The Desert: An Anthology for Lent

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Lenten preparation to use year after year
Review: The Desert is one of the best anthologies of mediations for Lent that I have seen. The book has three explanatory chapters on desert spirituality and it's literature. The core of the book is a group of readings for each day of lent, the group rarely filling two pages.

The breadth of material selected is impressive. The fourth Wednesday of Lent, to pick any example, has writings of Charles de Foucauld, the desert father Abbot Moses, Alessandro Pronzato, and Thomas Merton. Many of the readings are merely a sentence. From the same example, one quote from Charles de Foucauld: "Love consists not in feeling that you love, but in the will to love."

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Lenten preparation to use year after year
Review: The Desert is one of the best anthologies of mediations for Lent that I have seen. The book has three explanatory chapters on desert spirituality and it's literature. The core of the book is a group of readings for each day of lent, the group rarely filling two pages.

The breadth of material selected is impressive. The fourth Wednesday of Lent, to pick any example, has writings of Charles de Foucauld, the desert father Abbot Moses, Alessandro Pronzato, and Thomas Merton. Many of the readings are merely a sentence. From the same example, one quote from Charles de Foucauld: "Love consists not in feeling that you love, but in the will to love."

Rating:
Summary: A quiet companion for a 40 day journey
Review: The Desert This anthology infused my Lenten season with holiness and a step towards a deeper contemplation in the Mystery. Short daily readings from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day are broken down into themes of The Call to the Desert, Solitude, Testing, Self-Emptying, Encounter, Transfiguration and the Divine Mystery.

The words accompanied me as I shared the forty day journey with Christ. I found some of the readings especially helpful in preparing for reconciliation with God.

This is a book I plan to reread again next Lent. The readings have eternal significance and infinite insights.