Prayer can be a difficult topic to write about, since trying to explain it is something like trying to pin down a butterfly. The more you seek to capture it, the more it wants to escape. In the end, what happens in prayer is incommunicable, as it happens privately, between one person and God. –from the Introduction by James Martin, SJ

Prayer is our conversation with God. It is also at the heart of Ignatian spirituality. Understanding the practice and process of prayer, its various forms and expressions, is fundamental for people of faith. In one collection, Praying with America presents and celebrates the diversity of prayer over the past century and offers readers the wisdom and inspiration of leading Catholic thinkers on the practice of prayer. Praying with America provides a curated collection of wide-ranging discussions on the subject, full of practical and inspirational wisdom, by some of the best-known Jesuit writers and other spiritual luminaries, including Thomas Keating, OCSO; Henri J. M. Nouwen; William O'Malley, SJ; Daniel J. Harrington, SJ; William A. Barry, SJ; Evelyn Waugh; and many more from America, which continues to be a leading Catholic weekly, reporting on news and the lives of the faithful around the globe for more than 100 years. James Martin, SJ, who introduces the collection, is a Jesuit priest, editor-at-large at America, and author of numerous books, including My Life with the Saints.