Humanity has been trying to learn how to pray from the earliest times. In fact, almost every single book in the Bible mentions the word prayer or expresses a prayer, making close to 1,200 distinct references to praying. Our most important prayer, the Our Father, was given to us by Jesus himself in response to the disciples’ plea for help praying. And St. Paul exhorts us to devote ourselves to prayer and to pray without ceasing.
We are in a difficult position, it would seem. We yearn to reach out to our Creator and Father, but we’re stuck with words that seem inadequate to the impulse.
This is something that saints, theologians, and religious have spent decades addressing, and there are as many ways to approach God in prayer as there are people who want to do it. Spiritual direction and retreat centers guide Catholics through different prayers and help them come closer to God.
One of our favorite spiritual and retreat directors is Father Greg Cleveland, OVM. A priest and director of the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality in Denver, Colorado, certified in spiritual direction, Father Cleveland has helped thousands of people come closer to God through retreats, parish missions, and individual spiritual guidance. And—we’re very excited about this—now he is working on a book with Pauline Books and Media, to be released this fall.
In the meantime, however, we’d love you to meet Father Cleveland! And just for us, he’s put together five of his favorite resources for spiritual development that we want you to have for free. Just go to this link, enter your email address, and not only will you receive this resource list, but we’ll also send you videos, articles, excerpts from Father Cleveland’s upcoming book, and more.
If—like many other Catholics—you want to go deeper into your prayer life, this is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. Click here now for your spiritual resource guide!
by Jeannette de Beauvoir
Jeannette de Beauvoir is part of the marketing department at Pauline Books & Media. She did graduate studies at Yale University and Boston University in liturgics and Church history.