Editor's Note: In all but a few instances, the cited lines of scripture have been paraphased by the author: Copyright 1976 by the Thomas More Association. No publication date found inside the book. 
A Portion of the Preface by John L. McKenzie: The Bible has been a book of prayer in both Judaism and Christianity for over two thousand years. The book of Psalms, which is really a song-book, is a collection of prayers for almost every occasion. The modern reader of the Psalms sometimes finds that it expresses more complaints than he feels the need for; he forgets that where the Psalmist addresses his complaints to God, he himself is more likely to address his complaints to his wife or his children or his friends or his bartender. Nevertheless, the Psalms have had much to do with forming Christian tradition of prayer. But there are many other examples of prayer in the Bible ourside the Psalms, and not all of them are examples of the recommendation of Jesus to be brief in prayer. It is in a way paradoxical that from the time of the Psalms to our own, people have preferred to pray in the words of another. It is paradoxical becasue prayer by definition is a personal encounter with God; and the use of a prepared formula is almost like making love by a prepared formula. It is kind of a tribute to God that so many of us are afraied to speadk to him directly and spontaneously without preparation. Yet is does not take more than an imaginative reading of the psalms to show us that most of them are by our standards wuite unrestrained expressions of feelings, and the kind of feelings which hwe have been trained to conceal. How many of our prayers, f not dishonest, are posed? We try to present a good face and behave as if we are entering a job 
interview - and this with him of whom we believe that all things are naked an uncovered in his site. There is, of course, a line between reverence...(represents approx 1/3 of the entire preface)

Thomas More Prayer Book and Our Lady's Prayer Book

Sean Freeman

Thomas More Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sean Freeman. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sean Freeman

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sean Freeman. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Thomas More Prayer Book and Our Lady's Prayer Book