Praying with Mary by Janice T. Connell

Praying with Mary: Sacred Prayers to the Blessed Mother for All Occasions by Janice T. Connell is a book that will always be dear to my heart. In this treasure of a book that I first read in high school, I discovered prayers to Our Mother, I have never found in any other source. It is one of these rarely mentioned, little known prayers that has given me great reassurance in the power of Mary to change hearts and minds. When I first read and prayed through this book, I was in love with a man who had fallen away from the Catholic Church and couldn’t see why faith was so important to me. He didn’t understand why I went to Mass every weekend and sometimes during the week. It was beyond him why I spent so much time in prayer.
   
I began praying the little known “Prayer to Mary for the Conversion of a Loved One” by Ishbel McGilvery McGregor the minute I set eyes on it. I prayed the prayer which I found in Connell’s book for my loved one several times throughout the day in addition to praying the Rosary for his conversion. Through the grace of God, the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the intercession of the Blessed Mother, I am grateful to say that this Easter will mark the ten year anniversary of my then boyfriend, now husband’s return to full participation in the Catholic Church.
   
It’s safe to say that this prayer book is one that has significantly changed my life and enhanced my already strong devotion to the Blessed Mother. I would highly recommend this treasury of prayers to Mary.

You can purchase this book here.

I wrote this review of Praying with Mary for the Tiber River Blogger Review program. Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases.