each day to work by Christ’s side and to look after all those souls who seek him, remember that there is only one way of doing it: we must turn to the Lord.

—Only in prayer, and through prayer, do we learn to serve others!

Remember that prayer does not consist in making pretty speeches, or high-sounding or consoling phrases.

Prayer, at times, will be a glance at a picture of Our Lord or of his Mother; sometimes a petition, expressed in words; or offering good works, and the fruits of faithfulness…

We have to be like a guard on sentry duty at the gate of God Our Lord: that’s what prayer is. Or like a small dog that lies down at its master’s feet.

—Do not mind telling him: Lord, here I am, like a faithful dog; or better still like a little donkey, which will not kick the one who loves him.

We all have to be ipse Christus — Christ himself. This is what Saint Paul commands in the name of God: Induimini Dominum Iesum Christum — put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Each one of us — you! — has to see how he puts on that clothing of which the Apostle speaks. Each one personally, has to sustain an uninterrupted dialogue with the Lord.

Your prayer cannot stop at mere words. It has to lead to deeds and practical consequences.

To pray is the way to keep all the evils we suffer in check.

I have always understood Christian prayer as being a loving conversation with Jesus, which shouldn’t be interrupted even in the moments we are physically far from the Tabernacle, because our whole life is made up of verses of human love in a divine way … and we can love always.

The spirit of prayer which fills the entire life of Jesus Christ among men teaches us that all our actions — great or small — ought to be preceded by prayer, accompanied by prayer and followed by prayer.

You tell me: I have made up my mind to go more often to the Paraclete, to ask him for his light.

—Good. But remember, my child, that the Holy Spirit is a fruit of the Cross.

Pray for everyone, for people of every race and tongue and of every creed, for those who have only a vague idea about religion and for those who do not know the faith .

—And this zeal for souls, which is a sure and a clear sign that we love Jesus, will make Jesus come.