Anyone looking for proof that young people care about the world around them need only read the prayers from Jesuit high school students compiled for In All Things. Editors Daley and Yeazell asked students in Jesuit high schools across America to contribute their own prayers to this collection, and the resulting meditations display how teenagers find God in all things. With fresh takes on the form and content of prayer for adolescents, the students reflect on starting high school, losing a friend, respecting family, coping with peer pressure, graduating, and much more. Also included is a selection of traditional Catholic prayers, Ignatian prayers, and classic prayers by saints and poets.
“These teenage voices are clear, genuine, and grace-filled. Anyone who doubts the profound spiritual hunger of adolescents and the necessity of teaching them to pray should read this book.”
11/1/2002 - By Julie A. Collins, spiritual director, Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth, Wernersville, Pennsylvania
“I highly recommend this book. . . . It can help for personal prayer, for prayer moving beyond formulas, and for genuine friendship with God.”
11/1/2002 - By James Stoeger, S.J., provincial assistant for secondary education, Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus
“In All Things reveals the holy longings of teenagers to discern God’s presence in their lives and in their worlds. Meditating on their prayers and hearing the Spirit moving young hearts is spiritually invigorating. Congratulations to Mike Daley, Lee Yeazell and the contributing students for bringing us a contemporary prayer book by and for our young people (and for us older folk as well!). I incorporated Any Novak’s “Peace Is…” into a Eucharistic Liturgy as a post-Communion reflection. It worked very nicely.”
10/1/2002 - By Joseph F. O'Connell, S.J., president, JSEA
“A book of prayers not only for students but for parents. There could be no
better way to understand teenagers than through their prayers. These
prayers are revealing and hope-filled reflections on the youth of today.”
9/1/2002 - By Rosemary Croghan, chairwoman of the board, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School
“In All Things, a compilation of familiar prayer accompanied by messages from students to God, is an inspiring testament to the power of faith and the wisdom of young people.”
11/1/2002 - By Joseph Califano, president, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
“It is one thing to tell people that they ought to pray. It is another thing to show people how to pray. It is more sacred to allow someone to listen to you pray. These prayers by young men and women from Jesuit high schools are privileged expressions of praying as searching, finding, and being challenged by God. As such, they are a witness to grace and a sign of hope.”
11/1/2002 - By Howard Gray, S.J., assistant to the president for Mission and Identity, and rector of the Jesuit Community- John Carroll University
Encompassing devotion to God, a wide variety of young adult anxieties, as well as a poetic inspiration encompassing love, fear, and so much more, these moving verses raptly communicate the faith of their young authors. In All Things is a highly inspirational and spiritual collection.
5/1/2003 - By THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
!!!VERY GOOD
5/12/2003 - By Today's Books
Daley and Yeazell compiled this wonderful book of prayers written by students about the central issues in their stressful lives. Themes include faith, love, family, success, failure, health and relationships. Parents will find great hope in these poem-prayers, and teenagers will realize that they are not alone in their concerns or their faith. This is a perfect Christmas gift for teenagers or middle-school children who are eager to be teenagers.
11/1/2003 - By Catholic Parent (Nov/ Dec issue)