Pamphlet: Prayer in Sadness and Sorrow

Prayer in Sadness and Sorrow - The Healing Power of Lament - By Fr Robert Taylerson
published by CTS

Fr Taylerson is a parish priest in Stoke on Trent and a tutor at Oscott College. Prayer in Sadness and Sorrow is a slim booklet of fifty odd pages divided into chapters such as `Responding in Prayer to Anguish', and `When to Lament' - typically over the death or sickness of loved ones or the universal problems of injustice, unemployment and debt.

Fr Taylerson gives biblical examples of prayers of lament, notably many of the Psalms and the songs of prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah. He suggests that Christ's statement in the beatitudes, `Blessed are those who mourn,' signifies that sorrow leads to a growth in compassion as we learn to share in others' pain and are drawn deeper into association with the crucified Christ.

Fr Taylerson also lists harmful alternatives to lament such as despair, anger and bitterness, and quotes authorities such as Blessed Pope John Paul ll and St Augustine on the power of salvific suffering.

From my own experience of bereavement I can vouch for the healing power of prayer and the enormous comfort that can be obtained from reading certain passages in the Bible that highlight the universal suffering of the human condition. I believe this booklet would provide a valuable tool to all those who are in pain and help them on what Fr Taylerson describes as the `journey of the heart from anguish to peace.'

Anne Dunhill lost her daughter Anita to cancer in 2010. Her memoir 'Anita' has just been published by Quartet Books.