John Edward - Practical Praying: Using the Rosary to Enhance Your Life

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Published in 2010 by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
2005 by John Edward
First edition published in 2005 by Hay House/Princess Books
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Sterling ISBN 978-1-4027-7560-4

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Language is the way man
communicates with each other.

Religion is the way man
communicates with God.

Prayer is the alphabet of that
language that forms the words.

Contents

Chapter One: Who, Me? Write about
the Rosary?

Chapter Three: Using the Rosary:
The Official Way

Chapter Four: Practical Praying:
Creating Your Story

You deal with the Other Side. You are connected with the After Life. You have a strong faith and talk about God and a Divine Force or Energy. So, what is the best religion?

T hat was the question that I heard a few years ago in Fresno, California, during a seminar. I would have to say that it was one of the most interesting questions of my career at that point. What is the best religion? Oh my God! was all I could think at that moment. Standing on the stage, I had every intention of saying that I could not answer that question. It would be like saying my God is better than your Goda grown-up equivalent of my dad is stronger than your dad. But before I could respond, I heard my voice speaking and what came out of me was clearly channeled from my Guides. I call them the boysthis team of unseen, highly evolved beings of lights that assist me in my work here on the Earth plane. I guess they didnt feel it was appropriate for me to NOT answer the question... and so they did.

What is the best language that is spoken on the planet?

Ah, a question that is unique and difficult to answer. We can say that there are multiple languages that are spoken; clearly Mandarin, English, Spanish, and Arabic might be spoken in higher numbers, but that does not make them any better than those languages that are spoken less, like Latin or some tribal forms of communication.

Language is the way man communicates with each other. Religion is the way man communicates with God. Prayer is the alphabet of that language that forms the words, letters, and so on.

Quite honestly, I dont know who was more moved by the answer: The audience, who probably thinks to this day, that I, John Edward, came up with this profound declaration, or ME, the John Edward who walked off stage and wrote this down in my appointment book. I was moved by the simplicity of the statement. I was impressed by the power of it.

But, when it came time to write and title this book, I had to own up to the fact that I speak ENGLISH, not LATIN, which means that I had to write in the frame of reference regarding prayer that I understand, and that would be a reflection of my Catholic upbringing.

I joke around now on stage and say that I am a recovering Catholic. My wife and family will tease me and say that I have adopted a more Buddhist belief system over the last twenty-five years, and that is true. But really, I am just a spiritual person who uses the foundation and parameters of the language that was taught to me in order to communicate with God, and that Divine Force, in a very practical, everyday waynot just on Sunday or the holidays.

If you are that person who is mumbling under their breath that I am just another New Agenew thoughtself-empowerment guru-esque dude who is propagating why he cant follow the rules, please just put the book down, ask for a refund, or give it as a gift to someone who doesnt have that fire-and-brimstone attitude toward salvation and redemption.

I have two kids and they are both being raised Catholic. Not as strictly in their early years as I was by my maternal grandmother, but that is the language that my family speaks, and that is the language I will communicate to them. However, I have applied and will continue to apply my metaphysical beliefs and blend them with the foundation that the Church will teach. I watch their shows and incorporate spiritual teachings in cartoons, Star Wars, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

When I first wrote this book, I will admit now that I was concernedvery concernedabout being too attached to one religious form of prayer, and that is the rosary. Yes, this book is about using the rosary as a prayer tool, and, yes, it has everything to do with being a derivative of the Catholic faith... but I encourage you to read on.

Since Practical Praying was originally published a few years ago, I have gotten some of the most amazing e-mails and letters from people who told me that it helped them to reconcile their religious upbringing and their own sense of belief and how to blend the two. This type of empowerment is huge.

When Dan Brown sparked the mother of all controversies in The Da Vinci Code, it brought forth all these theories about Jesus and his life. The questions of Did he or didnt he have a wife? A child? And did the bloodline continue? spawned more discussionssome really heatedin my circle of family and friends than anything I can remember.

What I found was that it made people question what they were taught and came to believe. I feel that the only way we grow as individuals or as a culture is to do just that: question it. Just because you question something doesnt mean that you dont like it or cant work with it. Think about it: When you go to a doctor, you hopefully question why you have to have that test or take that pill. When you go to an airport and the person in the official jacket tells you to step over there, but the signs say something different, you question them to make sure that they understand where YOU are going while traveling.

The Da Vinci Code discussion challenged the foundation and core of so much of the structure that people had been taught. But if those same people opened up a history book and read about each and every religion, the origins of them all, and what happened in its development, I promise that they will be challenged there as well. So, for me, whenever that dialogue about The Da Vinci Code showed up, I always thought it was ridiculous because Dan Brown never ONCE in his novel eradicated the message or teachings of Jesus. He might have taken away the mysticism or the magic of the legend, but never the basic tenet of His life. To me, Brown did the greatest thing. He humanized Jesus in such an amazing way and that only magnified the message in my mind. It made me look at the teachings and want to strive to be more reflective of them, and the fact that Jesus was humanized made it more attainable. No more excuses, right?