The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer

Want to rate this?

by Fr. John Bartunek, LC SThD

Click here to purchase your copy of The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer.

Now also available as a four-volume set or each Gospel as a separate book!  See below for more info.

This book should be declared a national treasure! We lead tremendously busy lives, with 1,001 things to do. Even so, every saint and renowned spiritual director through the ages has said the same thing: If we desire to become saints, we must spend time daily in meditation.

With this book (which is in its fourth printing!), Father Bartunek has created an extensive, Christ-centered resource to serve as a daily meditation companion. Part I is an incredibly practical explanation of Christian meditation (along with a cheat-sheet!). Part II contains material to use during your meditations. The resource is a Bible study on the four Gospels, a survey of saints’ writings, a guide to prayer, and a fresh introduction to Jesus rolled into one. The Better Part enables us to read, meditate, absorb, and apply the Gospels to our lives. It serves as a catalyst to personalize times of prayer, enabling us to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead along the path of holiness. The portable resource has a ribbon to mark your place and contains detailed indices to help you meditate either on the liturgical seasons or the virtues you feel most in need of developing.

All four Gospels are included inside the resource, divided into 303 sections, with each section divided into six parts: 1. the Gospel text, 2. Christ the Lord, 3. Christ the Teacher, 4. Christ the Friend, 5. Christ in My Life, and 6. questions for small group discussion. There are quotes from saints and popes at the beginning of each section and references to the Catechism following the discussion questions. Each section is about 4 pages long, totaling 1024 pages.

UPDATE: The Better Part is now available as four separate books, one for each Gospel.

The Better Part:  The Four Gospels

The Better Part: The Gospel of Matthew

The Better Part: The Gospel of Mark

The Better Part: The Gospel of Luke

The Better Part: The Gospel of John

The Better Part: Four Volume Set

Purchase your copy here

Average Rating

What did you think?

Share your review! Just log in or create your free account.

Want more?

Sign up for the weekly email and access to member-only content

Skip to content