Irish Messenger Publications

PRAYER IN ACTION 

THE PRAYERBOOK 2026
The Irish Jesuits

Today’s world is a busy place and many people find their everyday lives are also becoming busier, with constant demands on their time and attention. With so little opportunity for rest and reflection, how then to create a space for prayer in our day?  Ignatian spirituality addresses this issue by reimagining prayer and placing it front and centre in daily life. In seeking and finding God in everything we do—walking, listening, talking with others—prayer can become our lived experience, which itself can become prayer in action­.

When, in a quietly radical move in 1999, the Jesuits brought prayer to the internet, they transformed how people could approach their daily prayer. Sacred Space (www.sacredspace.ie) now has a global community of millions and is translated into seventeen languages. Every year, The Prayerbook collates the material and resources of the website in one volume and presents the reader with a complete guide to a year of prayer. The 2026 edition includes specially selected weekly reflections enhanced by six steps of prayer, daily scripture readings with inspiration points by John Callanan SJ and an introduction by Brendan Comerford SJ.

This trusted and accessible guide is a rich and rewarding prayer companion that can help us to slow down, pay attention and bring us to a greater awareness of and engagement with God in the nuts and bolts of everyday life.

The Prayerbook 2026 is published in Ireland and the UK by Messenger Publications. The prayers and reflections are written by members of the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. 

Paperback, 400 pages, 978-1788127424,  €14.95/£12.95

FURTHER DETAILS HERE

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Sacred Heart Magazine

The time of waiting and the sense of anticipation that is Advent; the theme of family and togetherness, as well as its flip side of isolation and loneliness that can often arise at Christmas; the importance of presence rather than presents – all feature in the December Messenger. At the heart of the issue, however, is our popular Christmas Novena, based around the Magnificat and with prayers and reflections for the nine days, from 16-24 December.

PRESS RELEASE FROM MESSENGER PUBLICATIONS

11 November 2025

  • Messenger editor Donal Neary SJ starts the December issue with a reminder to ‘let Advent be Advent!’. As the secular and religious are mixed, he reminds us that even though many of our customs and family traditions in preparation for Christmas are precious, we should also savour the waiting integral to the Advent season. 
  • The theme of family and togetherness runs through the issue, as does its flip side of isolation and loneliness. Andrea Hayes writes movingly about holding grief and love together, as her family mourn the passing of a beloved member. Anne Marie Lee talks about the importance of family relationships in the spiritual development of children and the value of continuing and evolving rituals.  And Mary Hunt writes that often the real gift is being present to one another and creating memories together. 
  • Peter McVerry SJ has a thought-provoking article on the difference between compassion and solidarity, describing the latter as deriving not from our sense of generosity but from our sense of justice. 
  • Joe Munnelly from Irish Jesuits International writes about a recent conference held to mark 80 years of that organisation’s missionary work and its continued commitment to positive change in areas of adversity, placing people at the very heart of its endeavour. 
  • Eugene Duffy reminds us that the sacrament of Baptism bestows a co-responsibility onall the baptised for the well-being and leadership of the Church, as fact acknowledged in the Final Document of the 2024 synodal assembly. 
  • And our ecological responsibilities are highlighted by Seán McDonagh SSC and John Feehan in their respective articles on the rise in plastics in our environment and the drastic depletion of natural water sources worldwide.

Plus, at the heart of the issue, along with all our regular features and children’s pages, we have our 2025 Christmas Novena, with prayers and reflections from 16-24 December, written this year by Fr John Cullen.

The Sacred Heart Messenger magazine

A modern message in a much-loved tradition.

With the best writing on Spirituality, Prayer, Care for the Earth, Modern life, Scripture as well as RE:LINK, our supplement for young people that follows the RE Junior Cycle PA in schools.

Subscribe now to the biggest selling religious publication produced in Ireland today! 
From only €45 per annum or €15 for the digital issue.

https://www.messenger.ie/product/sacred-heart-messenger-subscription

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