A Friend Within Finding Jesus in Today's World

Christianity, in the west is on the decline. Traditional prayers and the spiritual thoughts of others are no longer turning many Christians towards their Creator.The purpose of this book is to offer a fresh approach to prayer which will help those who are no longer conscious of the friendship of God. It is especially useful for the young and for teachers and parents.Our method of prayer consists of a daily two minute period of listening. You begin by thinking about the earthly image of Jesus and then slowly repeating his name. The next step is to read a few words of the scriptures and using our imagination to listen to what Jesus is saying to you.Every time you listen to Jesus speaking to you, you encounter your God in a different way. Remaining aware of Jesus is the only requirement. This approach to prayer will be developed more fully throughout the chapters of this book. The two minute reflection does not emphasize personal thoughts, set prayers or inspired writings. These will become useful once you are able to become aware of the close presence of God. We also know that our way of prayer will only mature when it is combined with the liturgical worship and traditional methods of prayer used by the wider Christian community. It could have been heavenly intervention or perhaps chance but we now realize that our way of seeking God is very similar to two methods of prayer which have been part of Christianity for hundreds of years. The first is the Lectio Divina or reading with God. This way of praying has been used by the monastic movement through the centuries. It is also present in the spirituality of many of the great saints of Christendom. The second is the writings of St Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatus taught us how we can become aware of our God by using our imagination and learning to listen to Jesus in his sacred words. The first edition was published in 2015. Francis Mooney SDB described this edition as "A passionate and very intelligent (a rare combination) book." Francis Moloney is the author of many books and was for 18 years, a member of John Paul II's International Theological Commission. He is a former Dean of Theology and Religion at the Catholic University of America. Our first two chapters explain how the Lexio Divina and the spirituality of Ignatius can enrich the prayer of 21st century Christians. In chapter three Jesus speaks to you in the first person about his life on earth. This provides a practical way of experiencing his friendship. In the next chapter Jesus speaks about his involvement with his followers after his resurrection. Chapter five looks at how Jesus speaks to us in the scriptures. Then in Chapter's six to nine Jesus tells you how you can discover his presence in the four great gospels. Chapter ten looks at the importance Christian community. Chapter eleven discusses how we can help our young people to discover the presence of God. The twelfth chapter looks the scriptural and theological bases for our prayer.We wanted to make contact with the divine easy and simple and have limited our prayer time to two minutes each day. We have tried to be down to earth, enjoyable, interesting and humorous. We want young people to enjoy the read. Our book offers many different ways of thinking about God. It is very much a practical manual on how to make the divine part of your daily life. The process is similar to mastering a new language or becoming proficient in a particular sport. Extensive footnotes and additions help clarify ideas, bringing substance and authority to the chapters and answers questions which 21st century Christians are struggling to understand. This method of prayer is acceptable to all Christian traditions including those with a fundamentalist belief in the sacred word. Our approach has also proved very useful for many devout Christians and has been used by teachers and parents as a practical way of introducing an awareness of the divine.