Fasting frees us from attachment

National Catholic Reporter, Feb 18, 2005 by Carole Garibaldi Rogers

INTO THE DESERT: REFLECTIONS FOR LENT

By George Lacey

Paulist Press, 92 pages, $8.95

Short reflections on the days of Lent based on the daily scripture readings, these are useful not only for homilists but for anyone interested in "going into the desert." (The Sunday readings follow Year B.) George Lacey is a Benedictine monk from St. Martin's Abbey in Lacey, Wash.

PLACES ALONG THE WAY: POCKET DEVOTIONS FOR LENT

By Martin E. Marty

Augsburg Fortress, 52 pages, $1.50

This handy pocket Lenten devotional by well-known author and University of Chicago professor Martin Marty offers reflections for each day of Lent from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday. The book provides a brief Bible reading for the day, a meditation based on a place mentioned in that day's reading, and a short prayer.

CROSS-SHATTERED CHRIST: MEDITATIONS ON THE SEVEN LAST WORDS

By Stanley Hauerwas

Brazos Press, 108 pages, $14.99

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas, who teaches at Duke University, reflects on each of the last seven sayings of Jesus on the cross according to the Gospels: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke); "I thirst" (John); etc. The book includes woodcuts by artist Rick Beerhorst.

--Antonia Ryan

[Carole Garibaldi Rogers is a writer, editor and oral historian. Her latest book, Fasting: Exploring a Great Spiritual Practice, was published by Ave Maria Press in September 2004.] Meditations for the season