Lent: A Liturgical Commentary on the Lessons and Gospels

by Conrad Pepler O.P.

344 pages, Paperback

Published January 18, 2024

Reviews

[Mary Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of reflections for the Lenten season. Fr. Pepler covers the significance of each day in the more ancient traditions and its associations with the various Roman stational churches, blending historic details with scholarly commentary and more immediate reflections on a more present time. The shadows of war and fascism loom clearly in Fr. Pepler's work, but not without pointing his readers clearly toward the great redeeming work of Christ's Passion and Death. What I especially loved about this volume was the way that Fr. Pepler noted patterns and continuities, both in terms of larger themes and in the specific text selections, between all of the readings. Lent is not a disjointed period of uncomfortably enduring prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; it a revelation of Jesus' immense generosity with us and a means for us to return that generosity with our own sacrifices.

My biggest issue with this book was not with the text itself, but with this edition's printing. Cluny Media does wonderful work, but this publication was riddled with typos, the most distracting being the incorrect replacement of commas with periods. If one can overlook these errors, one will have a great resource of Lenten reflection at his disposal.