By Darren Poley

“The Fight between Carnival and Lent” painting by Pieter Breughel the Younger (1564–1638)

Among St. Augustine’s many sermons there is a cycle entitled “On the Beginning of Lent.” Sermon 209, which was most likely preached where Augustine was bishop, begins:

The solemn season has come round when I must remind your graces about giving more attentive thought to your souls, and chastising your bodies. These, you see, are the forty days held so sacred in all countries of the earth, that the whole world, which God reconciles to himself in Christ, celebrates them together with remarkable devotion as Easter approaches.
—The Works of Saint Augustine III/6, Translated by Edmund Hill, New City Press, 1993.

Here are devotional reading suggestions for this season of penance and preparation before the Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Wasn’t Killed by the Jews: Reflections for Christians in Lent
Falvey Call Number: BT431.5 .J47 2020

Journey to Easter: Spiritual Reflections for the Lenten Season by Pope Benedict XVI
Falvey Call Number: BX1912.5 .R3813 2005

Lent and Easter with the Church Fathers
Falvey Call Number: BV85 .P315 2010

Lent with Saint Augustine
Falvey Call Number: BR65.A62 T8713 2014, which is also available online for the Villanova University community: https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1849270

Show Me the Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent by Henri J. M. Nouwen
Falvey Call Number: BX2170.L4N6813 1992

Darren G. Poley is Associate Director of Research Services and Scholarly Engagement, and Theology, Humanities, and Classical Studies Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library.