hee all the day. Give joy to the soul of Thy servant,
for to Thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul. For Thou, O Lord,
art sweet and mild; and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon
Thee."[208]

XIII

Must Prayer necessarily be Attentive?

That even holy men sometimes suffer distraction of mind when at prayer
is clear from the words: _My heart hath forsaken me!_[209]

This question particularly concerns vocal prayer. And for its solution
we must know that a thing is said to be necessary in two senses:
firstly, in the sense that by it a certain end is _more readily_
attained, and in this sense attention is absolutely requisite in prayer.
But a thing is said to be necessary also because without it a certain
thing cannot attain its object _at all_. Now the effect or object of
prayer is threefold. Its first effect--an effect, indeed, which is
common to all acts springing from charity--is _merit_; but to secure
this effect it is not necessarily required that attention should be kept
up throughout the prayer, but the initial intention with which a man
comes to prayer renders the whole prayer meritorious, as, indeed, is the
case in all other meritorious acts.

The second effect of prayer is peculiar to it, and that is to _obtain
favours_; and for this, too, the primary intention suffices, and to it
God principally looks. But if the primary intention is wanting, prayer
is not meritorious, neither can it win favours; for, as S. Gregory says,
God hears not the prayer of a man who when he prays does not give heed
to God.[210]

The third effect of prayer is that which it immediately and actually
brings about, namely, the _spiritual refreshment of the soul_; and to
attain this end attention is necessarily required in prayer. Whence it
is said, _If I pray in a tongue my understanding is without fruit_.[211]

At the same time, we must remember that there is a threefold species of
attention which may find place in our vocal prayer: one by which a man
attends to the words he recites, and is careful to make no mistake in
them; another by which he attends to the meaning of the words; and a
third by which he attends to the end of all prayer--namely, God
Himself--and to the object for which he is praying. And this species of
attention is the most necessary of all, and one which even uninstructed
folk can have; sometimes, indeed, the intensity with which the mind is
borne towards God is, as says Hugh of S. Victor, so