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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.