The Glenstal Prayerbook

The 2001 edition of the Glenstal Book of Prayer was an international bestseller. This edition was originally intended to be a reprint of that 2001 edition. But what has emerged is something quite different. There are many more prayers and the biblical texts use a very different translation. The biblical text comes from Eugene Peterson's translation of the Bible, The Message. Peterson, a pastor for many years, uses language that is stark and often raw, but which reflects more accurately the original language of the psalms and the New Testament and our daily speech. Peterson was determined to 'eliminate bilingualism: one language for talking about God and another for daily life and work.' Prayer has not changed since 2001 but the world has moved on. Life is even more hectic and hope has receded. There seems little time for an extra activity, especially prayer. This book is built on the premise that hectic though our lives are, we are deficient without a connection with the living God. And it is inevitable that hope drains from our lives. Without this connection, we will spend our lives seeking to fill the God-shaped hole with substitutes. And they don't deliver. Prayer is the language we use to sustain that relationship with the living God. We all need a 'maintenance plan' to sustain a faith in God - a life of faith. This book is intended as a part of that maintenance plan. This book provides a traditional approach to prayer - it provides a structure of daily prayer and a resource of prayers for different times and seasons, as well as familiar prayers and prayers to and with some saints. It takes its essential form from the monastic prayer life as lived in Glenstal Abbey: - Introduction on Prayer - Part One: Liturgical Cycle - Part Two: Daily Prayer - Part Three: Praying with ... - Praying with Jesus, - Praying with Mary, - Praying with the Church, - Praying with the Angels and Saints, - Praying with the Family.