Being Here

“What is prayer? It’s not a passport to heaven. If anything, it’s a way of seeing here, a way of being here.”

In Being Here, acclaimed poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama offers a thoughtful collection of prayers and essays to focus attention in a world full of distractions. Featuring 31 collects—an ancient five-fold form of prayer—this unconventional devotional invites readers into a daily rhythm of connection and creativity.

“The hope is that you can turn to a prayer with the story of your life, and in the little emptiness you create there, hear something, discern something, feel something that’s connecting you to other things seeking out connection with you.”

Each day’s prayers are presented alongside scripture and illuminating literary texts. The book concludes with four incisive essays on politics, community, and the contours of contemporary life as seen through biblical literature. Pádraig also teaches readers how they can embrace poetic form to expand their practice of prayer. In these pages, spiritual wayfarers will find a place to both rest and grow their capacity for curiosity, justice, and love.

This is a way of living / That’s worth living daily.

Table of Contents

Being Here: What Is Prayer?

How to Use This Book

The Art and Form of the Collect: A Craft Essay

Daily Prayers

Occasional Essays and Poems

     Jesus in Isolation: On the Company of Stories

     “A Prayer after Times of Pandemic”

     Plenty of Room at the Inn, and Other Stories about Mary

     I Came to Bring Fire to the Earth: Toward a Spirituality of Conflict

     “Hold Yourself Together and Pull Yourself Apart”

Acknowledgments