40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Will one day be a spiritual classic., June 8, 2007
This is the second book by Father Jacques Philippe that I have read. It is just as good as the first and I must state that it is a must read for growth in the spiritual life.
Father Philippe writes a wonderful little book about the life of prayer and how to pray, and he goes through a number of the Saints of the church and their writings on prayer. He gives some amazing advice. First and foremost, he states that all forms and types of prayers in the Christian life should not become so ritualistic that they lose their spiritual benefits. He tells us that most spiritual practices in our lives are for a season, and what is fruitful and amazing now, may need to be changed in the future.
Philippe tells us that we are responsible for 5 attitudes in our approach to prayer. We must have faith, fidelity, purity of intention, humility and perseverance. If we are persistent in pursuing these 5 things, we will grow in the spiritual life.
Fr. Jacques also gives us 4 principles to remember in our practice of prayer: the primacy of God's action, the primacy of God's love, the humanity of Jesus, and God's indwelling in our heart.
Fr. Philippe is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors for spiritual reading. He touches upon that practice in this book as a tool for prayer. Spiritual reading is different from other forms of reading; rather than reading for the purpose of reviewing, or academic reading, spiritual reading is slowly digesting a book, stopping to pray when inspired, or stopping to meditate - reading something again and again if it really catches your attention. Its main purpose is to grow deeper.
Some samples of the gems in this book are:
"Prayer, no matter how brief, is very pleasing to God. Far from causing us to lose courage in perilous situations, prayer strengthens us." P.125
"The truth is everyone who sets off on the spiritual journey seeks God, but also in part, herself or himself." P.22
"It follows that all we have to do in prayer is to seek love and to strengthen it. This is the only criterion for judging whether we are doing badly or well in prayer." P.61
"There is no doubt that if we give God our time, we will be able to find time for others, too. By paying attention to God, we learn to pay attention to others." P.30
"Therefore, we do not pray because of the pleasure or benefits drawn from it - even if these are immense - but primarily because we want to please God, who asks us to pray. We pray not for our own delight, but for God's." P.21
"Moreover, the Mass in itself is more important than personal prayer. This may be true, but without a prayer life, the sacraments would have a limited effect." P.27
"Nevertheless, in this life, those who pray become increasingly capable of loving and spontaneously doing good, which initially required great effort. Thanks to the action of the holy spirit, it becomes easier and more natural to practice virtue." P.27
Those are just a few of the passages I underlined in this book. I randomly flipped through and picked out a few passages to share with you. I hope they will intrigue you enough to pick up the book and give it a try.
Other Books By Fr. Jacques Philippe
Searching for and Maintaining Peace
Time For God
Interior Freedom
In the School of the Holy Spirit
Choose to be Free: the Power of Faith Hope & Charity (a different edition of Interior Freedom)
(These are all his books I have been able to find in English; if you know of any others or how to get them, let me know please.)
[It needs to be noted that there are three different versions of this book in English based on two different translations, the version by SinagTala was the original English translation and published under the name Jack Philip, Then Pauline Books and Media republished that edition in North America under Jacques Philippe and there is now a new translation by Scepter Press just released based upon a new translation, the meaning is the same, but the translations are significantly different.]
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
understandable prayer guide, very helpful, August 28, 2008
This review is from: Time for God (Paperback)
It is a shame that today, The classics on prayer by St. John of the Cross, and St. Theresa of Avila, have become so difficult to understand. Largely because the kind of language they used to describe the spiritual experience has been so commonly abused by pseudo spiritualists trying to legitimize their own novel ideas, that now when we read these classics it is hard to know what experience they are referring to, when they describe the spiritual journey. It tends to sound remote and obscure and rare to find. But this Book brings the same spiritual life that the mystics talked about within the grasp of the average person of good will.It has helped me to get past some obstacles in my prayer life. I feel after reading this book that the prayer life of the saints is within reach, and I feel more confident about my approach to prayer.I highly recommend this book.
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