There are two kinds of prayer, vocal prayer and mental prayer. Vocal prayer is when this "raising up of your mind and heart to God" is expressed in some fixed form of words; mental prayer, or meditation, is when you dwell upon some subject and draw from it good thoughts and aspirations to God, not put into any particular form of words. This latter kind is very important. Without something of the sort, ordinary vocal prayers are very apt to become cold and unfruitful.

I have said that the essence of prayer is to be an interior act; the sacraments, on the other hand, are external.

A sacrament is "an outward sign of inward grace, ordained by Christ, by which grace is given to our souls." They require three conditions. They must have an outward part, consisting of certain actions and words; they must have a corresponding inward part, that is, a particular grace attached to this outward form; and they must be "ordained" by Christ. Our Lord only can give grace, and every institution by which grace is conveyed must necessarily be established by Him. He might have chosen any other way of giving His grace; but He has, in fact, made these sacraments the instruments by which men are to receive it.

They may be described, then, as certain visible fountains of grace, which our Lord has instituted for the members of His Church, to help them by such particular graces as they may require for their salvation,

I say, "for the members of His Church." The sacraments are only for those who have been made members of His Church by baptism; no others are capable of receiving them. Our Lord says of the sheep of His flock, “They shall go in, and shall go out, and shall find pasture." These special pastures are the sacramental graces given in the Church. This does not mean that those who are without cannot receive any grace. The Spirit breatheth where He will;" and people out of the Church may and do receive from God all graces necessary for them; and if they correspond with what they receive, God will go on giving them more graces; but still they are not capable of receiving grace by those particular channels appointed for His Church.

The sacraments are seven :

Baptism.

Confirmation.

Holy Eucharist.

Penance.

Extreme Unction.

Holy Order.

Matrimony.

You must learn the names of them by heart, and as soon as possible the uses of them all, which you will find detailed in the Catechism and elsewhere.

To help you at first, we will put them in this short

way:

Baptism makes us Christians.

Confirmation makes us soldiers of Christ.

Holy Eucharist feeds our souls.

Penance forgives our sins.

Extreme Unction helps the sick.

Holy Order makes bishops and priests.
Matrimony marries people.

Each of these sacraments has its own particular office, as you see. They all give grace, but, besides ordinary graces, they are intended to bestow the special graces which may be required to meet particular wants.

I will try to make this clearer to you by an example. You remember how the Jews, God's chosen people, were led out of Egypt, and journeyed forty years in the desert before they came to the promised land. We read how, as they passed through the desert, they came from time to time on springs of water, which God had provided for their wants in different spots.

These were resting-places designed to help them and restore them in the more difficult parts of their way. S. Paul tells us that all these things were done in figure; that is, they were types of what was to happen spiritually to Christians. We may very well then compare these shady springs, surrounded by palm trees, to the sacraments.

This life is a journey towards heaven, the real promised land. We are, or ought to be, "pilgrims and strangers," and, spiritually, are in "a land without path and without water." On our way God has placed the sacraments to be our help and refreshment. At each important turn of the road, if we may say so, He has

placed one of His sacraments, like a fountain, ready to pour into our souls the particular grace we need.

As soon as we are born, we have the sacrament of baptism. It cleanses us from original sin, and makes us the children of God. It clothes our souls with the beautiful garment of Divine grace, and puts into our hands the bright lamp with which we are to wait for the bridegroom. As soon as we are baptised, the priest gives us the emblems of this special grace. He first puts over us the white garment, and says, "Receive this white garment, and see thou carry it without stain before the judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Then he puts a candle into our hand, and says, "Receive this burning light and keep thy baptism so as to be without blame. Keep the commandments of God, that when the Lord shall come to the nuptials, thou mayest meet Him in the company of all the saints in the heavenly court, and have eternal life, and live for ever and ever.”

Next, as we grow older, we come to another stage of our journey. We are no longer children, but growing up, and ready to enter into the battle of life. The duties and cares of life are at hand, and we require to "put on the armour of God." Here has God placed His second fountain of grace, the Sacrament of Confirmation. By this we are made soldiers of Christ, and signed as the temples of the Holy Ghost. The strong help and special graces which we shall need in our spiritual welfare, are now given to us, and it

only depends upon ourselves to make use of them through our lives.

Again we go on farther in our journey. We have to choose a state of life. Here once more has our Lord placed fountains to supply us with the necessary graces.

For the greater part of men and women who are to enter into the married state there is the Sacrament of Matrimony, ready to give them the graces they will need in that state.

For those who are called to the special service of God, there is the Sacrament of Holy Orders, by which bishops and priests and other ministers of the Church are ordained, and receive power and grace to perform their sacred duties," as the Catechism tells us.

And when at last the end of our journey is drawing on, and death appears to be coming near, there is the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, to supply us with that strength of body and soul which we may need in our sickness.

But we have left out two of the Sacraments Penance and the Holy Eucharist. What are they like? They are not fountains of grace placed at particular points in our journey for special needs, but rather like the manna which rained down on the Jews from heaven every day of their journey, or like the pillar of the cloud which accompanied them on their way. "And they all drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ."

These two sacraments are intended for our constant