BEGINNING TO PRAY Anthony Bloom Book Review

Beginning to PrayAnthony Bloom, Author
Copyright © 1970 by Archbishop Anthony Bloom
Paulist Press, Mahwah, NJ

Trade paperback, 114 pages
ISBN 08091-1509-3
Retail price: $7.95

Reviewed by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.
Perhaps one of the most written about Christian subjects is prayer. Although Jesus gave us a guide for how to pray in Matthew 6 with the Lord’s Prayer, it seems that none of us really feel completely adequate about the process.

I wonder, though, if anyone can really tell someone else how to pray. When we pray we come into the closest relationship with God possible while alive. Prayer may be as simple as being silent, or one or two words. It may come from anguish so deep that it seems rooted in the ground beneath our feet, or be so deliciously joyous that we feel weightless and floating on air.

It may be that these types of prayer are the easy kind, because they spring automatically from experiences of the moment. But what about day-to-day prayer, the prayer that we think in our minds or kneel privately to do, asking God which direction to take in His service, or whether to stay on the current course? What about praying to God when, though always present, He feels to not be around?

I would be very remiss to say that authors of books and useful tools about prayer shouldn’t made their offerings, simply because there is so much written it must be necessary. God speaks to us in many ways, and that book you buy or film you watch may be how He has decided to get His message across to you.

What I am really suggesting to my fellow Christians is this. Use the tools prepared by believers to begin, repair, or jumpstart your prayer life. At the same time, remember that when you and God share your time in this personal, private way together, to follow the Holy Spirit’s leading of what is in your soul. God is always there to lead and guide in the most perfect way possible because He loves you always, and wants you to be His forever.

There is a classic book about prayer that I recently read. I picked it because of its length—short! Still, this can be a most deceiving type of book, because of all that there is to think about-only 114 pages but with a wallop.

The book, Beginning to Pray, is by an archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. Wait!!! Please don’t stop reading now! This book is for all Christians. Father Anthony Bloom, the author, talks about his incredible childhood, his moment of experiencing Jesus and becoming a Christian, and shares wisdom from God through true stories and life in general. This book is not a step-by-step how to organize your prayer life so as to sow and reap the best from God. Rather, the contents of this book will give you the desire to pray instead of showing you how to dutifully pray. There is a difference.

God Always Leaves the Light on for You!!