LENT begins on Ash Wednesday, March 9th. The question I often hear is “What are you giving up?” instead of “What are you going you do?” The greatest sacrifice may be “to do”. Below is a list of books you may consider reading for Lent. This act of doing may be a sacrifice that transform you. Sr. Joyce Diltz will be here at St. Paul’s the weekend of March 12th & 13th and will have some of these books and many others.
THE HOLY LONGING. The Search for Christian Spirituality by Ronald Rolheiser. Anyone searching for substance and balance in the Christian spiritual life will welcome the wisdom in RR’s words. His writing is at once learned and clear, not only warming the heart, but also giving light to the mind and guidance to feet stumbling amidst the complexities and ambiguities of our age. He steers clear of the fluffiness and fuzziness clouding today’s spirituality superhighway, homing in on the essentials elements of a Christian spirituality both sober and sane. Check out his other books. Read Rolheiser in our NWI Catholic.
MY LIFE WITH THE SAINTS by James Martin. For Martin, the saints represent not so much lessons to be learned but as lives to be encountered and friends to be met. Each portrait is rendered with the kind of loving detail that must only be the result of long hours in prayer and contemplation of the spiritual force that guided their lives. Through these portraits emerges a new understanding not only of the life and mission of each saint, but also of the notion of sainthood itself. A wonderful gift of 24 lives and how they influenced a young man. Martin has many other books and all are good reads. This book will compliment the Lenten Series on saints.
THE THIRD MIRACLE. An Ordinary Man, A Medical Mystery, and a Trial of Faith by Bill Briggs is a very good read from an unexpected source. Briggs is an investigative reporter and a writer for MSNBC. How or why he selected our Indiana saint, Mother Theodore Guerin, is still a mystery to me, but this story of the Church’s saint making is riveting. The ordinary man is Phil McCord who worked at Porter Hospital for twenty years. The saint came from France and established the oldest college in Indians in 1841, one year before Notre Dame. She has inspired women to work in God’s vineyard. Briggs recognizes how a hundred year promotion for Mother Theodore’s canonization came to fruition under the leadership and enthusiasm of Sr. Marie Kevin, my teacher. Local color paints a vibrant portrait of an esoteric topic.
QUANTUM GRACE: Lenten reflections on Creation and Connectedness and QUANTUM GRACE: The Sunday Readings by Judy Cannato . These books offer something different for Lent. Not only do you get daily reflections but you expand your mind and find an integration of “incarnational spirituality with the tenets of quantum theory”.
WONDROUS ENCOUNTERS Scripture for Lent by Richard Rohr. ”There are two moments that matter. When is when you know that your one and only life is absolutely valuable and alive. The other is when you know your life, as presently lived is entirely pointless and empty. You need both of them to keep you going in the right direction. Lent is about both.” From the introduction.
A LIFE IN LETTERS: the Essential Collection by Thomas Merton. Merton was one the most prolific writers of the twentieth century. “His letters offer a unique lens through which we relive the spiritual and social upheavals of the twentieth century, while offering wisdom that is still relevant for our world today.”
For those of you that prefer to listen than read, I recommend going online to www.WordOnFire.org. Cardinal George calls him “one of the Church’s best messengers”. You may find him so too. He taught me systematic theology and his references to current culture bring things together. His sermons, books and movie reviews are good.