s life willfully and without necessity, you would
pronounce him the greatest fool in the world. One who commits sin is a
greater fool. He suspends himself, as I have told you once before, over
an abyss of eternal torments on the slender thread of his own life, that
may break at any moment. Do we tempt God and do to Him what we dare not
to do to our fellowman because He is so merciful? Let us be careful. He
is as just as He is merciful, and some sin will be our last, and then He
will cut the thread of life and allow us to fall into an eternity of
sufferings. "Dangers," whether of soul or body. "Afflictions,"
sufferings or misfortunes of any kind; such as loss of health, death in
the family, etc.

*307 Q. How should we pray?
A. We should pray: first, with attention; second, with a sense of our
own helplessness and dependence upon God; third, with a great desire for
the graces we beg of God; fourth, with trust in God's goodness; fifth,
with perseverance.

"Attention," thinking of what we are going to do. Before praying we
should think for a moment what prayer is. In it we are about to address
Almighty God, our Creator, and we are going to ask Him for
something--and what is the particular thing we need and seek for? No one
would think of going to a store without first considering what he wanted
to buy. He would make, too, all the necessary preparations for getting
it. He would find out how much he wanted, and what it would cost, and
bring with him sufficient money. He would never think of going in and
telling the storekeeper to give him anything. Now it is the same in
prayer. When we have thought of what we want of God, from whom we can
obtain it, and of the reasons why we need it and why God might be
pleased to grant it, we can then kneel down and pray for it. We should
pray to God just as a child begs favors from its parents. We should talk
to Him in our own simple words, and tell Him the reasons why we ask and
why we think He should grant our request. We should, however, be humble
and patient in all our prayers. God does not owe us anything, and
whatever He gives is a free gift. We should not always read prayers at
Almighty God. If you wanted anything very badly from a friend, you would
know how to ask for it. You would never ask another to write out your
request on paper, and then go and read it to your friend. Now, that is
just what we do when we read the prayers that somebody else has written
in a prayerbook. Try, t