Book Review: Friar Jack's Favorite Prayers

A little while back, I had the opportunity to read Friar Jack's Favorite Prayers.  In this book Friar Jack Wintz introduces us to his favorite prayers and lets us in on what makes those prayers resonate with him.  At first glance, you might wonder why someone would want to read a book about another person's favorite prayers.  I wondered that myself as I began to read this book and I quickly found that there was more to this book than just a Franciscan friar writing about the prayers he likes best.

One of the things that struck me when reading this book was Friar Jack's take on many traditional, well-known prayers.  While some of what he had to say didn't necessarily resonate with me at first, I found over time that much of what he had to say came to make a lot of sense in the months after I had read the book.

In the beginning of this book, Friar Jack gives a brief tour of the different types of prayer and discusses how they all help to lead us closer to God.  He also shares an important bit of wisdom as to why each of us should find the type of prayer that helps us to "tune in" the best.  Having read that, it helped me to not feel so bad when I'd come across a favorite prayer of his in this book that simply didn't resonate with me one bit.

As with any book that gives a reflection on a well known prayer, you're likely to find that maybe you don't agree with the author's take.  There were a few prayers where Friar Jack's take on it was very different from other explanations I had read in the past.  At first glance I'd be caught off guard.  In many instances, after taking a little time to ponder what he had to say much of it would make sense and as I mentioned already, after more time had passed I found many of his reflections to seem deeper than I had previously thought.  Overall, I found the book to be an insightful read.

I was provided with a complimentary review copy of Friar Jack's Favorite Prayers by the publisher, St. Anthony Messenger Press, in exchange for my honest review.