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“Prayer is the breath of faith; it is its most proper expression. Like a silent cry that issues from the hearts of those who believe and entrust themselves to God.” – Pope Francis

In this fourth of eight booklets on prayer, Fr Paul Brendan Murray, OP gives an account of how four great saints of the Church learned to pray – St Augustine of Hippo, St Teresa of Avila, St Thomas Aquinas and St Thérèse of Lisieux – with the aim “to discover what help the great saints can offer those of us who desire to make progress in the life of prayer, but who find ourselves being constantly deflected from our purpose, our tentative efforts undermined perhaps most of all by human weakness.”

"The saints, it soon becomes clear, are human beings like us. That’s why they can offer people still struggling with weakness such great compassion and encouragement. However, the remarkable sanctity of their lives remains a stark, unignorable challenge to our mediocrity. In their daring, prayerful, dedicated surrender to God, they have allowed their lives to be transformed by grace, and allowed the radiance, strength, power, and beauty of Christ to shine through their human weakness."