AIDS DURING THE RECITATION.

I. A suitable place should be selected. The Psalmist sang "_In omni loco
dominationis ejus, benedic, anima mea, Domino_" (Ps. 102, 22). Our Lord
wishes us to pray always; St. Paul says (I. Tim. ii.) that we should
pray in every place, and theologians teach that a priest may validly and
licitly say his Hours walking in the fields, in his room, or in any
suitable place. The most suitable place is the church. For it is a house
of prayer (St. Matt. xxi. 43), and the Holy Ghost asks us to go there to
pray, "_in templo ejus omnes dicent gloriam_" (Ps. 28, 9). The Apostles,
going to the temple to pray at the sixth and at the ninth hour, show us
how suitable is the place holier than the temple--the church. The
practice of the saints impresses on us the suitability of the church for
the Church's official prayer. In the life of every modern saint we find
recommended and practised the saying of the Hours at the altar. Perhaps,
the example which is best known to missionary priests, is the example of
the Cure d'Ars, who in the early days of his priestly life always said
his Breviary kneeling in the sanctuary. His parishioners liked from time
to time to slip into the church to watch him. "Often," says an
eye-witness, "he paused while praying, his looks fixed on the
Tabernacle, with eyes in which were painted so lively a faith that one
might suppose our Lord was visible to his gaze. Later, his church being
continually filled with an attentive crowd following his least
movements, he took pains to avoid everything that might excite their
admiration. Yet still, he might be frequently found, after a long day
passed in the sacred tribunal, reciting his Hours on his knees, either
in the sacristy or in a corner of the choir, a few steps from the altar;
so strong was the attraction that drew him to unite his prayer to that