Book Review: Wondrous Encounters

If you're looking for something to read this Lent, I've got a few suggestions to offer.  One of the books I'll be reading this lent is Fr. Richard Rohr's Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent.  At first glance, you might look at this book and think it's going to be a bit earthy crunchy.  You might that is, if you're like me and begin to form opinions about books as soon as you see the cover.  Yes, I know, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but sometimes I see a cover and can't help but jump to conclusions.  However, it's a pretty cover, but it's one that instantly made me think about having to be outdoors. Thoughts like that simply don't win me over.  Fortunately once I opened the book, I was delighted to find that the author wasn't determined to take me for an outdoor tour through the wilderness of Lent.

This book contains a daily reflection for every day starting with Ash Wednesday and ending with Holy Saturday.  The reflections are based on the scripture readings for each day.  For each day, one of the readings is highlighted and presented with an explanation where necessary to help you gain a deeper understanding of what we should be grasping from that particular piece of scripture.  Following that, you will find a starter prayer to prompt you on your way to deeper reflection.  

I liked how the daily reflections bring a ray of clarity to readings that might not be easily understood.  I know at times I miss the intended point of some scripture passages during my first read through, and I found this book to be a nice help in gaining a better insight to the daily readings.

I realize that Lent begins tomorrow, but it's not too late to grab a copy of this book and benefit from reading it for the majority of Lent.  I'm looking forward to having this book be part of my daily Lenten reading.

If you plan on reading this book with a group St. Anthony Messenger Press also offers a handy study guide for this book.  You can access this study guide by clicking here.

I was provided with a complimentary review copy of this book by the publisher, St. Anthony Messenger Press, in exchange for my honest review.