Vinny Flynn - Mass & Adoration Companion

I HAVE a confession to make. When I asked my daughter Erin to begin compiling these prayers, it wasnt primarily with you in mind. I wanted it for myself. And since Erin and I have often shared our favorite prayers, I knew she would want it too.

So this little book is not just a random collection of prayers. And its not a historical book presenting an arrangement of traditional Catholic prayers written throughout the ages. There are many such books, and they serve their purpose well.

But that wasnt our intent. What we have put together is a careful, loving selection of prayerssome old, some newthat are especially meaningful and fruitful for us so that we wouldnt merely be spectators during Mass, wouldnt merely be reciting prayers and responses, but would be fully present and actively involved through specific prayers that would help us really enter in, speaking to God and to Our Lady, person-to-person, from our hearts.

With this in mind, we found some prayers that seemed so perfectly expressed that we have presented them here in their entirety. Others are brief excerpts of longer prayers. Still others are original prayers that we composed ourselves, or adaptations in which we tried to capture, in simple prayer, the beautiful insights we found in Scripture, the teachings of the Church, and the writings of some of our great saints and popes.

Many years ago, I was greatly moved by the way St. Faustina talked with God. She had come to realize that God wants a relationship with each of us that is completely real and personal. So she developed a natural way of praying to God in the most personal, loving, and intimate language imaginableso much so that it shocked and angered others in her community who demanded to know who she thought she was to talk to God that way.

It struck me that she knew who she was: she was Daddys little girl, and thats who He had created her to be.

Since then, in my own prayer life, I have gradually moved away from using any ways of praying that seem too formal, distant, or artificialways that dont simply and honestly express what Im feeling and experiencing in the here and now of my life, ways that dont draw me into a deeper relationship with the God who loves me.

When I recite traditional prayers with others during the Holy Mass or other group situations, I pray them as they are written, for the sake of unity, but in my private prayer moments, when its just me and God, I pray them in the way that is most real and natural to me.

This became our guiding principle as we selected, edited, adapted, updated, wrote, or rewrote the prayers youll find here. Now that weve compiled and arranged them, were delighted to share them with you, and I encourage you to make this book your own so that it may draw you deeper and deeper into your own, unique, one-on-One relationship with God.

Dont be locked in by the exact wording of the prayers, but please feel free to make whatever changes seem most natural for you. (I pray some of these prayers differently every day.)

If a change in the wording of a particular prayer would help you pray it in a more meaningful way, then grab your pen and do it. Let the printed prayers be simply a starting point for your prayera framework that will inspire you to enter into your own private conversation with the Lord and with Our Lady.

After some sections, we have included blank pages for you to fill with your favorite prayers. You can write them right on the page or type them on a piece of paper and glue them in. If a particular prayer in the book just isnt meaningful to you, then paste a different prayer over it. Remember, its your book, so use it in whatever way will help you draw closer to the Lord. Dont be afraid to put a star by certain prayers, draw boxes around them, circle or underline parts that are particularly meaningful, use a highlighter, or add bookmarks and prayercardswhatever will help you to personalize your prayer.

St. Therese wrote that prayer is above all a surge of the heart toward God. That doesnt mean that we should never use words to pray, but it does mean that true prayer is always an expression of personal relationship in which your heart reaches toward the Heart of God.

God delights in the uniqueness of each of His children. He treasures the you He created, and He wants a relationship with you thats different from His relationship with anyone else. So when you pray to Him, its important to use words that help you lift your mind and heart to Him in a real expression of that personal relationship.

We offer this book to you, then, as a beginning, not an end, a draft to be finished by you, so that your prayer will become truly your prayer, your heart-to-Heart conversation with the Lord.

May it bless you!

Vinny Flynn