Opening to God: A Guide to Prayer [Paperback]

Thomas H. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1977

Missionary-priest and educator, Father Thomas Green, draws on his cross-cultural experience, his acquaintance with the great spiritual figures of Church history, and his own life as a "pray-er" to instruct on the subject of prayer.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas H. Green, S.J. is the author of eight books on the spiritual life. An internationally recognized writer, teacher, and mentor, he has served for thirty-five years at San Jose Seminary in Manila where he is Spiritual Director and Professor of Philosophy and Pastoral Theology. Fr. Green is celebrating fifty years as a member of the Society of Jesus. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 110 pages
• Publisher: Ave Maria Press (October 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877931364
• ISBN-13: 978-0877931362
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,008,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding--Don't miss this one!, May 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Opening to God: A Guide to Prayer (Paperback)

This is an excellent book which I would reccommend to any Christian who wants to develop a more meaningful prayer relationship with God. I've read numerous books on prayer, but this one far outshines any of the others. Concise and practical, it is also very understandable and readable for the average layman. If you want to learn how to greatly improve your prayer life, snatch this one up!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Practical Guide To Christian Discernment, June 15, 2000

By 

Patrick J. McGervey "Patrick J. McGervey" (Avon Lake, Oh United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Opening to God: A Guide to Prayer (Paperback)

Opening to God is about just that, opening to God's will and his movements within the soul and in the world. It is a very practical guide to discernment. I have used it with high school students who sometimes found the vocabulary and some concepts beyond them, and it is not full of poetic glimpses of the Divine mystery. It is a well grounded and faith filled view of how the Christian can faithfully seek the will of God.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and Insightful, December 17, 2008

By 

Dan Z - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Opening to God: A Guide to Prayer (Paperback)

This introduction to prayer is just over 100 pages, but the book is still brimming with insight. The writing is natural and enjoyable. So much so that I present an outline of the book in quotes:

Chapter 1: What Prayer Is

"Hearing or listening is a good metaphor for prayer. The good pray-er is above all a good listener. Prayer is dialogue; it is a personal encounter in love."

Chapter 2: The "Irrelevance" of Prayer

"If we try to determine its relevance, to justify it by showing that it is useful, it slips through our fingers...the experience itself is the only proof, the only justification."

Chapter 3: The Relevance of Prayer: Discernment

"Similarly, in our relationship with God the signs or touchstones of mature love are instinctive judgments about what would please him, instinctive sensitivity to the quiet word or small gesture which anyone except a lover would overlook."

Chapter 4: Are There Techniques of Prayer?

"We have been discussing various techniques for coming to attentive quiet before the Lord. Not all of them are prayer proper--i.e., a personal encounter with God in love--but they are a normal prerequisite for prayer."

Chapter 5: The Active Purification of the Soul

"The problem is not too many loves, but the fact that our loves are in conflict, are eccentric, not centered and integrated. This is the root problem for every pray-er, whether married or celibate. We can have many loves in our lives, but only one center, one sun around which all our loves are satellites."

Chapter 6: The Ways of Prayer of Beginners

"We may say that meditation is not properly prayer in the sense we have defined it (a personal encounter with God in love)--but, because love depends on knowledge, meditation on the scripture is an essential first step to genuine prayer. Thus it is the principal activity of beginners when they come to pray."