To review a book like this is almost a contradiction. It is meant to be read slowly and carefully, a day at a time for six weeks. Reviews cannot wait so long. Is it therefore possible to suggest its riches in a quick appraisal? Perhaps.

The editor has chosen excerpts from the homilies, addresses and official Letters of John Paul II, sign-posted by readings from the Lenten Masses, especially the Gospels. Each day is given a page or so of text; just enough to provide a thoughtful meditation. Given the huge number of papal writings and addresses over 25 years, I cannot imagine the editor’s selection process; but he has done his work well, so that we are afforded a true glimpse into the mind and heart of a great and saintly man.

Biblical scholars have sometimes criticised the Pope’s creative freedom in interpreting Scripture. But it is precisely because he has pondered so long on the Bible, bringing all his gifts as a poet and dramatist, as well as a theologian and philosopher, to bear on it, that he is able to bring new life to familiar passages. For the first Saturday in Lent, using Matthew 5: 43-48 (“Be ye perfect…’), he quotes Elizabeth Leseur; ‘Every soul that rises raises the world with it.’ (For those who have not yet encountered her, Mme Leseur was a Frenchwoman who died in 1914 and whose Journal, now published as My Spirit Rejoices, was read by her atheist husband, Felix, after her death. Having spent his married life mocking and undermining his wife’s faith, he was converted and became a priest).

Other writers referred to include St Augustine and Thomas a Kempis. Generally, however, the Holy Father’s own rich interior life supplies the reflections. His fervour constantly challenges the reader, e.g. ‘Do not be afraid to be saints!’; ‘Love of God and neighbour has changed the world’. People who have heard the Pope speak often remark on that rare capacity he has to make each listener feel he is addressing them alone. As one reads these pages in his company, it is not hard to imagine that deep, vibrant voice, filled with the love of Christ, inviting the reader to join him. Personal and theological thoughts follow one another in his characteristic fashion. After analysing the final two joyful mysteries of the Rosary, he confesses, ‘The Rosary is my favourite prayer. A marvellous prayer!…’

Attractively produced, with purple fly leaves and purple around the dust jacket – the colour of suffering and therefore of Lent – this book is to be recommended as a way of invigorating a season traditionally seen as a gloomy tightening of the belt. I once overheard one of my sons piously inform an inquirer that he was giving up sugar in his tea for Lent. I was silently startled, knowing for a fact that he had never drunk tea in his life. This book is neither about ‘giving up’ or ‘taking on’; it is about that metanoia which changes the heart - perhaps forever.

© 2004 Francis Phillips

Theotokos Catholic Books - Book Reviews Section - www.theotokos.org.uk