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PAGE 7 - The Georgia Bulletin. March i. 1990» ‘
Books Good Companions
On 40-Day Faith Journey
BY RITA McINERNEY
In his Lenten message this year. Pope
John Paul II invites us to make good use of
this "day of salvation" so that it may be
lived intensely both as a time of conver
sion to God and of love for our brothers and
sisters.
Lent, he says, calls us to a complete
change of mind and heart in order that we
may hear the Lord’s voice inviting us to
turn to him in newness of life and to make
ourselves ever more sensitive to the suf
ferings of those around us.
Spiritual reading has always been con
sidered essential to the faith tourney. For
that reason we offer some suggestions ot
favorite reading for Lent. Some of the
books mentioned are good companions tor
any church season.
Robert Nugent, a priest of the Society of
the Divine Savior, has written the new
Prayer Journey for Persons with AIDS
(St. Anthony Messenger Press) as an in
centive to prayer and as a source of sup
port and spiritual nourishment for those
who have AIDS or are part of the life of a
person with AIDS.
Perhaps. Father Nugent says in his
foreword, in God's mysterious design, per
sons with AIDS are called to be "living sta
tions" to remind us that we must under
take the same pilgrimage. For most, the
circumstances will be different, but each
Christian takes the place of Jesus in life’s
living stations. Father Nugent believes.
Each individual nt'eds the Lord s strength
along the way.
"There is no pain, no suffering, no
human experience of a I oneness, depres
sion or even despair that was not part ot
the life of Jesus." the priest writes in this
compassionate prayer book.
His prayer stations include such
headings as Struggling Toward Accep
tance, Facing Weakness. Dealing with
Family. Needing Friends. Responding to
Care-Givers. Facing Death, Seeking Com
munity. and Mourning Loss.
The format of each chapter begins with a
scene from the passion ot Jesus, a
response, prayer, and finally a reflection
from such published sources as the
Catholic Bishops of California, priests.
Religious who work with persons with
AIDS, those suffering from the disease,
and their caregivers.
The paperback received the imprimatur
of Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk ot Cin
cinnati in August. 1989.
Other contemporary, approaches to the
passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ are
found in meditations on the Stations ot the
Cross written by activist Jesuit Daniel
Berrigan and Clarence Enzler.
Berrigan’s fragmented verses follow
other "living stations," the homeless,
through the streets, subways, courts and
shelters of New York City. Each station in
the book is strikingly illustrated with pic
tures of the terra cotta stations created by
Margaret Parker for a Catholic church in
Newport, Rhode Island.
These icons of the destitute in our midst.
Berrigan says, are living out the poverty in
each of us: they are the "other side” of our
lives. It is a poverty we try to conceal from
God and from ourselves, he believes. (Sta
tions: The Way of the Cross, Daniel Ber
rigan and Margaret Parker. Harper and
Row, 1989. hard cover.)
Everyone’s Way of the Cross, the spare
little booklet by Clarence Enzler that has
sold 1.900.000 copies since its first printing
in 1970. teams Christ and the reader, his
"other self." in reflections on the 14 steps
to Calvary..
This 50 cent best seller (Ave Maria
Press) used to be titled Everyman’s Way
of the Cross. In recent years it has been
revised tor inclusive language.
Facing the reality of our brokenness and
the healing which comes only from Jesus
is the theme developed by George A.
Maloney. SJ, in Broken But Loved: Heal
ing Through Christ's Power, (Alba House.
1981).
Father Maloney, through lucid prose
and poetry, attempts to show the reader
how God waits with longing for our
response to his invitation to love.
In his brief life. Father Maloney writes.
Jesus pursued the sinners, stretched out
his hands of healing to the sick, and opened
his loving, humble heart to his disciples in
the upper chamber jus! before his agoniz
ing death.
In the 10 chapters, the well-known priest
author looks at the brokenness of the
world, the church, the individual, and con
cludes by urging those touched by Jesus’
love to extend that healing love into the
world around them. As we are called to
bring healing to the brokenness of others,
so we can experience an increase in new
healing love for our own wounds.
Each chapter ends with a poetic medita
tion by Father Maloney.
A booklet to help us look at our
woundedness during the Lenten days ot
renewal and healing is Embracing Your
Memories: A Journey of Healing for Lent
written by Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB. She
take's us from Ash Wednesday with its dust
to remind us of humble beginnings, to the
toyous new creation we can become on
Easter morning.
Readings include a Gospel selection
and a reflection on memories, blessed and
bitter, common to most of us from early
childhood to adult years. This little book
will take no more than 10 minutes of our
daily attention during the 40 days and
could yield new insights into understand
ing and accepting our frailties and those
of others important in our lives. (Creative
Communications for the Parish).
An unassuming book. The Prayers of St.
Francis, illustrates how valued are the
words of the great Italian saint of
medieval years in today’s chaotic world.
Translation is by Father Ignatius Brady,
OFM, considered one of the top experts on
the writings of St. Francis, with a foreword
by John Michael Talbot. This is from Ser
vant Publications. 1987.
NEW BOOKS
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Here are a few
books of particular interest to Catholic
readers.
"Ninety Days,” edited by Karan Hin-
man Powell and Joseph P. Sinwell, Paulist
Press, $8.95, 121 pp. Resource book for the
40 days of Lent and the 50 days of Easter.
Catechetical sessions based on the
readings for Cycle A as well as the ex
perience of these rites.
“Paying Attention to God,” by Jesuit
Father William A. Barry, Ave Maria
Press, $5.95, 128 pp. Makes prayer
believable and gives depth to our
understanding of prayer by drawing in
sights from theology and philosophy.
“The Way of Suffering: A Geography of
Crisis,” by Jesuit Father John Breslin,
Georgetown University Press, $22.95 cloth,
$10.95 paper, 203 pp. Experience of crisis
as the undermining of our attempts to keep
control of our lives.
LIVING STATIONS — Atlanta's homeless gather outside the Open
Door Catholic Worker House on Ponce de Leon Ave., reminders of the
“other side” of our lives. So claims Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan in
his book of contemporary Stations of the Cross.
3 Classics To Celebrate
Personal Lenten Retreat
BY CLAUD H. SHIRLEY III
When I was a boy. the beginning of Lent
was marked with great flourish and
drama, and involved solemn undertakings
to do great acts of virtue, as well as the
giving up of certain treasured items, like
candy and sleeping late on Saturdays. As I
grew, my perception of Lent changed just
as the Church’s emphasis on penitential
acts was undergoing dramatic modifica
tion. These days. Lent is more commonly
celebrated through interior reflection and
reformation, a personal odyssey commen
surate with this age ot existential
enlightenment.
Nevertheless, the reading and con
templation of inspired texts remains the
most efficacious and available means of
making a personal retreat. To that end, I
offer several suggestions for your Lenten
perusal.
The intense meditations of the 13th cen
tury poet Jacapone da Todi continue to
speak in the 20th, addressing as they do the
multiple and unpredictable turns of fate in
every person’s life. This fascinating man,
following the death of - his young wife,
underwent a 10-year period of rigorous
mendicant existence, which spread his
fame far and wide. Caught up in the in
tense papal politics of his time, da Todi
was even condemned to life imprisonment
as he approached his 70th year. His trials
and sufferings yielded a broad outpouring
of human wisdom, and theological
allegories, which may be explored in The
Lauds of Jacapone da Todi, available from
Paulist press, in the series “The Classics
of Western Spirituality.”
Closer to our time, but of equal classical
stature is The Lord by Romano Guarding
available from Regnery Gateway, Inc., in
Washington, D.C. Many readers will recall
Flannery O’Connor’s frequent mention of
this book in the collection of her letters en
titled Phoenix Rising. Consisting of a
broad approach to Christ through the
Gospel, Guardini’s masterpiece is a syn
thesis of modern and ancient exegetical
thought, framed within his own personal
mysticism. This book has been the source
for much of the spiritual writing of our
time; its strongest recommendation is that
it continues to allure despite frequent
rereading - a true old friend.
The Way to Christ, a series of spiritual
exercises written by Pope John Paul II,
and published by Harper and Row, is a
book especially directed toward young
people. Based oh retreat talks to universi
ty students in Cracow, The Way to Christ is
a practical Lenten manual of prayer,
wisdom, and resources for personal reflec
tion. In these exercises the Holy Father in
vites us to participate in the purification
process typified in the Season of Lent. His
sentiments are an invitation to all of us to
renew our journey on the “path to God,
which is also the path to eternal life after
death and judgment...This is the way the
mystery of redemption and justification by
Christ works. We must enter into this deep
mystery, which is both divine and
human."
There are thousands of other inspira
tional texts in the traditional canon of
Catholic writing. In suggesting these
three, I invite every reader to indeed enter
and celebrate Lent, the season which an
ticipates the deep mystery of our redemp
tion.
Claud H. Shirley is assistant director of
Catholic Communications.