Praying with St. Paul

I haven't yet personally seen a copy of this resource, but thought it looked like something great for our families this year. If you have seen it, I'd love to hear from you!

Magnificat’s Praying With Saint Paul is Best-Seller at Start of Pauline Year

YONKERS, NY – Magnificat USA, the publisher of the monthly prayer booklet and worship aid Magnificat, announces that its new book, Praying with Saint Paul has become a best-seller, with more than 54,000 copies sold in its first two months of publication. A fourth printing of the book, published in celebration of the Special Jubilee Year to the Apostle Paul, is now underway.

A handbook of daily reflections on the Letters of Saint Paul in the New Testament, Praying with Saint Paul answers the call of Pope Benedict XVI that “special publications on Pauline texts will also be promoted in order to make ever more widely known the immense wealth of the teaching they contain, a true patrimony of humanity redeemed in Christ.”

Praying with Saint Paul was edited by Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P., editor-in-chief of Magnificat.

“The words of Saint Paul are very familiar to us from the readings of the Eucharistic liturgy. Yet, we rarely get a chance to reflect on Paul’s wisdom,” said Father Cameron. “Praying with Saint Paul offers a kind of lectio divina – a ‘spiritual reading’ – of Paul’s letters by which one can go deeply into the mind and heart of this illustrious saint.”

The volume’s original reflections are by 32 gifted spiritual authors. They range from well-known scholars, theologians and poets – to parish priests, teachers and a homeschooling mother. Among the contributors are Fr. J. Augustine Di Noia, O.P., undersecretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Fr. James Martin, S.J., author of the Catholic Press Association Award-winning My Life with the Saints; Jack Sacco, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Where the Birds Never Sing; Fr. Lawrence Boadt, C.S.P., president of Paulist Press; and Sr. Genevieve Glen, O.S.B., editor for daily offices of Magnificat.

“The fact that the contributors represent a variety of vocations is appropriate for its subject … and makes the reflections relevant for every kind of reader,” wrote Monsignor William Benwell of the Diocese of Metuchen, NJ, in the June 19 edition of The Catholic Spirit.

“I very much like the format of the daily reflections throughout 2009, a format which is so successful with the Magnificat Advent and Lenten pastoral companions,” said Cardinal Roger Mahoney, archbishop of Los Angeles.

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke also commended Praying with Saint Paul to the readers of his June 27 column in the St. Louis Review, calling it “a distinct reflection on the writings of Saint Paul.”

Praying with Saint Paul (soft-cover; 379 pages; suggested retail price of $12.95) is arranged in a calendar-year format. Each entry features a short quotation from one of Saint Paul’s letters, the reflection based on the quotation and concludes with a thought-provoking prayer. The book also features a new hymn commissioned by Magnificat for the Pauline Year. “O Christ, Your Chosen Vessel” was written by Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.

Now in its tenth year of publication in the United States, Magnificat is read by more than 230,000 each month. Presented in a day-by-day format, Magnificat includes prayers for the morning and evening, daily Mass readings, meditations, essays on the lives of the saints, a sacred art commentary and other spiritual writings. It is available in English-language and Spanish-language editions.

The Magnificat family of publications also includes MagnifiKid!, a Sunday Mass guide for children. Praying with Saint Paul is the third book from Magnificat USA, following the best-selling Benedictus and the recently-released The Wonders of Lourdes.