Customer Reviews

Prayers for the Domestic Church: A Handbook for Worship in the Home

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I started using the seven day-of-the-week prayers a year and a half ago, and I have not missed more than one morning in all that time. I can hardly believe it myself. No other prayer book I have used in my adult life has been so effective or so stimulating. One reason: the call to silence built into the middle of each prayer. Another: the open segment inviting me to pick a short passage to add for that day. If I don't have anything else to hand the many blessing prayers in the book are a great resource. Another reason: these prayers are deeply rooted in the Catholic tradition, but not aggressively so. Their tenor opposes all sectarianism. Whenever possible Hays avoids language that might alienate or exclude non-Catholic Christians or believers in non-Christian traditions. Those praying are invited to join their prayers with those of all who seek truth "with a pure heart." Another reason and not a small one: Hays' spirituality grows out of the ancient Judeo- Christian tradition of the centrality of blessing: God blesses us, we return the blessing, and we bless and rejoice in God's ongoing creation of the universe and us. -Mark Infusino

This is a prayer book for families today: it has prayers for real situations and celebrates the domestic milestones, not just the church's sacramental ones. (Although there are prayers for those, too.) i don't know if there is anyone that cannot relate to this book, whether they are into organized religion or not.

Prayers for the domestic Church is a wonderful resource for those who wish to pray, but struggle. I found when I would start with one of the prayers, I was able to express myself in my own words and found when I couldn't, it was because the prayer spoke for me. I found this to be helpful is bringing my family together and in seeing the world in a different way.

This book has been a part of our family for eight years now, and it has been a blessing in itself. It has been a great source of prayer and has brought my family closer together in the sharing of its multiple prayers and blessings. This book seems to have a blessing for everything and every occassion. I highly recommend this to families, especially those with children in their formative years.

My family and I have for many, many years used and enjoyed Fr. Ed Hay's book, Prayers for the Domestic Church and have gifted many, many couples with a copy as a wedding present for engaged couples that we sponsor for Marriage Preparation. As Director for our Diocesan Family Life Office, we also advocate for families using this prayer book. Just yesterday I recieved a phone message from a newly married couple saying how much this prayer book has touched their lives and thanking my husband and I for it. I have to say that I really miss the format of the original way the book was published and presently do not like the reformating of the book; maybe I'll get used to it. Is there a chance that you would be publishing the book in both formats? I am assuming that the change of format is to keep the cost of the book at a reasonable price. Either way, it is a DEFINITE all time favorite and will continue to be for many generations.

I liked this book for the variety of prayer resources it offered. Even though I did not purchase this for myself, the friends I gave it to as a gift have commented on how much they enjoyed it. I think the title is a bit off base since it contains a variety of prayer materials. I was led to believe that this was more of a handbook for worship in the home. Adding the word "Prayers for Worship in the Home" would have been helpful. Nevertheless, I appreciated its content once I had the chance to skim through it.

This book is filled with the blessings of all kinds of things, events and for people.
I have turned to it many times for: Blessing a new office, Mardi Gras dinner, and, most recently, St. Patrick's Day.
The prayers are warm and thoughtful and are approporiate for any place along the spiritual journey.
This book will be used many, many times.

I love this book and Edward Hays. We used this book to pray with my grandfather every morning and every night before he died. We were able to use a psalm that Hays wrote about death for my grandfather's wake. The prayers are heartfelt, genuine and speak of the struggles that people experience in their daily life. Hays' greatest strength is in his imagery and searing voice. If you are familiar with any of his other works, definitely try this out! It has a particular relevancy for family life and offers prayers to ritualize moments of joy and celebration as well as times of sorrow and struggle.

I have an older edition of this book but wanted a new one to give as a gift. It has changed somewhat but is still a wonderful guide for daily prayer and blessings for special events that occur in everyone's life. The author sees ordinary events in a spiritual way and puts his thoughts into beautiful expressions of prayer.

This book was suggested to me by my Pastor and has served me well. There are many good prayers and blessings in the book. A good resource for any Clergy.