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Day by Day: The Notre Dame Prayer Book for Students

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Day by Day: The Notre Dame Prayerbook for Students celebrates its 25th anniversary with this wonderful new edition. While aimed at college students, the format of the book is helpful to anyone seeking tools to develop a richer prayer life. The book has been updated to include the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary and still contains all of the classic Catholic prayers so central to our Faith.

At the heart of the book, and what makes it so special, are the various "Student Life" prayers targeted at helping teens and adults face the many challenges they come up against in day to day life. The book is an excellent resource for high school and college students, young adults seeking to transition into the "real world" and any Catholic family looking to add a treasure to their Catholic home library.

For over one hundred years, the Campus Ministry Office at Notre Dame has offered prayer books to incoming first-year students. "The Notre Dame Book of Prayer" is an attempt to share that gift with the larger Notre Dame community and the world in general. The ties to Notre Dame are quickly relevant with references to places on campus abounding. However, if one can get beyond that, there is truly a treasuretrove of prayers in this book.

The prayers are divided into sections. Among these are: "In the Beginning," "Bless Us, O Lord," "Work of Human Hands," "To Everything There is a Season," and "It is Finished." While there are many prayers one might expect, there are many unexpected prayers such as a "Runner's Prayer before Beginning a Race," "Prayer for Parenting a Special-Needs Child," "Prayer for Conflict with a Coworker or Friend," "Blessing for Women in Transition," "Menopause Prayer," and a "Prayer after Suicide."

One prayer that spoke to me was "Give Me Someone;"

"Lord,
when I am famished,
give me someone who needs food;
when I am thirsty,
give me someone who needs water;
when I am cold,
give me someone to warm;
when I am hurting,
give me someone to console;
when my cross becomes heavy,
give me another's cross to share;
when I am poor,
lead someone needy to me;
when I have no time,
give me someone to help for a moment;
when I am humiliated,
give me someone to praise;
when I am discouraged,
send someone to encourage;
when I need another's understanding,
give me someone who needs mine;
when I need somebody to take care of me,
send me someone to care for;
when I think of myself,
turn my thoughts toward another."

"The Notre Dame Book of Prayer" would make a great addition to any Catholic's prayer collection.

This is a beautiful book for High School Graduations or I have also given it as a confirmation gift. It is prayers, both personal style as well as the best love prayers from the Catholic Faith. It is a good gift for teens because it is written from the University of Notre Dame, and speaks to the heart of teens. It is updated every couple of years.

This is just the prayer book I wanted and we recieved in very quick time

This book is just beautiful and has prayers for every occasion. Great editing. I ordered it just before Christmas and it came in about 1 1/2 days! Amazing!

I was very satisfied with this purchase. I received it quickly and it was exactly as it was described. I would definitely do business with this individual again.

This could be a beautiful book, if it were "limited" to prayers that authentically reflect the Catholic Faith. However, it appears to have the objective of trying to please everyone, being inclusive, etc. There are beautiful prayers from the Liturgy, from Saints, the Fathers of the Church, Popes, Sacred Scripture... then there are prayers of Islam, Buddhism, new age stuff. A chapter preface talks about the beauty of Liturgical Dancing (which, by the way, is not a legitimate part of any truly Catholic Mass). Several prayers begin with "Mother God..." or "Mother/Father God..." What is this? There's a prayer of thanksgiving about sexuality, that I had to read several times and still couldn't figure out what the author was praying for.

Many of the prayers are contributed by faculty, alums, average people, and many of them are very lovely prayers. However, the overtly "inclusive", let's-offer-something-for-everyone-even-if-we-offend-the-Catholic-Faith prayers ruined it for me. Of course I acknowledge that many non-Catholics attend Notre Dame Univ. But it's supposed to be a Catholic University, and a prayer book that represents authentic Catholicism throughout would have been very welcome. I cannot recommend this book if you're looking for a Catholic prayer book.