Good Friday Reading

Countless books have been written on the Passion, Death and Resurrection or Our Lord Jesus Christ; and while I've read only a tiny percentage of them, I do have my favorites. Today I will focus on just one.

I realize it's a bit late to offer recommendations for your Good Friday reading since we're already in the midst of that holy day, but the book I have been reading this Holy Week is among the very best I have read. Written by A. G. Sertillanges, a French Dominican priest who died in 1948, What Jesus Saw from the Cross, is far more than a book. Indeed, one reviewer aptly called it "a retreat, a pilgrimage, and a holy hour -- all in one book!"

Father Sertillanges spent many years in Jerusalem, walking its streets and  meditating on the events of those final days of Our Savior's life on earth. It is a remarkable and very intense book that places you right alongside Jesus as He completes His redemptive mission in perfect obedience to the Father.

It is one of those classic books that was largely forgotten until Sophia Institute Press reprinted it in 1996. I try to find the time to reread it every Holy Week, and occasionally turn to it for homiletic inspiration throughout the year. I've also found it to be a wonderful source for Ignatian meditation on Our Lord's Passion.

You can purchase the book online directly from the publisher, or from Amazon. Buying directly from Sophia Institute Press might cost a few dollars more, but those dollars will help them to carry out their mission to "nurture the spiritual, moral, and cultural life of souls and to spread the Gospel of Christ in conformity with the teachings of the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church."

Blessings on this Holy Day.