An Introduction to Prayer

        Pope Francis has designated 2025 as a Year of Jubilee, and in preparation for that celebration, he has, in turn, designated 2024 as a Year of Prayer. It is in response to the pope’s call for renewed catechesis on prayer that Word on Fire presents this small collection of texts from my writings and talks on the subject.

        Though I certainly prayed as a child and attended Mass every Sunday with my parents, I did not become fascinated with prayer until, as a teenager, I came across the works of Thomas Merton, especially The Seven Storey Mountain, Seeds of Contemplation, and The Sign of Jonas. These marvelous books opened my mind and heart to the mystical tradition stretching from the biblical authors, through the Fathers of the Church, up to figures such as Bernard, Teresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart, and especially John of the Cross. And Merton’s own witness made that tradition come alive for a young man eager to find his way to speak to God. Another very important step on my itinerary of prayer was my first visit to St. Meinrad Arch-abbey just weeks before my ordination to the priesthood. Though I had heard recordings of monastic chant before, I had never actually experienced the sound and texture of that ancient form of song. I will never forget the moment when I entered the abbey church, a little late for Morning Prayer, and heard those seventy voices crying out harmoniously and longingly for God.

        Perhaps my greatest teachers in the way of prayer have been the people whom I have served in the course of my pastoral ministry. How often as a priest I have heard the plaintive cry “Father, pray for me!” or “Father, pray for my mom, who has just gone into the hospital” or “Father, pray for my kids; they’re feeling kind of lost.” Those urgent requests taught me a lesson that John Paul II knew very well: at the end of the day, all prayer is a form of petition. They also compelled me to see that authentic prayer always connects us to others in love.

        My hope for this little book is very simple: that it might lead you on the road to prayer; that it might teach you something about prayer; and that, most importantly, it might prompt you actually to pray. And take great comfort, as I do, from this saying of St. Josemaría Escrivá: “You say you don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and once you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray!’ rest assured that you have begun to do so.”