Meditations for Lent – December 31, 2013 Author: Jacques-B?nigne Bossuet | Language: English | ISBN:
193318499X | Format: PDF
Meditations for Lent – December 31, 2013 Description
Review
These meditations will help you enter by the narrow door, just as Jesus urges us. --
Rev. Paul Check
Director of The Courage ApostolateBossuet is a hidden treasure of profound spiritual insight, and his meditations will transform your Lenten experience. --
Dan Burke
Executive Director of The National Catholic Register; and Founder, Avila Institute for Spiritual FormationClassic wisdom in a crisp new translation that will be of great spiritual value to everyone seeking to live the Faith more fully. --
Robert Royal
Faith & Reason InstituteAbout the Author
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist
- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Sophia Institute Press; Lea edition (December 31, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 193318499X
- ISBN-13: 978-1933184999
- Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
- Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Meditations for Lent by Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet is the companion book to Meditations for Advent. I was not familiar with this author's name, so I did some research and found out that he was a French bishop who lived from 1627 to 1704. He was known for his sermons, and some say that he was a better orator than St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom. Reading that statement blew my mind. These are two of the most well-known and influential saints of Western and Eastern Christendom, respectively, and some people think he was a better orator than him. WOW!
In this book, you will find a daily meditation starting with Ash Wednesday and ending with Easter. At the end of the book, you will also find two extra meditations, one for the Solemnity of the Annunciation and one for the Solemnity of St. Joseph. I appreciate that as these are two very important Feast Days in the Church, which should be Holy Days of Obligation. I admit that I did not read every meditation in this book before writing this review. I didn't want to rush through the meditations, and I also wanted them to be fresh for Lent this year. The ones I did read though were very thought-provoking, and it made me anxious for Lent to start so I could read them all.
I would like to provide you with a sample from one day, so you can see how great these meditations are. Here is a quote from Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent, which won't be read this year as St. Joseph's Solemnity has a higher rank in feast day hierarchy.
Sophia Institute Press, Christopher O. Blum (translator), and Jacques-Benigne Bossuet have done it again. In reviewing their volume “Meditations for Advent,” I called it a book for all seasons. With “Meditations for Lent,” I’m going a step further and calling this the best meditation book ever: for Lent—since that’s when we make a concerted effort to tackle spiritual reading—and for anytime, because this book is a treasure trove of grace doled out in manageable three page increments.
I confess I haven’t read the whole book yet, but I’m compelled to review it now, before Lent begins, because I want as many people as possible to buy and read this book. My reason for not having read the book in its entirety can itself serve as an apology for the book’s worth: while I tend to devour books I like and in which I’m interested, this one does what a good meditation book should do—namely, it provides each subject for meditation (a Gospel passage, a characteristic of Our Lord, a precept for prayer) in a fresh and moving way that gently invites the reader to pause and realize the love of God and the wonder of His self-revelation. One doesn’t, one almost can’t, gobble down such a book; one is civilized in his very attempt to gobble, and calmly led to savor, enjoying every morsel like a meal in itself.
An example will help to illustrate my point.
Having been, as usual, reading several books at once, I found myself longing for a passage I’d read about the Our Father. It wasn’t so much a case of Deep calling on deep as perhaps Deep calling on shallow, but even fuzzily remembered, this something I’d read called to me, stirring my gratitude and love. I was desperate (as only one with a bad memory can be) to find this passage, but I knew my case was hopeless. I invoked St.
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