Posted on January 24th, 2010 by Dan Burke
The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer
by Father John Bartunek, LC
No one who is learning or desires to learn to pray more deeply and meditate more effectively on the person and work of Christ should go without this book. It offers a basic but at the same time sufficiently comprehensive overview of how to meditate in the Christian tradition (no New Age or Hindu/Buddhist influences here.)
Beyond the solid instruction on meditation method, Father John provides us with meditations through the four Gospels and group study questions at the end of each of the 303 meditation units.
Table of Contents (Partial):
Gods Idea of Prayer
- Christian Prayer – Eminently Christ-Centered
- Christian Prayer – Intensely Personal
Types of Prayer
- Vocal Prayer
- Meditative Prayer
- Contemplative Prayer
- Meditation vs. Spiritual Reading
Four Step Structure of Meditation
- Concentrate
- Consider
- Converse
- Commit
Difficulties in Prayer
- Sloth and Distractions
- Solving the Difficulties
- How Do I Know I’m Praying Well?
If you want to deepen your relationship with Christ by learning to meditate on Christ and his teaching through timeless and authentic Catholicism, this is the best way I know to start.
Seek Him – Find Him – Follow Him
Dan
