Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A)

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The Raising of Lazarus Lectionary:  34 Reading 1 -  Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 130:1-8 Reading 2 -  Romans 8:8-11 Verse - John 11:25a, 26 Gospel -  John 11:1-45 Lazarus, come out! LESSON: The Power of God Through Those Who Believe We’re a week away from the start of Holy Week. Our Lord now has his sights set on Jerusalem, and the pace is quickening. In these next two weeks, we’re living just one part of the Gospel passage from today: an encounter with the reality of suffering and death. Jesus is asking us to have faith in him. In today’s First Reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us of the Lord’s promise to not only to bring us back to life but to bring us home. The background of this passage is the famous "Valley of Dry Bones." The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. They weren't just sad; they were spiritually and nationally "dead." Their common saying was: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." They d...
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Review: Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus

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Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus by Brant Pitre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book springs from the author’s “transformative” experience from discovering and reading the “spiritual classics”, weaving quotes from them into each chapter. He opens with describing the three (3) types of prayer and stages of spiritual growth along with the “universal call to holiness” or spirituality in the Introduction before going more in depth on Prayer in the first section. The rest of the book is organized to look at the three (3) major temptations and their remedies, three (3) spirit exercises, seven (7) mortal sins and opposing virtues, and then it provides some guidance to keep you on the path.

Each chapter starts with a brief introduction of the topic with several illustrative quotes before looking at the Jewish roots of the topic, then how it was used/illustrated by Jesus before finishing with Christian tradition. As expected, each topic is well researched and supported, although not all chapters had the same impact on me (The author does emphasize that this is an introductory work, so parts of it might already be familiar depending on where you are on your path). Over all, I believe this to be something to come back to and reread, especially when I find myself struggling (Spiritual Dryness is discussed in Chapter 22).

Introduction

Prayer
Chapter 1: Vocal Prayer
Chapter 2: Meditation
Chapter 3: Contemplation

The Spiritual Path
Chapter 4: The First Step
Chapter 5: The Ten Commandments
Chapter 6: The Three Temptations
Chapter 7: Fasting
Chapter 8: Almsgiving
Chapter 9: The Lord’s Prayer

Vices and Virtues
Chapter 10: The Seven Sins
Chapter 11: Pride vs Humility
Chapter 12: Envy vs Mercy
Chapter 13: Anger vs Meekness
Chapter 14: Avarice vs Generosity
Chapter 15: Lust vs Chastity
Chapter 16: Gluttony vs Temperance
Chapter 17: Sloth vs Diligences
Chapter 18: Sorrow vs Patience

Making Progress
Chapter 19: Examination of Heart
Chapter 20: Lectio Divine and Jacob’s Ladder
Chapter 21: The Battle Prayer
Chapter 22: The Dark Night
Chapter 23: The Living Water

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#IntroductiontotheSpiritualLife #NetGalley.

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