PROLOGUE

A beautiful and inspiring collection of poetic prayers

Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s magnificent baldacchino in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome

POETIC PRAYERS

Let me begin by sharing with you some wonderful prayers, many of which are also very beautiful and poetic. The first two sections (“Holy Prayers” and “Holy Inspirations”) include prayers and other inspiring thoughts that were written by some of the greatest saints in history, and I have incorporated many of these into my own prayer life. The third and fourth sections (“Little Candles of Love” and “Liturgical Candles of Love”) include prayers that I myself have composed, and they too are a significant part of my prayer life. In fact, “Little Candles of Love” is, for the most part, a chronological listing of my daily prayer schedule, from morning until night.

By the way, if it seems like I pray quite a bit, it’s important to remember that I’m retired now, so I simply have more time to pray than many other people. It’s interesting, because when my family is home, my house feels like a monastery, but when my family is not home, then my house feels like a hermitage. I really and truly love Our Blessed Lord’s divine sense of humor.

Finally, the last section (“Little Candles of Light”) includes additional prayers that I have composed, but I don’t use them as often as the others. It is my hope that you will find at least one prayer on this page -- and perhaps even several -- that you might like to incorporate into your own prayer life.

Also, just as a quick overview, let me briefly explain the structure of what I will call my i-Book (or internet book). After this Prologue, which centers on personal prayer, you will find three chapters dedicated to a few of the greatest devotions of all time: St. Francis de Sales’ “Introduction to the Devout Life,” St. Louis de Montfort’s “Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary” (which, of course, includes the Holy Rosary), and the “Divine Mercy Chaplet” and “Divine Mercy Novena,” made famous by St. Faustina’s diary entitled Divine Mercy in My Soul. All of these devotions, in a very beautiful way, are really Jesus’ generous gift to all of us. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

Then, in the next several chapters, I will share my poetry with you. From an organizational perspective, there are several different categories of poems in this collection: Mystical Rose, Mystical Mercy, Mystical Histories, Mystical Memories, Mystical Reflections, Mystical Adventures, and The Dark Night. The poems on the Mystical Rose lead us to Our Lord of Love through Our Lady, while the poems on Mystical Mercy delve into the mystical beauty of Divine Mercy. Then, the Mystical Histories recount significant events in Church history or describe the heroic and sometimes mystical lives of the saints. Mystical Memories are drawn from my own personal life experiences, oftentimes describing my travels abroad, and they typically point towards the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Mystical Reflections, on the other hand, are miscellaneous poems on a wide variety of different topics. Mystical Adventures, as the name implies, narrate stories of mystical and adventurous journeys into the imagination, and the poems on the Dark Night depict the imperfect side of human nature -- life without God -- sometimes through comedy and sometimes through tragedy, in the abyss of darkness.

Finally, in the Epilogue, I will tell you how the good God led me on a journey into the world of Divine Mercy, which ultimately led me to the creation of this i-Book. I will follow this with just a few words about the author, and I will conclude by sharing what I call “A Mission for All Seasons,” which, in a sense, is like a spiritual version of a contemporary business plan.

PROLOGUE

POETIC PRAYERS

HOLY PRAYERS

HOLY INSPIRATIONS

lITTLE CANDLES OF LOVE

LITURGICAL CANDLES OF LOVE

LITTLE CANDLES OF LIGHT