• Ex. 15: 1-18: Moses and Israelites sang this song to the Lord.

• Deut. 16:9-15: You shall surely celebrate.

• Ps. 133: How good and delightful it is for all to live together like brothers!

• Sirach 28:1-5: Forgive your neighbour and when you pray your sins will be forgiven.

• Mt. 26:36-46: Could you not slay awake with me one hour?

• Jn. 17:20-24: They may be one... as you are in me and I am in you.

• Acts 2: 42-47: They went as a body to the temple. (JB)

• Acts 4: 23-31: As they prayed, the house where they were assembled rocked, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the Word of God boldly.

• 1 Cor. 14:26: Let all things be done for the common good.

• Col. 4:2-4: Pray for us especially asking God to show us opportunities for announcing the message and proclaiming the mystery of Christ.

The Holy Spirit also gives you the grace to discover the image of the Lord in the hearts of men, and teaches you to love them as brothers and sisters. Again, he helps you to see the manifestations of his love in events. If we are humbly attentive to men and things, the Spirit of Jesus enlightens us and enriches us with his wisdom, provided that we are imbued with the spirit of prayer. (Evangelica Testificatio, No. 44.)

Your communities since they are united in Christ's name naturally have as their centre the Eucharist, "the Sacrament of love, the sign of unity and the bond of charity." (Evangelica Testificatio, No. 48.)

Ordained ministers are responsible for the formation in prayer of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Servants of the Good Shepherd, they are ordained to lead the people of God to the living waters of prayer. Many religious have consecrated their whole lives to prayer... The consecrated life cannot be sustained or spread without prayer; it is one of the living sources of contemplation and the spiritual life of the Church. Ordained ministers, the consecrated life, catechesis, prayer groups and spiritual direction ensure assistance within the Church in the practice of prayer. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2685-2695)

I begin by saying that we should prepare ourselves to say Office from the time we hear the bell calling us... In fact, it would not be proper to go to pray the Office as we go for recreation. We should take to recreation a joyful spirit and to the Office a spirit that is serious and loving... During the Office, to keep ourselves attentive, we should remember that we are saying the same Office as the Angels though in a different language, and that we are in the presence of the same God before whom the Angels are full of reverence. A man speaking to a King would show great attention, fearing he might commit some fault. If, in spite of his great care, he were to commit a fault, he would be greatly ashamed. At Office we should behave like this man. Our special attention should be given to pronouncing the words well and to being fully on our guard for fear of failing. If it happens that we make some mistake, we should humble ourselves without being surprised...

If I were a sister I think that I would not ask to be in any way different from the others: neither to receive Communion nor hair cloth, nor to wear the hair shirt, nor girdle, nor extraordinary fasts, nor discipline nor any other thing, finding my happiness in following the community in everything... (SFS, Spiritual Conferences, Vol. II, SFS Publications, Bangalore, 1998, pp. 8-10; 46.)

In his pastoral care towards them (his domestic staff), St. Francis de Sales gave first priority to their spiritual welfare. As he organized for himself a well regulated spiritual life, he enabled them to participate in his own spiritual experience of God through various means. Accordingly their whole programme of the day and of the week was punctuated with work, prayer, recreation, and repose in a well-coordinated manner. They had to get up at the early hour in the morning at 5 o'clock on ordinary days and at 4 o'clock on feast days when they had to go for matins in the Cathedral... At night before going to bed usually at 10 o'clock all of them gathered with their father (SFS) for the common prayer. They recited the litanies, different for each day of the week... (Midathada Mariadas, The Pastoral Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, Book III, SFS Publications, Bangalore, 1994, pp. 112-114.)

Watching him at the altar one could easily tell that he was concentrating with deep reverence on God: He kept his eyes lowered, his face was intent and he looked so calm and serene that no one watching him could help being moved, especially at the consecration and at communion, when there was a sort of radiance and peace about his face that went straight to every heart. For the Blessed Sacrament was his life and his strength and when he said Mass, he was a man completely transformed in God. He spoke in a rather low voice pronouncing the words gravely and deliberately, without hurrying, however busy he was. (Elisabeth Stopp, St.Francis de Sales: A Testimony by St. Chantal, Faber and Faber, London, 1967, p. 100.)