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Daily Prayer With the Corrymeela Community
Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community draws on the spiritual practices of Northern Ireland's longest established peace and reconciliation organisation. For over fifty years, it has been bringing fractured communities together and resourcing others in the work of healing conflict.
At the heart of its life is a simple pattern of daily worship. This prayer book captures the essence of the Corrymeela prayer experience to help you incorporate its spirituality into your practice of prayer. Structured over 31 days, it offers a daily Bible reading with accompanying prayer by Pádraig Ó Tuama. as well as an introduction to the spirituality that sustains Corrymeela's remarkable work.
At the heart of its life is a simple pattern of daily worship. This prayer book captures the essence of the Corrymeela prayer experience to help you incorporate its spirituality into your practice of prayer. Structured over 31 days, it offers a daily Bible reading with accompanying prayer by Pádraig Ó Tuama. as well as an introduction to the spirituality that sustains Corrymeela's remarkable work.
96 pages, Hardcover
Published August 22, 2017
127 people are currently reading
677 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
November 24, 2025
I grew up in a strict church in a strict religion with an angry god who hated people like me. Queer people aren’t supposed to mix with god- at least that’s what I was taught- so I always felt like an outsider.
I recently came out and in the process, I left my strict church and religion- I no longer have an angry god or any god. But this radical kindness Pádraig writes, the ability to stop and notice and feel and be grateful… it calms me to know there are lgbtqia+ people who make space for those of us who need rest and love. It’s his bare bones way of saying, “you’re welcome here, whoever you are and whatever you believe” that shatters me. I can believe in his version of love and hope- perhaps it’s the closest I’ll ever come to feeling like I belong.
I recently came out and in the process, I left my strict church and religion- I no longer have an angry god or any god. But this radical kindness Pádraig writes, the ability to stop and notice and feel and be grateful… it calms me to know there are lgbtqia+ people who make space for those of us who need rest and love. It’s his bare bones way of saying, “you’re welcome here, whoever you are and whatever you believe” that shatters me. I can believe in his version of love and hope- perhaps it’s the closest I’ll ever come to feeling like I belong.
October 20, 2018
This is a lovely, useful book on prayer. Poet Pádraig Ó Tuama offers a collection of prayer "collects" from the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland. The Corrymeela Community is a justice community committed to the work of reconciliation and peace. A "collect" (Ó Tuama explains) is a prayer structure/patter -- think prayer-haiku -- that focuses the pray-er on one concern, grounded in one Scripture, and one attribute of God.
The gem in the book, though, is the introductory essay about prayer, prayer as poetry, and the pattern of prayer. Here is but a sample: "Breath, like prayer, is a cry. Breath, like prayer, can also be an art. Prayer is a small fire lit to keep cold hands warm. Prayer is a practice that flourishes both with faith and doubt. Prayer is asking, and prayer is sitting. Prayer is the breath. Prayer is not an answer, always, because not all questions can be answered." Aaaahhh. I will read and pray with this essay again and again. Highly recommend.
The gem in the book, though, is the introductory essay about prayer, prayer as poetry, and the pattern of prayer. Here is but a sample: "Breath, like prayer, is a cry. Breath, like prayer, can also be an art. Prayer is a small fire lit to keep cold hands warm. Prayer is a practice that flourishes both with faith and doubt. Prayer is asking, and prayer is sitting. Prayer is the breath. Prayer is not an answer, always, because not all questions can be answered." Aaaahhh. I will read and pray with this essay again and again. Highly recommend.
February 10, 2023
Well if this isn’t a lovely book of prayers!
August 19, 2025
Feels funny to “finish” a daily book I plan to keep reading
May 18, 2021
4.5 This is a slim prayer book that may not work for everyone looking for a good daily devotional/prayer guide. However, I really appreciated the mix of structure and flexibility. It has 30 days labeled with a verse and brief collect as well as some longer prayer sections at the beginning and end of the book labeled with times of day or topic (prayer of courage...so good!). It also includes a section that leads you through the stations of the cross. While it's often helpful to have a daily devotional book that covers the entire year and gives textual explications, especially on days when devotional time feels rushed, I really loved this because it created more space for contemplation and more flexibility in chosing the prayer(s). As Ó Tuama mentioned in his introduction, it was a book that gave me some "recipes" that I could modify to taste and need and scatter throughout my day. As is often the case when attempts are made to forge spiritual meaning from one verse of scripture, a few days collects walked the line of proof texting for me, but overall, it was a beautiful book that helped me explore scripture a bit differently and gave me some beautiful prayers to memorize and put into practice. Still much to unpack and practice, so I will be going back to this one again.
October 9, 2020
I want these prayers in my pocket at all times. Padrig O Tuama REALLY hit with the use of words. Some people just simply pick the right things to describe feelings. He addressed Jesus in a way at the beginning of each prayer that enlivened His character. I want to learn to describe who I’m praying to. “Jesus of the cold grave”, “Surprising Son of God”, “Uncovered Jesus” and “God of Edges.” This book will be a carry-on for all the days I think.
In a liturgy for the morning comes my QOTB:
“And on the sixth morning, God listened. And there were people working, and people struggling to get out of bed, and there were people making love and people making sandwiches. There were people dreading the day, and people glad that the night was over. And God hoped that they’d survive. And God shone light, and made clouds, and rain, and rainbows, and toast, and coffee, places to love the light and places to hide from the light. Small corners to accompany the lonely, the joyous, the needy and the needed. The sixth morning. And God said that it was Good.”
:,)
In a liturgy for the morning comes my QOTB:
“And on the sixth morning, God listened. And there were people working, and people struggling to get out of bed, and there were people making love and people making sandwiches. There were people dreading the day, and people glad that the night was over. And God hoped that they’d survive. And God shone light, and made clouds, and rain, and rainbows, and toast, and coffee, places to love the light and places to hide from the light. Small corners to accompany the lonely, the joyous, the needy and the needed. The sixth morning. And God said that it was Good.”
:,)
December 19, 2020
Okay, so this one has been absolutely revelatory. Every time I open this small volume, there is something there for me. While I was not raised in a faith tradition that utilizes prayer books, this book has presented another side to the idea of prayer that I had not seen or been open to considering before this point. My disappointment in the mores of the White Christian Evangelical church and the ways in which they have played themselves out (particularly in this year, but also throughout my life) have found another expression in this set of prayers. The variety in this one was very beautiful to me. I have found it incredibly beneficial in the many, unique circumstances that befall our everyday, good and bad. Thanks Tim and Katie for introducing me to Pádraig. A light in the darkness.
March 5, 2023
“Jesus,
our dead and living friend,
We walk the ways of death and life
holding fear in one hand
and courage in the other.
Come find us when we are locked away.
Come enliven us.
Come bless us with your peace.
Because you are the first day of creation
And all days of creation.
Amen.”
our dead and living friend,
We walk the ways of death and life
holding fear in one hand
and courage in the other.
Come find us when we are locked away.
Come enliven us.
Come bless us with your peace.
Because you are the first day of creation
And all days of creation.
Amen.”
November 18, 2023
I love me a good collection of blessings and prayers- the Liturgy of Morning and Night at the end was my favorite of the whole book!
September 5, 2025
absolutely beautiful. peaceful, wonderful guidance and reminders to keep centered.
May 15, 2020
I have not read every page of this book, but I have read almost all of it. It includes 31 daily prayers based on the gospels, and I have prayed through them twice. the second time was during the quaratine, and I think it was helpful to me
May 5, 2018
Oh my, this prayer book is profound. I've worked my way through all the daily prayers 3 times so far this year and each time there are lines that strike me deep. They strip me right back but yet I am whole. To borrow a phrase from CS Lewis, they invite 'further up and further in'.
Read
March 29, 2021A lot packed into a small book, and Ó Tuama's theology's got a hook in me. I'm not done done, but I've gone through the 31 days of collects—which I only recently learned is pronounced [ka'lɛkt]. Morning, afternoon, evening prayers. Prayers for courage, conflict, reconciliation, and stations of the cross. Prayers for times of violence and separation and exile and desolations and shelter and shadow. I still don't know what praying is, but I think I know what poetry is, and I am learning to know asking. That's from prier, which is good to know for some reason.
"These are some of the things that prayer is. Prayer is rhythm. Prayer is comfort. Prayer is disappointment. Prayer is words and shape and art around desperation, and delight and disappointment and desire. Prayer can be the art that helps you name your desire. And even if the desire is only named, well, naming is a good thing, surely. Naming is what God did, the Jews tell us, and the world unfolded. Or perhaps naming is what the Jews did, and God unfolded. Either way, I'm thankful. Naming things is part of the creative impulse. Naming the deep desires of our heart is a good thing, even if those desires are never satisfied.
No prayer is perfect. There is no system of prayer that is the best. There is only the person praying, the person kneeling, the person walking with beads between their fingers, the person cursing God, or gloom, or fate, or whatever it is that seem to be not listening....So the only way to pray well is to pray regularly enough that it becomes a practice of encounter."
"So I think we must pay attention: to ourselves; to our hate; to our deepest yearning; to our abandonments; to our creativity; to our edges; to our endings; to our violences and voices."
"Prayer discovers its own vernacular."
"Places of need are full of stones. We stumble. We work hard to harvest. We can make shelters and art from the rocks that we stumble over. Our practice is exactly that — a practice. We practice the art of paying attention to the hostilities of our day; we make a rhythm of texts that hold a world of pain and hope; we weave our stories of pain into a hope that we might live well together; we practice the habit of prayer."
"Prayer, like poetry — like breath, like our own names — has a fundamental rhythm in our bodies. It changes, it adapts, it varies from the canon, it sings, is swears, it is syncopated by the rhythm underneath the rhythm, the love underneath the love, the rhyme underneath the rhyme, the name underneath the name, the welcome underneath the welcome, the prayer beneath the prayer.
So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars. Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies. Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears. Let us name the harsh light and soft darkness that surround us. Let's claw ourselves out from the graves we've dug, let's lick the earth from our fingers. Let us look up, and out, and around. The world is big, and wide, and wild, and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable and full of meaning. Oremus. Let us pray."
"These are some of the things that prayer is. Prayer is rhythm. Prayer is comfort. Prayer is disappointment. Prayer is words and shape and art around desperation, and delight and disappointment and desire. Prayer can be the art that helps you name your desire. And even if the desire is only named, well, naming is a good thing, surely. Naming is what God did, the Jews tell us, and the world unfolded. Or perhaps naming is what the Jews did, and God unfolded. Either way, I'm thankful. Naming things is part of the creative impulse. Naming the deep desires of our heart is a good thing, even if those desires are never satisfied.
No prayer is perfect. There is no system of prayer that is the best. There is only the person praying, the person kneeling, the person walking with beads between their fingers, the person cursing God, or gloom, or fate, or whatever it is that seem to be not listening....So the only way to pray well is to pray regularly enough that it becomes a practice of encounter."
"So I think we must pay attention: to ourselves; to our hate; to our deepest yearning; to our abandonments; to our creativity; to our edges; to our endings; to our violences and voices."
"Prayer discovers its own vernacular."
"Places of need are full of stones. We stumble. We work hard to harvest. We can make shelters and art from the rocks that we stumble over. Our practice is exactly that — a practice. We practice the art of paying attention to the hostilities of our day; we make a rhythm of texts that hold a world of pain and hope; we weave our stories of pain into a hope that we might live well together; we practice the habit of prayer."
"Prayer, like poetry — like breath, like our own names — has a fundamental rhythm in our bodies. It changes, it adapts, it varies from the canon, it sings, is swears, it is syncopated by the rhythm underneath the rhythm, the love underneath the love, the rhyme underneath the rhyme, the name underneath the name, the welcome underneath the welcome, the prayer beneath the prayer.
So let us pick up the stones over which we stumble, friends, and build altars. Let us listen to the sound of breath in our bodies. Let us listen to the sounds of our own voices, of our own names, of our own fears. Let us name the harsh light and soft darkness that surround us. Let's claw ourselves out from the graves we've dug, let's lick the earth from our fingers. Let us look up, and out, and around. The world is big, and wide, and wild, and wonderful and wicked, and our lives are murky, magnificent, malleable and full of meaning. Oremus. Let us pray."
January 11, 2025
Absolutely going to keep reading these prayers daily this year. Some lovely, rich, valuable words in here to hang onto. (Side note: as I read a lot of modern mystics, I never 100% agree with their theology. Comes out in little ways in their writing that flag my attention. But still finding so much value in the way mystics wrestle with and sit in mystery and then respond with the creative impulse to string lovely words together.)
“Breath, like prayer, is a cry. Breath, like prayer, can also be an art. Prayer is a small fire lit to keep cold hands warm. Prayer is a practice that flourishes both with faith and doubt. Prayer is asking, prayer is sitting. Prayer is the breath. Prayer is not an answer, always, because not all questions can be answered. Prayer can be a rhythm that helps us make sense in times of senselessness, not offering solutions, but speaking to and from the mystery of humanity.”
“Prayer is rhythm. Prayer is comfort. Prayer is disappointment. Prayer is words and shape and art around desperation and delight and disappointment and desire. Prayer can be the art that helps you name your desire. And even if the desire is only named, well, naming is a good thing, surely. Naming is what God did, the Jews tell us, and the world unfolded. Or perhaps naming is what the Jews did, and God unfolded. Either way, I’m thankful. Naming things is part of the creative impulse. Naming the deep desires of our heart is a good thing, even if those desires are never satisfied.”
“Why do we move toward rhythm? Perhaps it’s because the first thing we hear — the first thing we feel, it’s the same thing — is the heartbeat. Perhaps it’s because the breath works on form, perhaps it’s because we discover ourselves when we change a form. We need something to hold and something to hold us and something that tries to hold us back — form works, form tells truths, form helps us to be, in and out of form, in and out of season.”
“Breath, like prayer, is a cry. Breath, like prayer, can also be an art. Prayer is a small fire lit to keep cold hands warm. Prayer is a practice that flourishes both with faith and doubt. Prayer is asking, prayer is sitting. Prayer is the breath. Prayer is not an answer, always, because not all questions can be answered. Prayer can be a rhythm that helps us make sense in times of senselessness, not offering solutions, but speaking to and from the mystery of humanity.”
“Prayer is rhythm. Prayer is comfort. Prayer is disappointment. Prayer is words and shape and art around desperation and delight and disappointment and desire. Prayer can be the art that helps you name your desire. And even if the desire is only named, well, naming is a good thing, surely. Naming is what God did, the Jews tell us, and the world unfolded. Or perhaps naming is what the Jews did, and God unfolded. Either way, I’m thankful. Naming things is part of the creative impulse. Naming the deep desires of our heart is a good thing, even if those desires are never satisfied.”
“Why do we move toward rhythm? Perhaps it’s because the first thing we hear — the first thing we feel, it’s the same thing — is the heartbeat. Perhaps it’s because the breath works on form, perhaps it’s because we discover ourselves when we change a form. We need something to hold and something to hold us and something that tries to hold us back — form works, form tells truths, form helps us to be, in and out of form, in and out of season.”
January 1, 2024
10 stars!!! What a GEM of a book. What a wonderful opening piece on prayer.
Then morning, midday and afternoon prayers of the Corrymeela community.
The 31 brilliant prayer/poems in the collect form.
Additional gems of prayers for groups, beginning and endings, shadow and shelter, and other scripture collects.
12 stations of the cross collects, and invitation and example of how to engage with story/scripture as a form of prayer. Imagination stirred.
And the a lovely ending of the liturgy of the morning and the night.
Brilliant, moving and invitational.
I took a month and savored this book slowly, I just finished it today and I immediately want to start at the beginning again. I could read this every month of a year and still find nuggets of wisdom with each reading.
My imagination and heart are stirred. New doors into prayer and poetry opened. I highly recommend this book.
I own the paperback copy of this book and listened to it on Audible! This visual-audio combo is the perfect pairing.
Then morning, midday and afternoon prayers of the Corrymeela community.
The 31 brilliant prayer/poems in the collect form.
Additional gems of prayers for groups, beginning and endings, shadow and shelter, and other scripture collects.
12 stations of the cross collects, and invitation and example of how to engage with story/scripture as a form of prayer. Imagination stirred.
And the a lovely ending of the liturgy of the morning and the night.
Brilliant, moving and invitational.
I took a month and savored this book slowly, I just finished it today and I immediately want to start at the beginning again. I could read this every month of a year and still find nuggets of wisdom with each reading.
My imagination and heart are stirred. New doors into prayer and poetry opened. I highly recommend this book.
I own the paperback copy of this book and listened to it on Audible! This visual-audio combo is the perfect pairing.
February 5, 2021
Most likely just came to me in a season I wouldn’t enjoy it. Padraig is an incredible voice in spirituality, which is not something I can confidently say about many. While beautiful language and glimmer is found throughout the writing, I get a little distracted and roll my eyes upon some of the bits. I set out to read a morning prayer, a corresponding scripture, and a short poem that Padraig wrote, but this didn’t really do the trick. Had I read it not as a devotional that may help?
The personality Padraig gives God is one of the best things received from this lil book. If he can do it, plenty of us can. Yes it was fluffy language. Yes it was short. But hidden amongst this was theology that moves us to love and know God deeper.
The personality Padraig gives God is one of the best things received from this lil book. If he can do it, plenty of us can. Yes it was fluffy language. Yes it was short. But hidden amongst this was theology that moves us to love and know God deeper.
February 26, 2021
Pádraig Ó Tuama’s work speaks to me at this stage of my life in a way that is so deeply personal it’s hard to describe.
I listen to his Poetry UnBound Podcast, follow him in social media, and just look for his work wherever I can find it.
I would not describe myself as a fan, even though I can understand if that is how it looks. I don’t look for his work out of fandom but out of curiosity. I’m not a fan so much as a student, not of poetry. I’m a student of the honest, whimsical, raw, wonderful way he writes about the world people and God.
I love this book so much it will probably never live on a bookshelf. I’ll keep it close even as Pádraig’s words keep me close.
I listen to his Poetry UnBound Podcast, follow him in social media, and just look for his work wherever I can find it.
I would not describe myself as a fan, even though I can understand if that is how it looks. I don’t look for his work out of fandom but out of curiosity. I’m not a fan so much as a student, not of poetry. I’m a student of the honest, whimsical, raw, wonderful way he writes about the world people and God.
I love this book so much it will probably never live on a bookshelf. I’ll keep it close even as Pádraig’s words keep me close.
December 31, 2024
Padraig O Tauma is a gem, skilled in poetry and prose and his Irish accent adds enjoyment to audiobooks. DAILY PRAYER WITH THE CORRYMEELA COMMUNITY was recommended to me ages ago (even before I knew of other work by O Tauma), and I finally encountered it as an audiobook. It is a slim read, but know that I approached it not as it is expected to be engaged with. It has set prayers, one for each day of the month, as well as some topical prayers, but I listened to them in a couple short binges, not listening as it was intended.
No doubt this would be better as a physical resource to open at will and dabble with, but O Tauma's accent is an asset to the audiobook format.
No doubt this would be better as a physical resource to open at will and dabble with, but O Tauma's accent is an asset to the audiobook format.
December 28, 2022
A book of prayers not a prayer book
The work that happens at Corymeela is worth your support of them by buying this book. However, think of this as something to supplement your prayer books, rather than being a book of prayer in the classic sense. The 31 days are simply one Bible reading and a prayer each day. There are some lovely words though, so I think you’d use it regularly. The section on the stations of the cross also has some thoughtful words.
If you are looking for something to supplement your prayer liturgy, then you might enjoy what this does for you.
The work that happens at Corymeela is worth your support of them by buying this book. However, think of this as something to supplement your prayer books, rather than being a book of prayer in the classic sense. The 31 days are simply one Bible reading and a prayer each day. There are some lovely words though, so I think you’d use it regularly. The section on the stations of the cross also has some thoughtful words.
If you are looking for something to supplement your prayer liturgy, then you might enjoy what this does for you.
April 1, 2021
I have come to deeply love and value the prayers in this book. The Corrymeela Community, which seeks to build bridges in a broken world, especially in Northern Ireland, is inspiring in its determination to offer a balm from within a religion which it acknowledges has done much to cause the suffering they seek to heal. Prayers rooted in the mess and muddle of everyday existence are always the most real and the most touching.
April 29, 2021
I feel sort of bad claiming that I have “finished reading” this book, because I don’t think you can ever really be finished with this book. Pádraig Ó Tuama is a blessing and the story of the Corrymeela community is a ray of hope. I highly, highly recommend the audiobook alongside the text for a complete experience.
If you enjoy listening to him speak (and how could you not??) I encourage you to listen to his readings and reflections on the Poetry Unbound podcast.
If you enjoy listening to him speak (and how could you not??) I encourage you to listen to his readings and reflections on the Poetry Unbound podcast.
May 3, 2023
An absolute treasure. Delightfully poetic. This book breathed fresh inspiration into my prayer life and has earned a permanent spot on my bedside table. Hands down will recommend to all my friends!
Not that it matters, but the gorgeous cover is an added reason to put this at the very top of your aesthetic stack!
Not that it matters, but the gorgeous cover is an added reason to put this at the very top of your aesthetic stack!
May 28, 2023
Excellent book on prayer! The format of understanding the poetry of prayer in a “collect” is inspiring. I enjoy reading these prayers and seeing the nature of God displayed in scripture, and have even written a few collects myself now, with this guided understanding of the system. I highly recommend this book if you want to be challenged to see scripture in a new light, while also diving deep into prayer in a unique and exciting way!
April 12, 2021
Highly recommend the audiobook version. It was more challenging to use for daily prayer due to limited table of contents on Hoopla, the audiobook app I used, but it was worth it to hear these prayers read with Padraig's Irish accent.
January 1, 2022
I really liked the morning prayer and prayer for courage. I liked snippets of many of the daily prayers. Well-written. Thorough. To be honest, I'm not much of a Jesus or gospel person. So this book can't be 5 stars for me because I'm not the target audience.
January 2, 2022
These prayers are beautiful poetry. I read the whole book through because I wanted to devour the lovely language. But I will be going back through to savor and soak it all up. His reflection on story is… stunning.
February 15, 2022
Audiobook read by the author. His voice is calming and soothing. Each daily prayer is quite short, although it does include a scripture verse or two.
I'm sure this is quite nice, because I trust the person who recommended it. It is just not for me at this particular time.
I'm sure this is quite nice, because I trust the person who recommended it. It is just not for me at this particular time.
December 23, 2022
The foreword, morning and evening prayers at the beginning and end of this little book, and the prayer for courage were expansive and life-giving to my soul. I will continue to pray them for years to come.
January 30, 2023
I have had this book for several years and have used several of the prayers personally and pastorally. But oh, my stars. I just listened to Padraig O’Tuama read the audio version and I can’t recommend it more highly. Beautiful prayers, movingly read.
March 25, 2023
I listened to this as an audiobook, which probably wasn’t the best format for this particular text, but I found it soothing and focusing overall and would recommend it to others, though definitely the print version.
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