u ask
yourself--for you must imagine yourself there--to which side would you
go. Over to our Blessed Mother to try and console her, or over to the
enemies to help them to mock? Then you think how sin was the cause of
all this suffering, and how often you yourself have sinned; how you have
many a time gone over to the crowd and left the Blessed Mother. These
thoughts will make you sorry for your sins, and you will form the good
resolution never to sin again. You will thank God for these good
thoughts and this resolution, and your meditation is ended. You can
spend fifteen minutes, or longer if you wish, in such a meditation. The
Crucifixion is only one of the many subjects you may select for
meditation. You could take any part of the "Our Father," "Hail Mary," or
"Creed," and even the questions in your Catechism. Mental prayer,
therefore, is the best, because in it we must think; we must pay
attention to what we are doing, and lift up our minds and hearts to God;
while in vocal prayer--that is, the prayer we say aloud--we may repeat
the words from pure habit, without any attention or lifting up of the
mind or heart.

305 Q. Is prayer necessary to salvation?
A. Prayer is necessary to salvation, and without it no one having the
use of reason can be saved.

We mean here those who never pray during their whole lives, and not
those who sometimes neglect their prayers through a kind of
forgetfulness.

306 Q. At what particular times should we pray?
A. We should pray particularly on Sundays and holy days, every morning
and night, in all dangers, temptations, and afflictions.

"Sundays and holy days," because these are special days set apart by the
Church for the worship of God. In the "morning" we ask God's grace that
we may not sin during the day. At "night" we thank Him for all the
benefits received during the day, and also that we may be protected
while asleep from every danger and accident. We should never, if
possible, go to sleep in mortal sin; and if we have the misfortune to be
in that state, we should make as perfect an act of contrition as we can,
and promise to go to confession as soon as possible. So many accidents
happen that we are never safe, even in good health; fires, earthquakes,
floods, lightning, etc., might take us off at any moment. If you saw a
man hanging by a very slender thread over a great precipice where he
would surely be dashed to pieces if the thread broke, and if you saw him
thus risking hi