Forty Days Plus Three: Daily Reflections for Lent and Holy Week

by John J McIlhon

Overview

In these reflections on the readings for Lent and the Triduum, Monsignor McIlhon invites us to ponder the consistency between what we believe about human dignity and how we live that dignity. If Lent becomes a daily journey whereby we consent to become one with the visible features of Christ's risen life, waiting to be raised from the dyings of our life, then the paschal mystery becomes a marvelous experience. 

Although he writes with great sensitivity and theological depth, Monsignor McIlhon does not become pedantic nor does he go beyond the depth of the average reader.

For priests, religious, and serious lay people looking for something more than pious writing about the most important season of the Church year, this book will make excellent Lenten reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814617694
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	02/01/1989
Series:	Lent/Easter
Pages:	135
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 5.78(h) x 0.34(d)

About the Author

Msgr. John J. McIlhon (1922-2006), was a priest of the diocese of Des Moines, and had served as a retreat director, teacher, hospital chaplain, and pastor, including a term as pastor-in-residence at the North American College in Rome. Monsignor McIlhon lived with a community of priests at the St. Joseph Educational Center, where he had served as an adult-education teacher and resource person since 1983.

Table of Contents

Content
Preface   7
Foreword by Bishop William H. Bullock   9
But What About God's Longing?   13
Lent's Centerpiece   15
Prayer: Longing to See Christ   17
We Are Sacraments of God's "I Am"   19
From the Ends of the Earth   22
Contracts? Not God's Way of Being Fair!   24
A Success you Can Take with You   27
Jesus Christ Makes the Difference   29
To Remember Is to Be Re-membered   31
Forgiveness, a Journey into Mystery   33
Raising Questions Is the Answer   36
Transfiguration? But Climb the Mountain First   38
A Good Reason to "Keep Still"   40
The Good News of Good Friday   43
"God Doesn't Answer My Prayers!" Really?   45
Responsibility: Care Shared   47
Israel, God's "Fair Lady"   49
"Send in the Clowns"   52
"If Only You Knew . . .!"   54
"So What!"   57
God Is Not a Reservoir   59
Faith Scary? Comfortability's the Problem   62
Borne Aloft on Ego's Wings   64
Become What You Celebrate   67
Believable Signs Mean Believable Identity   70
The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Whole Truth   72
Atonement: Taking It Out on Christ?   75
"To Be or Not to Be" (Holy, That Is)   77
Humanity: Worth Jesus?   80
No Cross, No Resurrection   83
Fidelity to Covenant: Prayer's Power   86
Freedom and Human Development   88
More than Script or Sound   91
Too Good to Be True?   93
Be Careful of the Gods on Whom You Fix Your Gaze   96
In Heaven as it Is on Earth   99
Melchizedek Who?   102
The Wider Vistas of Priesthood   105
Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life   108
Humanity, Not Palms, Gives Glory to God   111
We Have Something God Doesn't   114
Discipline Makes Room for Christ   117
Poverty of Spirit Enables Christ to Be Life's Centerpiece   119
Obedience Is Not Subservience   122
In Touch with Christ's Blood Today   125
A Day Whose Emptiness Is the Promise of Fullness   128
Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday: Two Prisms for Baptism   130
Notes   134