Praying with Confidence: Aquinas on the Lord's Prayer

Description

Those readers who, in the past, have found the study of Aquinas especially daunting, will be grateful to the Dominican Paul Murray for the freshness and clarity he brings to his task. Praying with Confidence: Aquinas on the Lord's Prayer is both a stimulating scholarly study and an ideal introduction for the general reader. Never before have the most important reflections by Aquinas on the Lord's Prayer been drawn together and considered in a single book. Here, Aquinas comes alive not merely as a profound speculative theologian but also as an impressive master and guide of the spiritual and moral life. And he also comes across, on occasion, as a teacher capable of saying the unexpected, openly confessing, for example, "...it is hardly possible to say a single Our Father without our minds wandering off to other things." The style of Aquinas is, for the most part, plain and expository, but evident on every page is the serene, unmistakable mark of wisdom, Aquinas's own, and that of the great tradition.

Paul Murray is an Irish Dominican and a poet. He works in Rome, Italy, where he teaches the literature of the mystical tradition at the Angelicum University.

'We warmly commend for reading, study and prayer, this book.' -- Fairacres Chronicle 'Thomistic writings are know for their complexity. However, Fr Murray directs any reader, academic or lay, to engage with Thomas's fruitful reflections on the Lord's Prayer... Brief, yet powerful.' -- The Irish Catholic 'Murray abundantly demonstrates the spiritual force of Aquinas's teaching in this inspiring and accessible study.' -- The Church Times 'This book is just long enough to be read with ease, and to stir up our desire to pray with confidence and hope, but it also contains such richness that it will amply reward many meditative revisits.' -- New Blackfriars [an] excellent new book... Murray knows his subject well and is able to present it clearly and concisely. -- Theology 'Praying with Confidence offers a painless introduction to the spirituality of the Angelic Doctor...It provides solid spiritual nourishment. It is also engagingly written and very affordable. It would be a good book to take on retreat.'-Commonweal