READING IN LENT
Recommended by a member:
Published in paperback, December 21, 2023, ‘Tarry Awhile: Wisdom from Black Spirituality for People of Faith’ by Selina Stone, is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2024 with a foreword by Justin Welby.
May I also recommend the recently published ‘Wild Houses’ the debut novel of Colin Barrett (Jonathan Cape).
It gives a shocking description and portrayal of ‘bullying’- of ‘scapegoating’ another, and its consequences, which was the subject of Monday’s RTÉ One documentary ‘Jackie & Coco’.
Scapegoating played a significant part of the ritual of the Feast of Atonement which Pope Benedict sees as the background (together with Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Songs) to the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus in Jn 17 (Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two).
Barrett’s book has much in it for reflection, not only during Lent but any time on how we marginalise others and so I suggest it, together with Justin Welby’s recommendation, as good reflection material in preparation for the events of Holy Week.
An introduction to Colin Barrett’s writing can be found in Patrick Freyne’s interview ‘I need regular infusions of Irishness’, The Irish Times Magazine, Jan 20, 2024.