THE BEST PART.

Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard his word. But Martha was

busy about much serving. Who stood

and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve ? speak to her therefore, that she help me. And the Lord, answering, said to her : Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.

soul be blended into one unitive state, the more important element being the contemplation which precedes and characterizes action.

Another lesson, and one of very practical bearing, is that genuine repentance brings with it fitness for the highest honor bestowed on innocence itself. Martha thought otherwise. She never dreamed that preference was due to her sister over herself because she could pray better, or that a fallen woman could ever be lifted by penance or anything eise to religious equality with a virtuous one; she must have been amazed that her tainted sister was raised even higher than her. self.

CHAPTER LXIV.

JESUS TEACHES HIS DISCIPLES HOW TO PRAY.-THE

LORD'S PRAYER.

Matt. vi. 9-13; vii. 7-11; Luke xi. 1-13.

LYING between Bethany and Jerusalem was the Mount of Olives, our Saviour's chosen refuge for prayer, as well as for His more intimate conferences with the disciples. There in the hours of the night, the darkness deepened by the shadows of the olivetrees, Jesus communed with His Father, and with the angels. Perhaps it was on his way to Bethany, after one of these spiritual retreats, that the Apostles said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray." This is the most practical side of all Christ's teaching, prayer being the primeval means of union with the Deity. As the apprentice learns first the use of tools, so does the Christian learn how to pray. And as the boy in the workshop looks at his master and wonders at his dextrous handling of the tools and asks to be taught it, so acted the Apostles with our Saviour. They saw Him enter the shadows, His brow clouded with trouble and His eye restless; His soul was wrought to anger or depressed with melancholy after His conflicts; and His listless step and darkened face But when He came forth again He was restored. His head was erect, consolation and peace rested upon His countenance, His eye kindled with gentle fire, and His heart throbbed with courage. He had been engaged in prayer. St. Luke tells us what happened on one of these occasions: "And it came to pass that as He was in a certain place praying, when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his

showed this.

disciples." Now, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount had already given them the form of prayer which is peculiarly His, and is called the Lord's Prayer; but He gave it to them again. Perhaps the Apostles, like many after them, wanted some easy routine into which an indolent soul might slip and pray as one moves in a groove-which would make prayer take care of itself. Jesus knew that prayer is a mental function too high to have its subtle forces harnessed by any one set of methods. "Think over what I say to you," we might interpret Him-" do it humbly and with attention, and you will have the fruit of thought with God, as far as word and sentence can give it." Just as a set of harness fetters the dull horse and helps the spirited one, so does a form of prayer help or hinder a soul.

St. Luke and St. Matthew give the Lord's Prayer with some variations as the Master at different times taught His disciples to pray by its means. The traditional prayer in universal use is a blending of the versions of both Evangelists. Its excellence is supreme. It is a summary of all that man can ask and God can give. Though short, it is not too much condensed. The Lord's Prayer is like an essential oil whose every drop distributes the flavor and fragrance of the deep flowing streams of divine union.

When you pray, say, Our Father, who art in Heaven." There is fatherhood and brotherhood in this opening sentence. The hateful word my or mine is unknown in this prayer. The human soul, now lift. ing up its head from the moral slavery in which it had been bound for so many ages, salutes the Deity with the term Father as the common Parent of all the race and the bond of its new-found brotherly unity. Common origin should mean common father.