Although it might feel like the Christmas season just ended, we are a mere two weeks away from Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. We’re sharing a number of spiritual resources for Lent 2022 to help you make this 40-day season one in which you truly can draw closer to God. These days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving can become truly transformative, if we choose to use the time well.
Spiritual Reading for Lent:
Why the Cross by Rev. Edward Leen
Jesus Christ's Death on the Cross is the central act of human existence which links every act of suffering, self-giving, or self-denial with God Himself. Leen makes the connection between the Crucifixion as the horrible expiation for all sins, and the need for ordinary faithful to willingly embrace suffering in its various forms to find their way to God.
Meditation on the Passion by Susanna Tamaro
As we contemplate the Fourteen Stations of the Cross, Tamaro leads us from where we are, in the middle of the world, with all our twenty-first century preoccupations, and guides us down the path that reunites us with Christ. She helps us relive the greatest drama in human history. She shows us how to overcome all the obstacles in the modern world to live a life empowered by Faith.
The Sacred Passion by Luis de la Palma
In this book, which has been continuously published for four hundred years, de la Palma provides an aid for meditating on the Passion. He recreates the events of Jesus' life beginning with Holy Thursday and concluding with the burial of Our Lord and a powerful evocation of the coming resurrection.
The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Archbishop Alban Goodier, S.J.
Goodier fills in the many blanks in the historical narratives about the Passion of Jesus Christ with a riveting account based on history, culture, and his own deep spiritual insights. He brings to life and unifies the many observations, emotions and subtle and not-so-subtle actions that revolve around the person of God the Son as he faces his most tragic and triumphant moment.
The Sadness of Christ by Thomas More
This was the last book that More wrote before he was executed for his Catholic faith. In it, he explores the Gospel passages that depict the agony of Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. He depicts Christ as a model of virtue in the face of suffering and persecution. And along the way, he includes valuable and eternally relevant reflections on prayer, courage, friendship, statesmanship, and more.
Life of Christ by Fulton Sheen
This is a dramatic recounting of the birth, life, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ, as well as a portrait of the God-Man, the teacher, the healer, and most of all the Savior, whose promise has sustained humanity for two millennia.
Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
This three-book series chronicles the entire life of Jesus Christ. The Pope shares a rich, compelling, flesh-and-blood portrait of Jesus and invites us to encounter, face-to-face, the central figure of the Christian faith. Book 2 of the series focuses on the events of Holy Week.
Meditations for Lent:
READ: In Conversation with God, Volume 2, Lent and Eastertide - contains meditations for every day of the Lenten Season, Holy Week, and the entire Easter Season!
LISTEN: St. Josemaria Institute Lenten podcasts - 53 in the archives, with additional meditations being added during the season.
LISTEN: St. Josemaria Institute Holy Week podcasts - 12 in the archives, with more to come.
View our entire Lent and Easter Collection of titles!
