Woodward: What Are You Reading For Lent?

Lenten reading should be unpleasant at some level -- edifying yet disturbing. Otherwise, where's the penitential value in it? Lent may be the one time of the year when Catholics can most profitably seek out a bit of the fire-and-brimstone sermonizing that we associate more usually with Protestantism. (Way back in high school I read "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," and I can still picture that poor little spider dangling over the flaming pit.)

Fortunately, almost any Catholic treatise on sin hits home enough with me to be very unpleasant indeed, and therefore a good choice for Lenten reading. In years past, I used to read St. John Fisher's Exposition of the Seven Penitential Psalms, in which he assembles a long list of spiritual failings for which we should examine ourselves and repent. I recognized myself on just about every page. This year, I'm reading Fr. Luis de Granada's Guia de Pecadores (Sinners' Guide). I first came across his name in conjunction with my reading about St. Teresa of Avila, who admired him and recommended his writings to the nuns in her charge. Sixteenth-century Spanish Dominicans took sin pretty seriously, and I'm finding Fr. Luis to be a very healthful antidote to the spirit of an age that has psychologized and self-affirmed itself right out of any recognition of sin.

What are you reading for Lent? If you'd like to recommend something, leave a comment. And if you're looking for suggestions yourself, here's an interesting list of patristic writings suitable to the season. It even offers a Lenten Reading "Lite" option if you want to sort of ease into it.