Lent Is Coming

This year Ash Wednesday falls on 1 of the earliest days it can, 6 February. & while it is good to give up something, it is also good to do something extra. In this case I want to suggest some spiritual reading.

I'd like to start out by suggesting 2 classics by C.S. Lewis. The 1st is The Screwtape Letters. Written originally in the early 1940s as a series for a magazine, the book purports to be a series of letters from a senior temptor, Screwtape, to his nephew Wormwood. According to the backstory, every person is assigned a personal temptor by Hell. Screwtape is a successful temptor who has moved up (down?) the corporate ladder of Hell. He has now retired from active tempting. His nephew, Wormwood is on his 1st assignment. Through a series of 31 letters we see Screwtape advise Wormwood on how to deal with various events in the "Patient"'s life.

The book gives a fictionalized look at Hell & demons. C.S. Lewis clearly believed, as any orthodox Christian must, in their existance. In his fictionalized version of Hell, the demons of Hell see human souls as their source of nourishment, providing food & drink by their eternal torment in Hell. But, it doesn't end there, the demons, while paying lip service to their various working & familian relationships also look for ways to betray each other in order to advance themselves. & failure results in a demon suffering the same fate as a human soul.

Screwtape's advise is ment by Lewis to give us insight to the way the devil & other demons work in our lives. It gives us insight into how we can be tempted, often subtily.

Most editions of the book also include an addition written by Lewis in 1959 called Screwtape Proposes a Toast. In this case we have a speech given by Screwtape at the graduation banquet for the newest class of temptors who are about to go out on their 1st assignments. The talk mostly looks at how their are using the public education system (C.S. Lewis was fousing on the US system in the guise of the British system) to make their job easier. Lewis was very prescient in his critique of the direction modern education was taking. He could be talking even more so about public education in the 21st Century. The end of the talk gives an interesting in depth look at Lewis' idea of souls as food & drink. Esp intersting is his description of the wine served for the toast.

The other novel I want to suggest is The Great Divorce. This book is an allegorical look at Hell, Purgatory, Heaven & Salvation. The title is a reference to Blake's The Marriage of Heaven & Hell. In the story we find out that souls can take a day trip bus journey from Hell to Heaven. & they can even decide to stay there should they like. If they do, then what was Hell becomes Purgatory. His description of Hell is 1 of a town always in twilight (sunset) where there is no joy. People are constantly moving because they can't get along with their neighbors, ultimately leading to loneliness.

When they get to heaven, they find that they are not solid, & everything in Heaven is. But despite being incorporeal, they can still feel the things in heaven. Those that come for the day trip are met by someone from their time on Earth. The purpose is to help the soul deal with the sin in his or her life, let go of it & then be able to stay in Heaven. It is described in the book as becoming aclimatized.

In the context of this scenario, C.S. Lewis gives us a look at the various types of sin in our lives & how we hold on to them. & while it is easy to read the book & see other people in your life in the various characters, what you need to do is to find yourself. Clearly, Lewis is not saying anything about the way things work in the next life. It is an allegory. As I said, it is a challenge for us to look at the sins we hold on, even when we don't want to call them that. & even more a challenge to repent & turn away from those sins.

There are also 2 series by Lewis that are worth reading. The 1st is The Chronicles of Narnia. the 2nd movie, Prince Caspian, is due out in April. The other series is his Sci-Fi trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra & That Hideous Strength. The 3rd novel is another prescient work in that it could be a description of much of what is going on today & esp the dangers of the New Age Movement.

Another book worth starting for Lent is Thomas à Kempis' The (My) Imitation of Christ. The reason I say start is that this is not a book to be read in 1 or 2 sittings nor read only once. The book is divided in 4 sections & is a series of reflections in the form of a dialog between a soul & God. A person should read a single section each day. As I said, Lent is a god time to start, but this is a book you will get more out of every time you work your way through it. I would also suggestion you get a good translation that isn't a recent 1 that is updated to be PC. Ignatius Press & TAN Books have excellent editions at reasonable prices.

Both Ignatius Press & TAN have many excellent books for spiritual reading that are worth looking into.

TAN publishes many biographies of saints. They include The Story of A Soul: the Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux; St. John Bosco The Friend of Youth, F.A Forbes; St. Gerard Majella The Wonder-worker and Patron of Expectant Mothers, Rev. Edward Saint-Omer; & several books about Padre Pio. They also have St. Louis De Montfort's True Devotion To Mary. These books should be available through your local Catholic Bookstore. (TAN's website has a store locator.)

I haven't read the book yet, but I have heard his talk on the subject, so I feel safe in recommending 7 Secrets of the Eucharist by Vinnie Flyn (Ignatius Press). They also have a wide variety of writings by Papa Benedetto. & they publish G. K. Chesterton's works. Again your local Catholic Book Store should have a good variety of their books in stock. (If it is a good Catholic Store.)

The next 2 books deal with prayer & repentance, an appropriate subject for Lent. The 1st book I want to recommend is Akita - The Tears & the Message of Mary by Teiji Yasudo OSV. This book is published by the 101 Foundation. It tells the story of the apparition of Mary to Sr. Agnes. The message was approved by Most Rev. John Shojiro Ito, Bishop of Niigata, Japan. Right before he retired, Bishop Ito traveled to Rome to talk to the head of The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith To get a ruling on the message. The head of the CDF was Cardinal Ratzinger who gave his wholehearted approval. (I don't think it is any coincidence that he is now Papa Benedetto.) The message of Akita is 1 that is urgently needed today. As Bishop Ito said, it is the message of Fatima. It is a call to prayer & repentance to avoid a coming chastisement. It also talks about events in the Church, many of which seem to be happening.

Another book that looks at prophecy is Trail, Tribulation & Triumph by Desmond Birch (Queenship). This book looks at various private revelations given to saints & mystics over the years. Much of it focuses on what may happen before the 2nd Coming. It looks at the warnings of a coming Chastisement. The book put me onto a possible cousin of mine from Italy who is being looked at for sainthood.

These books talk about private revelation. As a Catholic, we are not required to believe it. But as I've said before, if it is apprvoved by the Church, it is prudent to take it seriously.

I've mentioned them before, but a couple other good books for Lent ar Father Benedict Groeschel's The Virtue Driven Life & Papa Benedetto's Jesus of Nazareth.

There are several books by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. His Life of Christ & Seven Words of Jesus and Mary: Lessons on Cana and Calvary are especially appropriate.

Liguori Press has published Lent and Easter Wisdom from Fulton J. Sheen: Daily Scripture and Prayers Together With Sheen's Own Words. This book has daily reflections from Scripture & the writings of Fulton J. Sheen. They also have a Lent & Easter Wisdom book using the writings of G. K. Chesterton & edited by The Center for the Study of C. S. Lewis & Friends. The also have 1 with the writings of Pope John Paul the Great. 1 word of caution. Liguori has published some others in this series (as well as for Advent.) Unfortunately many of those are more PC & at times verge on heresy in what is in them. I haven't seen the Chesterton or Pope John Paul ones so I can't say if that problem has infected them. But given who put together the Chesterton book, I suspect it is OK.

Then there is the best book of all to read, the Bible. If you aren't reading Scripture daily, now is a good time to start. If you are it may be a good time to increase your time of reading & reflecting.

Well, there you go. Hopefully you will find some of these suggestions useful. I pray that whatever you choice, that it will bear much fruit in your journey this Lent & make you better prepared to celebrate Jesus' victory over sin & death this Easter.