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Literary Portals to Prayer series

Prayer is sometimes difficult. Perhaps we need spiritual inspiration. Something to reignite our spiritual life. A way to initiate a new and fruitful spiritual direction. Great literature can do these things: inspire, ignite, and initiate.

Which is the reason for “Literary Portals to Prayer.” The idea is simple: take insightful passages from great authors whose work has stood the test of time and illuminate each selection with a well-chosen quotation from the Bible on the same theme. Consider them, if you will, literary lectio divina.

To do this, we use a relatively new translation by Eugene Peterson called The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition. It is a fresh, compelling, challenging, and faith-filled translation of the Scriptures from ancient languages into contemporary American English that sounds as if it was written yesterday. The Message may be new to you, or you may already know it well, but see if it doesn’t illuminate these writings in delightful ways.

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