Pascal's Prayers
Pascal's Prayers
with “The Grandeur and Misery of Man” by Pope Francis
Foreword by Peter Kreeft
Couldn't load pickup availability
Blaise Pascal—a celebrated philosopher, mathematician, and inventor best known for his Pensées—is not often counted among the great Christian mystics. But the philosopher also composed two prayers, both of which display an unexpected spiritual depth.
In this thoughtful study, author William C. Hackett presents new translations of, and commentary on, these two prayers of Pascal: the “Prayer Asking God for the Good Use of Illness,” a series of deathbed reflections on faith amid suffering, and the mysterious “Memorial,” an account of his mystical encounter with Christ on the “night of fire” in November 1654. Also included are Pope Francis’s 2023 apostolic letter on Pascal, “The Grandeur and Misery of Man,” and a series of reflections on Pascal’s complex relationship with the Jansenism of seventeenth-century France.
Spanning the depths of anguish and the height of exaltation, Pascal’s Prayers offers religious and nonreligious readers alike stark insight into the human condition—and a glimpse into the throbbing heart of what it means to live and die a Christian.
Details
Details
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
When will my order ship?
- When items are in-stock, orders placed before 8am CT should ship out that same business day from our Illinois warehouse.
- Depending on your shipping address and the shipping method you select at checkout, in-stock items should arrive between 7-10 business days.
- If your order contains a preordered/backordered item, no items in your order will ship until the preordered item becomes available (i.e. your order will ship all at once.)
Do you ship internationally?
- We offer two international shipping methods, Passport and DHL. Passport has all taxes and duties included in the shipping cost. DHL is delivered duties unpaid, and you may be responsible for taxes and duties when your package is delivered.
- International orders are subject to unpredictable delays by customs, and are subject to security mandates, duties, and other fees upon receipt.
- Please allow international orders a significant amount of flexibility in timeframe to receipt.
- We do accept international returns, but we are unable to generate return labels for international shipments.
Can I make changes or corrections to my order?
- Please contact us as soon as possible—ideally within 2 hours of placing your order—at 866-928-1237 or sales@wordonfire.org with your order correction details. We’ll work quickly to see if any edits to your order are still possible.
- Once an order has shipped, we are unable to cancel it.
Return Policy
For non-damaged, standard returns:
Our products may be returned if they were purchased within the last 90 days, are unused, and are still in their original packaging. Original shipping costs are already collected by the shipper, and therefore the original shipping costs are not refundable.
We will provide a pre-paid return label to you. The maximum shipping cost covered will be $20. If the return shipping costs in excess of $20 to ship it to us, that will be deducted from the refund amount. (Meaning, if one orders 30 bibles and changes their mind after receiving them, it would not be good stewarding of our donor-provided funds for the ministry to cover that return shipment.)
Exceptions and limitations:
- Bulk books (evangelization pricing): Books sold in pre-boxed quantities are evangelistic in nature and priced as low as possible, and we cover the original shipping cost. For that reason, we are unable to cover return shipping costs for bulk books. If you choose to return a bulk book, return shipping will be the customer’s responsibility in that case.
- Seasonal titles (including Advent and Lenten Gospel Reflections): Seasonal titles are final sale and are not eligible for returns or refunds.
For damaged items:
For damages to the item that are significant in nature, such as missing pages, large gashes in the cover, major creases in the cover, or dents, etc, please email us at sales@wordonfire.org for a no-cost replacement. For minor damages, like a nick or otherwise tiny blemish, or a slightly bent inward corner, or a slightly flaked embossing, these returns may be accepted but the return shipping will not be covered in order to be good stewards of the donor provided funds that make our non-profit ministry possible. For items that are shipped in protective packaging, such as the Leather Bible, note that the outer box is meant to absorb damage in shipping, and the box should not be considered the product itself, and the box is not replaceable.
How can I set up my return?
Please email us to set up your return at sales@wordonfire.org.
Your order record will be retrieved by the system based on the email address you used to make the purchase. For this reason, please have the email address or the order number (example: Q######) handy when beginning the return process. We are able to accept international returns, but we are unable to generate return shipping labels from countries outside the United States.
Share
Table of Contents
What People are Saying
“This little gem of a book you’re holding now is about just two prayers of Pascal, one fairly long (about ten ordinary pages) and one short (one page). But those two prayers are like a biopsy—narrow like a needle but diving deep into invisible but living cells—or like a sharp, powerful probe deep into the earth or into Arctic or Antarctic ice. They move us from our comfortable surface illusions down into the depths of reality, and if Pascal is eventually canonized, they may well be the primary data for it. Reader, beware of this book. Read it only if you, too, are, or even passionately want to be, a realist—that is, open to all reality, to the end and the edge of it. For the earth is not round spiritually; it has an edge, and we all fall off that edge, either into nothingness or into everlasting arms.”
—Peter Kreeft, author of Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s “Pensées” Edited, Outlined, and Explained, from the foreword
“Pascal’s prayers are extraordinary. They are deeply personal, filled with intimacy, immediacy and honesty, and touch on things that matter to all of us - sickness, the search for happiness, and finding God. Pascal was a man who wrestled with God throughout his life and these prayers give a glimpse into his own spiritual life and hard-won wisdom. This volume presents two of his most celebrated prayers, offers a rich and detailed commentary on them and combines them with the Jesuit Pope Francis’ generous appreciation of this great Christian - who was no friend to the Jesuits in his time - yet who still speaks powerfully to us today of the transforming grace of God.”
—Graham Tomlin, author of Blaise Pascal: The Man who Made the Modern World (Hodder 2025)
“We struggling moderns need the thoughts and especially prayers of Blaise Pascal, the seventeenth-century polymath who helped usher in this technological world while exemplifying the spiritual commitment required for living in it. In Pascal’s Prayers, William Hackett gives us two precious texts with austere power: Pascal’s ‘Prayer Asking God for the Good Use of Illness’ and his ‘Memorial.’ Hackett has set these two spiritual gems in the gold of historical and religious commentary, allowing the man who prayed them to shine alongside the prayers themselves. Pascal and his prayers provide aid and comfort for those seeking to find God amid the harshness of reality and the seemingly eternal silence of infinite space.”
—Father Bonaventure Chapman, OP, cohost of Godsplaining