When You Pray

A Practical Guide to an Orthodox Life of Prayer

By: L. Joseph Letendre

Narrated by: L. Joseph Letendre

Anyone who prays or has tried to pray and given up in discouragement knows praying, really praying, is not easy. Praying consistently seems almost impossible. Too often and too easily, prayer becomes a burden: one more item on an already overcrowded to-do list.

Failing to pray becomes a source of guilt and stress as we must once again admit our inconstancy and procrastination to our father confessor. Yet, our Lord said, "Come to me, all of you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. My burden is easy and my yoke is light." (Matt. 11:30)

The purpose of this audiobook, then, is not to add to the burden, but to ease it by distilling the advice and experience of those who pray.

©2017 L. Joseph Letendre (P)2018 L. Joseph Letendre

An excellent starting point to an Orthodox life

If you've already amassed many of the 'essential books' that are recommended for those of us who are seeking to become better Orthodox Christians but are feeling overwhelmed, guilty, or as though you're slacking off, what better way to straighten up and fly right than through daily prayer? The problem is, many of us feel overwhelmed, guilty and like slackers because we don't pray enough or at all or perhaps no one has ever taught us the right way so we give up and continue feeling bad.

I actually had this book in my possession for a couple of years and only recently remembered that I had it!! I found a lot of guidance and wisdom from this little book and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm applying what I've learned throughout my day, and day by day, I'm feeling less overwhelmed. The paperback is small enough to fit in my purse for quick reference. I've listened to the audio book three times already and I feel like I learn something new that I missed during previous listens. Could it be that the Holy Spirit helped me? I believe so!!

Really useful, actionable advice

Short and sweet, practical and useful. Gives rich overview of prayerful life.

If you have regular prayer life and feel dryness or some uncertainty about prayerful life, this book helps you to check if you are on course. It did to me.

If you are new to prayer, you may wish to go deeper on certain prayer practice mentioned in the book, such as Lectio Divina, Jesus prayer, etc.

Highly recommended.

An inspiration

An inspiring book on prayer. It wad up lifting. I recommend this book. Thank you.

Practicable Advice on Prayer

This quick, practicable book on prayer is full of insight on how to improve your prayer life. I appreciate that L. Joseph Letendre addresses some of the basic barriers to prayer and how to adjust accordingly (with approval of your spiritual father). Some of the points he brings up that I found especially helpful were:

1- The command to pray always (1 Thessalonians 5:17, Luke 18:1) comes from the Greek “hesychia,” meaning to “come to rest.” This helps to frame prayer not as a burden but as a way finding rest in the presence of God.
2- You can choose short verses from the Psalms to continue repeating to help with continuous prayer.
3- You can adjust the Jesus Prayer according to the church season.
4- Sometimes a period of not feeling anything during prayer shows that deep work is being done on your prayer life, like when you get a shot of anesthesia at the dentist.

The book is also full of Bible references. I appreciated that Letendre said the references in the recording of the book as it helps us to understand how the advice is grounded in Scripture and provides reference for further digging.

Although this book may be short, it is full of spiritual depth. I have already listened to this book twice, and I plan to listen to it again.

When you Pray

This wonderful 9 chapter book with appendix by L. Joseph Letendre gives some wonderful insight on prayer. As he explains there is nothing easy about prayer and it is too easy in today’s world to become easily discouraged in trying to keep our rule of prayer. Using quotes from both Fr. Thomas Hopko, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, the Scripture and many others, the author give us tools and an understanding that can help us achieve prayer or to “come before God’s face with thanksgiving” He uses St. Theophan the Recluse words on prayer to set up his chapter headings:
So, when you pray:
Pray as you can
Pray attentively
Pray the Lord’s Prayer
Pray the Psalms
Pray the Gospels
Pray for others
Pray frequently
Pray faithfully.

I found the chapter on Pray as You Can especially insightful, since we all tend to think we do not pray as we should. Finally He includes an Appendix on What Monasticism Teaches Us. This again is another tool in our prayer toolbox.
The Audio book is well narrated by the Author himself and is just a little over 1 hr. It is perfect for the commute to work, or even to listen over a couple of lunch breaks. I would highly recommend this book to all Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christians who wish to improve their prayer life.

Most Practical Book on Prayer

No book has made prayer more desirable or more attainable than this book. Every word is gold. The author wastes no words. Not a minute of reading will be wasted.

Easy to listen and read...

For the first time a book on prayer that is really Orthodox yet has the down home, practical and realistic info on prayer. It addresses of those things that stop us from prayer yet none of us admit that we do. Thank you for writing this Joseph Letendre!

Great Guide to Prayer

This book would be great for a new Christian, or anyone wondering how spiritual development happens for Christians.

It is also great for long-time Christians, like me, who tend to over complicate prayer and who need to be reminded of what prayer is, and to get back to the basics of how to pray. I really got a lot out of this book.

I bought the hard copy to lend to a Christian friend of mine who is struggling with prayer right now.

Will Read Again

“When You Pray: A Practical Guide to an Orthodox Life of Prayer” by L. Joseph Letendre is exactly what it claims to be. There is no pretense. It isn’t even very long. The audible edition is only 1 hr and 11 minutes and easy to work through in a busy schedule. This book gives the very basics of what prayer should be with examples to support it and then leaves the reader to sort out the rest. The author seems aware that prayer is not something that can be learned completely from a book, but tools on how to begin the process can be articulated in this form. This book communicates those tools splendidly. The rest is left up to practice, discussion with trusted spiritual mentors, and the grace of God.
My one critique is that the audiobook could be more vocally engaging. The information is excellent, but the reading lacks inflection to keep the listener’s focus.

A Brief Look at Orthodox Prayer

This is a decent introduction to the Orthodox prayer traditions. It covers the major bases (private rules, Our Father, monastic prayer without ceasing, etc) while remaining accessible to a layman. Guidelines and rules of thumb are enumerated but not expanded upon. At under 90 minutes, this is a short work and can be listened straight through in one sitting.

A consistent problem is the narration; it was quite monotone and the author should have requisitioned a professional narrator for his book. Due to this I think that a physical edition would be more useful.