Prayer

Father Hardon’s writings on prayer explore the heart of the Christian spiritual life and the soul’s relationship with God. These articles examine meditation, contemplation, devotion, perseverance in prayer, and the role of prayer in growing in holiness and grace.

For Jesuits: Chapter 9 – Foster Father of the Lord

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Editor § Now the origin of Christ was in this wise. When Mary his mother had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. But Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wishing to expose her to […]

Prayer Before the Eucharistic Christ

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. I know that numerous popular devotions held in church before the Blessed Sacrament have been swept away as by a tornado. I know that in the laudable effort to highlight the Eucharistic Liturgy and therefore emphasize the altar, the tabernacle has been almost put out of sight, hidden away, […]

Prayer and Suffering

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. Christianity is unique among the religions of the world in giving a rational and adequate explanation of suffering. In fact, it goes beyond giving a strong motive for suffering, this motive being the fact that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. Those who love Christ are to […]

Prayer and the Grace of God

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The popular understanding of prayer as asking for God’s help is correct. Most of the prayers in the Scriptures are petitions. Most of the prayers of the liturgy are the same. Even the acts of adoration or love are always implicit petitions. Why is this so? Why do we […]

The Perfect Prayer

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. By every standard of comparison, the most popular prayer in existence is the Our Father. Not only Catholics and Protestants, but Mohammedans and Jews, admire the Lord’s Prayer for its intrinsic beauty, and declare it to be the finest expression of Christian spirituality. 1 An interesting sidelight on this popularity […]

The Divine Office as the Church’s Prayer of Praise and Intercession

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. One of the most providential developments in the Catholic Church, through the Second Vatican Council, has been the extraordinary emphasis on the Liturgy in the life of the faithful: priests, religious and the laity. Unfortunately this liturgical renewal has not always been wisely interpreted. Not the least problem affecting […]

The Divine Office as Liturgy

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. There is good reason why a preliminary word may be useful to explain why we should talk about the Divine Office as Liturgy. For one thing, it seems more obvious that the Office is a prayer. Of course it is prayer, as all the Psalms and the Hymns and […]

The Divine Office as a Form of Sacrifice

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. There is more than passing value in reflecting on the Divine Office as a form of sacrifice. For one thing, we know that for anything to be pleasing to God it must be sacrificial; it must cost us something. A self-satisfying gift is a cheap gift. And the Divine […]

Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

THE WAY OF THE CROSS By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. During many centuries pious Christians went as pilgrims to Jerusalem, but when the Holy land was taken over by the Moslems these pilgrimages ceased. As a result, in many parts of Europe the custom arose of placing pictures in churches, representing the journey to […]

With Jesus in Gethsemane

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. All three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) give us a detailed account of Christ’s agony in the Garden of Olives, known in Hebrew as “Gethsemane”, which means “the garden of the oil press.” My purpose in this meditation is to select three passages from the Gospel narratives of […]

Prayer of Admiration and Praise

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. If we were to ask the average Catholic what he means by prayer, I think he would say something like this: “Prayer is asking God for what you need.” The answer is correct, of course, but not fully adequate. No doubt many people, maybe most people, most of the […]

The Meaning of Prayer

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. The author examines the question, How well do we communicate with the other world when we pray? Some explanation may be necessary for going into such an obvious subject as the meaning of prayer. Why not start with something more practical, like how to pray, or how to improve […]

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