Books: Joy, Light, Sorrow and Splendour

by Chris Irven

Spontaneous and heartfelt prayer is uplifting and, like all prayer, pleasing to God. But for most of us, most of the time it is difficult. The friends of Jesus found it so and asked him to teach them how to pray. He gave them and us a simple form of words covering the main objectives of prayer: thanks and praise, repentance, and entreaty for our bodily and spiritual needs. This ‘Lord’s Prayer’, used by one third of the world’s population, enables us to pray whether we feel fervent or not: it has succinctness and structure.

A mantra has structure too, defined as a constantly repeated prayer accompanied by meditation. And that’s the snag – ‘accompanied by meditation.’ The rosary is a Christian mantra, but the trick is to meditate on a thought while speaking words often only vaguely connected with the thought. This book, with 21 beautiful coloured illustrations and its profound but light touch, tackles that problem in a uniquely original way. Using the basic rosary form and the prescribed 20 episodes in the life of Jesus as topics for meditation, it punctuates each episode ten times by stepping through and fleshing out the topic frame by frame. In slowing the pace from a race to a stroll it allows time for heart and mind to engage. The effect is startling and fruitful: each meditation becomes a spiritual meal in itself, making the recitation of a full rosary almost too much to take in, one might even say over the top. The prayed rosary, already pleasing to God, becomes uplifting and delightful to the prayer too.

ISBN : 978-1-906385-01-9

Price

Price: £6.00 + £1.60 p&p

Buy now

All publications by Chris Irven  •  Chris Irven’s biography