Chapter XI

MASTER, WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT SOMETIMES TO PRAY?

Because thou hast nothing to pray for. But thou didst pray sincerely in thy sorrow and despair when thy lips murmured 'My God, why did this happen?'

WHY SHOULD WE PRAY?

So God need not remind thee by what callest death.

WHAT ARE PRAYERS?

Gifts to be born according to the fertility of the ground in which they are sown.

AM I TOO TIRED TO ASK CORRECTLY?

No, thou art but in semi-incubation for tomorrow's flight, a repetition of each round of the ladder of life. Be thankful it is upward. Tired men seldom ask questions.

WHY HAVE I NOT MORE ENERGY?

Compare the weight and energy of a caterpillar with its later weight and energy as a butterfly. After a dream of hard labor to exhaustion, art thou fatigued on rising?

WHY NEED I SUFFER?

Wouldst thou have prevented hadst thou known as thou knowest now? If thou walketh among thorns thou leaveth footprints of blood; but hast thou not also carried away a beautiful rose blossom?

WHAT SHOULD ONE DO IF UNDECIDED OR LOST?

Nothing. Be idle long enough to realize that thou must retrace thy false steps to where thy decisions were not lost.

SHOULD WE CONSTANTLY PRAY?

Dost thou constantly repeat 'Good morning' or 'Good night' all day; or knock at the door after it has been opened unto thee?

To pray is to contact, to commune and converse in deeds, not words and echoes.

TO WHOM SHALL WE PRAY?

To the soul of God within thee. If external, thou might worship idols that thou shouldst not before thy Father and mine. All that thou art was placed within thy consciousness. What thou has made or inherited are thy mortal sentiments strengthened by thy memory of experience, good or ill.

HOW CAN ONE LEARN MORE?

See and hear less, then thou shalt see and hear more.

WHAT IS A REAL GIFT, MASTER?

A token of love.

WHAT IS LOVE?

God's gift.

SHOULD ONE SHARE IT?

It cannot be shared if love be one between two. For as soon as ye give, ye receive it. Two halves make one whole. That is love.

WHY DO MEN DOUBT?

Because they think not, neither do they reflect on what they have thought.

HOW SHOULD ONE THINK?

When thou eatest a strange fruit dost thou not expect a reaction, whether poison or nutritious? Thou asketh a question and wait for an answer. Thou seest a stranger, then consult thy memory of reflection. Thou receiveth a thought from the abstract, incomprehensible; but if thou hast faith, that faith will be thy answer. For God does not deceive him who hath faith. Even though a wrong to reason, it will be right or appear so to him with that faith which makes it so.

MASTER, WE STILL HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO LEARN.

Unlearn, my son, of those mistakes of heredity.

DO THEY FOLLOW US AS WE EVOLVE?

Doth a sheep ever become a lion? What is thy flesh and blood but thy parents, the triunity of that union.

MASTER, I PRAY BE EVER CLOSE TO US IN OUR INFIRMITIES.

My son, can I be any closer than in thy heart where but one knock, a thought, opens my door to thee.

BUT WHY DOES IT SEEM LIKE I AM ALONE?

Is it so difficult to think my name? Then why art thou alone?

BUT WHY DO WE THESE THINGS?

Thou hast a tiller that stears thy ship (thy will). Whose hand grasps it: thine or that of thy mortal emotions? Is it thy doubt, thy pain, and hatred; or thy faith, confidence and love? That is thy answer.

MASTER, EVEN AGAINST ALL ODDS AND STRUGGLE I WILL WILL MYSELF WITH YOU.

My son, 'tis only what I expected thee to say and to do, becoming all those chosen shepherds of mine upon whose hearts have I pressed the crucifix as a token of my choice and their vocation, that supporting staff when weary and worn, as I was when pressed to earth by its weight; then later pressed it to earth with mine.

MASTER, THANK GOD FOR ME. I AM GRATEFUL.

'Tis done. Bless thee, my son, and those faithful in my cause. And forget not to think when thou dost not.

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