Book Review

                                                 IN CONSTANT PRAYER

                                                       By Robert Benson
                                                       
                                                        
For almost ten years now, I have had the habit of rising around 4:30 a.m. to begin my day with prayer. So, when I saw this book, I was a little excited about reading it. However, when I read the Table of Contents and saw words like “Divine Office” and “Daily Office,” I realized that the author must assuredly be a Catholic. Well, I am most assuredly not a Catholic. So, here’s a lifetime non-Catholic writing a book review on a Catholic’s book on prayer.

To say the least, I began reading this book with the idea that it would be somewhat boring and that I would be glad to finish it. However, the more I read, the more interested I became in Mr. Benson’s experiences in prayer. One theme he seemed to hammer home all through the book was not only the importance of prayer, but the importance of a specific time set aside for prayer. This I whole-heartedly agree with. Just like you stomach gets a little growly when you work past a meal time, your spirit gets a little upset also when you miss your regular time of fellowship with the Lord.

One of things I was disappointed with at first was that there was not a lot of teaching on prayer. However, Mr. Benson gave account after account after account of God’s nearness during times of prayer. He related not only his experiences but the experiences of many of his friends. The examples he related range anywhere from the loss of a loved one to the daily ravages of life. I was very encouraged by his writings and I would recommend this book to anyone who has the habit of daily prayer.

I was furnished a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.