The Basic Book of Catholic Prayer: How to Pray and Why

Product Description

Whether you ve just begun to pray or have been faithfully praying for years, the wisdom in this book will help you pray better. It will rescue your prayers from distraction and superficiality and transform them into real occasions for communion with God.
Fr. Lawrence Lovasik here clears away misunderstandings that many people have about prayer and shows you innumerable ways you can avoid common obstacles and deepen your prayer life, no matter how much or how little you may have prayed before.
You ll learn what prayer is, why it s necessary, and how to practice the essential forms of Catholic prayer. You ll discover how the Church s sacraments fortify your prayer and how prayer, in turn, enhances your reception of the sacraments. You ll find out how to bring to your own prayers the qualities that make prayer effective. Your prayers will become more heartfelt, more focused, and more full of love for God.
Soon your prayer will fill you with a divine peace and joy that no one will be able to take from you. You ll achieve the glorious aim of all prayer: union with God!

About the Author

Lawrence G. Lovasik (1913-1986), author of the popular Sophia Institute Press book The Hidden Power of Kindness, said that his life’s ideal was to “make God more known and loved through my writing.” Fr. Lovasik did missionary work in America’s coal and steel regions, founded the Sisters of the Divine Spirit, a missionary congregation, and wrote numerous books and pamphlets emphasizing prayer and the Holy Eucharist.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

You cannot progress steadily toward the goal of life – to know, love, and serve God – without a willed dependence on God at each stage of that progress. Prayer is the expression of that willed dependence. It is, therefore, an essential means to salvation. If prayer is wanting, all other means are of no avail. Hence, it is most important that everyone has a clear and accurate notion of what real prayer is. Our Lord told us to “pray always,” and we cannot fulfill this obligation unless we have learned the art of praying rightly. St. Augustine once said, “He knows how to live well who knows how to pray well.” And St. Vincent de Paul’s conviction was: “There is certainly nothing more useful than prayer. This is why we should esteem it, love it much, and neglect nothing in order to do it well.” The purpose of this book is to encourage you to set about acquiring the art of praying, by equipping you with accurate notions of the nature, the role, and the subject of prayer. May the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Singular Vessel of Devotion, of whom St. Luke says, “Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart,” teach us how to pray!