The Better Part – A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer

by Dan Burke

The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer
by Father John Bartunek, LC, ThD

No one who is learning or desires to learn to pray more deeply and meditate more effectively on the person and work of Christ should go without this book. It offers a basic but at the same time sufficiently comprehensive overview of how to meditate in the Christian tradition (no New Age or Hindu/Buddhist influences here.)

Beyond the solid instruction on meditation method, Father John provides us with meditations through each verse of the four Gospels and group study questions at the end of each of the 303 meditation units.

This work provides spiritual reading and meditation material for every day of the liturgical year, every Mass, or spiritual reading on a daily basis.


Purchase Now in the Follow Formats:

Or to Learn More – Here’s the Table of Contents (Partial):

God’s Idea of Prayer

  • Christian Prayer – Eminently Christ-Centered
  • Christian Prayer – Intensely Personal

Types of Prayer

  • Vocal Prayer
  • Meditative Prayer
  • Contemplative Prayer
  • Meditation vs. Spiritual Reading

Four Step Structure of Meditation

  1. Concentrate
  2. Consider
  3. Converse
  4. Commit

Difficulties in Prayer

  • Sloth and Distractions
  • Solving the Difficulties
  • How Do I Know I’m Praying Well?

If you want to deepen your relationship with Christ by learning to meditate on Christ and his teaching through timeless and authentic reality of Christ in the Gospels, this is the best way I know of. If you want to start or enrich a small group study, this is also a fantastic resource.

Purchase Now:

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Art for this post on The Better Part: Cover of The Better Part used with permission of Fr. John Bartunek, all rights reserved.

Dan Burke

Dan Burke is the past President and C.O.O. of EWTN's worldwide news
network. He is presently the founder and President of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation, which offers graduate and personal enrichment studies in spiritual theology to priests, deacons, religious, and laity in 90 countries and prepares men for seminary in over 40 dioceses.

Dan is the author and editor of numerous books on authentic Catholic spirituality and hosts the Divine Intimacy Radio show with his wife, Stephanie, which is broadcast weekly on EWTN Radio. Past episodes can be found, along with thousands of articles on the interior life, at SpiritualDirection.com.

In his deep commitment to the advancement of faithful Catholic spirituality, he is also the founder of Apostoli Viae, a world-wide, private association of the faithful dedicated to living and advancing the authentic spiritual patrimony of the Church.

Most importantly, Dan is a blessed husband, father of four, grandfather of one—and grateful to be Catholic.

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