Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Downright Thorough Catholic Prayer Book, June 5, 2004
The Saint Joseph's People's Prayer Book is an interesting and downright thorough Roman Catholic Prayer Book. In reality, being a Vatican II Prayer Book it is appropriate for anybody with a catholic spirit, including many Anglicans, Orthodox, and Lutherans. I bought the book as an Anglican, but am now journeying to the Roman Catholic Church.There are so many prayers and types of prayers in this book that it can be a bit overwhelming at first. It is divided into 12 basic sections, consisting of 1056 pages. The 12 sections are: 1. Prayers from the Bible
2. Prayers from the Liturgy
3. Prayers from the Enchiridion of Indulgences
4. Prayers of Saints and Spiritual Writers
5. Prayers of Orthodox, Protestants, and Non-Christians
6. Prayers in Accord with the Church Year
7. Prayers to the Blessed Trinity
8. Prayers to Saints
9. Prayers for Various Occasions
10. Prayers Based on Various Relationships
11. Prayers for Popular Devotions
12. Prayer-Blessings Included in these 12 sections are Novenas, prayers to the Holy Spirit, Eucharistic Prayers, the Rite of Penance, Morning and Evening Prayer, Votive prayers, The Rosary, and popular Protestant prayers. There are even some occasional prayers that struck me as very particular, but also very good ideas, such as "a prayer before going on a date" and "a prayer before driving." There are also prayers of blessing for pets, boats, Christmas Trees, books, and even computers! Overall this is a fine prayer book that is extremely thorough. I only had a few issues with the book. First, the prayers from non-Christian traditions initially offended me. I guess if one takes the view that these prayers were actually addressed to the Trinity "sub specie" the other deities, then I have less of a problem. In other words, because these people did not have the benefit of hearing the message of Christ, then these prayers were making them ready for Christ, similar to the argument of St. Justin on why Socrates and Plato were Christians before Christ. Another issue I have (not an objection per se) is the pictures included are straight from the 1950s, and actually remind me of Jehovah's Witness literature. The pictures do have a certain nostalgic feel to them, but I am not sure if others will feel the same way. Check this one out to deepen your prayer life, even if you are not Roman Catholic.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive Catholic Prayerbook, May 7, 2001
This is the most comprehensive Catholic prayerbook that I have seen. It begins with prayers from the Bible and continues with the Eucharist (Mass), the sacraments, and excerpts from the Liturgy of the Hours. It has prayers written by saints grouped by century. Prayers from religions other than Catholic are included: Orthodox and Protestant Christians, Jewish, religions from the East, and religions from the Americas. It continues with saints' prayers and prayers for various needs, traditional and modern, and much more. I find it to be a great reference.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I'm looking for a replacement..., March 7, 2008
I'm not particularly thrilled with this prayer book, although my reasons may be trivial.
First, I am a bit put off by the inclusion of non-Christian prayers. There are sections for prayers of other religions, including Jewish, Muslim, Bhuddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and Native American spirituality. None of the prayers are offensive, of course. There are no prayers to Vishnu, for example. And, I can understand the reasoning behind including them. But, I'd rather see those pages used for some Catholic purpose. There are many things not included in this book that I would like to have. For example, a guide to confession with an examination of conscience, or maybe some essays for meditation written by Catholics through the ages on various points of Catholic faith.
Second, this book contains some really ugly art. There are black and red woodcut illustrations, rather abstract and symbolic, at the beginning of each section that are banal and uninspiring. Then, there are some horrendously bad drawings of various things like people going to Church or worshipping at Mass, as well as some portraits of saints and illustrations of events in Scripture. I am unable to describe just how clumsy and bad most of them are. They do nothing to aid me in devotion. The only thing they do is irritate me a bit and take up space that could be used to a better purpose. (Really, I wish I could show you the picture of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington with people sailing and skiing on their heads. It's a marvel of ugliness.)
Third (and this is truly very trivial), many of the prayers are written in a dull tone, using flat, uninspiring language. There are sections of the book containing prayers from previous centuries, but a lot of the prayers for specific occassions and people are just dull.
There are some good points: the book has a big section on indulgenced works and prayers that I have found very helpful. And, I do like the sections of prayers from the Church's history.
But, I think that there must be a better book than this one. Something that contains all the good bits I like, but not the bits I don't. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, although I'm sure many people would like the very things about it I do not.
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