The child asks of the Father whom he knows. Thus the essence of Christian prayer is not general adoration but definite concrete petition. The right way to approach God is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.

True prayer is done in secret but this does not rule out the fellowship of prayer altogether however clearly we may be aware of its dangers. In the last resort it is immaterial whether we pray in the open street or in the secrecy of our chambers whether briefly or lenghtily in the Litany of the Church or with the sigh of one who knows not what he should pray for. True prayer does not depend either on the individual or the whole body of the faithful but solely upon the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows our needs.

The flesh resists this daily humiliation first by a frontal attack and later by hiding itself under the words of the spirit i.e. in the name of evangelical liberty. We claim liberty from all legal compulsion from self-martyrdom and mortification and play this off against the proper evangelical use of discipline and asceticism we thus excuse our self-indulgence and irregularity in prayer in meditation and in our bodily life. But the contrast between our behavior and the word of Jesus is all too painfully evident. We forget that discipleship means estrangement from the world and we forget the real joy and freedom which are the outcome of a devout rule of life. As soon as a Christian recognizes that he has failed in his service that his readiness has become feeble and that he has sinned against anothers life and become guilty of anothers guilt that all his joy in God has vanished and that his capacity for prayer has quite gone it is high time for him to launch an assault upon the flesh and prepare for better service by fasting and prayer Luke 237 42 Mark 929 1 Cor. 75.

Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy stand by his side and plead for him to God.