“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 As we draw closer to ...
Buried deep in the Norton Anthology, George Herbert’s little poem with the unpretentious title “Prayer” is easy to miss. Decorously contained on a half-page with regular rhyme and punctuation, it ...
When I was younger, a nun told me that if I only prayed when I was in trouble, then I was indeed in trouble. That maxim was filed away and revived when I began reading Learning to Pray: A Guide for ...
The tradition of writing prayer guides reaches back to the early centuries of the church, to Origen and Evagrius and to the many treatises on the Lord’s Prayer by church fathers. The tradition has ...
Imagine you love the sport of tennis. You watch every match you can on TV. You subscribe to Tennis magazine. You buy instructional videos and read biographies of famous players. Then one day you pick ...
Francis began a cycle of catechesis dedicated to the "Our Father", highlighting how Jesus was "a man of prayer". "Even if we have been praying for so many years, we must always learn!". "And we do not ...
Volumes have been written about prayer and praying, but I didn’t learn to pray by reading what others have written about prayer. My parents taught me to “talk to God” before I learned to read. Even ...
When our oldest daughter was a toddler, she had a unique way of speaking that very few people could understand. For one thing, she used the word “pa” and “ma” to refer to a host of different words.
As I began reflecting on these Scriptures for this Sunday, I wondered (and perhaps you do, too) what was it about Jesus when he was in prayer that the disciples found so attractive? They wanted to ...
Do you have children?” For most 30-somethings, this harmless question is the opening volley of a round of acceptable chit-chat. Colleagues at the office fill silences with news of recent pregnancies, ...