God and You: Prayer as a Personal Relationship

This is the kind of book that makes you wish to underline or highlight every sentence. It has no dead spots. While the book encourages resting in God's presence as a form of prayer, it is not a "restful" or "easy" book, but one that demands attention. It rewards that attention not with pat answers about the nature of God, but with an overarching vision of God as Love, and with ideas--but not demands--on how we can experience that Love as a presence infusing our lives. The book was loaned to me by my own Director, and I anticipate getting my own copy. There is no way you can get it all at once: if you can do that, you are either St. Ignatius himself or have a photographic memory and perfect understanding. Fr. Barry's work bears restudy and should be taken up again at intervals so we may remind ourselves of the God whom we not only serve, but in whose arms we rest.

A short book written by an experienced (Jesuit) pastoral psychologist on the topic of prayer. It came highly recommended by my Spiritual Director. Great for the person who is beginning to develop a "conscious" relationship with God through prayer. "Conscious" meaning being aware of the presence of God in our everyday lives. This practical book provides insights into understanding emotions and prayer, images of God and prayer and the effects of prayer as well as others. Simply written, but powerful and full of insight!

This is a very valuable approach to prayer. It helped me get deeper than the pre-scripted prayers that have become almost meaningless thru repetition. Most important, it showed me how to get past the boredom induced by reluctance to talk to God about my resentments and shortcomings.

prayer life. Fr. Barry has many years of experience as a spiritual director, and it all shines throguh in his writings. He is phenomenal, especiall for the fact that his writings are very down to earth and easy to understand.

This first book of Bill Barry's is easy to read, but the reader will find many profound insights. Fr. Barry combins his interest and training in spiritual direction and his Ph.D. in psychology to answer basic questions on prayer. When I look back on this work after reading some of the authors other books or more accademic works I find that he said it all here. I'd strongly recommend this for any adult begining in prayer or any "old timer" who has limited themselves to the style of praying they learned as a child.