BOOKS THAT MERIT ATTENTION

Fat Luther, Slim Pickin’s. A Black Catholic Celebration of Faith, Tradition, and Diversity, by Marcia Lane-McGee and Shannon Wimp Schmidt, Ave Maria Press, 2022. Hosts of the Plaid Skirts and Basic Black podcast share faith and reflections on the liturgical year that honors the Black Catholic experience. You might know a 20-or 30-something who would relate to this fun but meaningful read. This senior citizen (me) thoroughly enjoyed it.

The God Who Gave You Birth. A Spirituality of Kenosis, Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam, Liturgical Press, 2021. This short book is dynamite. Kenosis was the early desert concept of selfemptying in order to draw close to the Divine and to be yeast to the world. Consiglio weaves sources from many faith traditions, spirituality, and psychology in a format that reads more like the fruit of lectio divina.

Recollecting America’s Original Sin. A Pilgrimage of Race and Grace, by Alison M. Benders, Liturgical Press, 2022. Benders had planned on making a Civil Rights pilgrimage when COVID hit. Instead she took herself on a virtual pilgrimage, using her journals and memories, insights of scholars and poets–using the format of an Ignatian retreat (4 weeks with 7 movements in each). Thoughtful, intriguing, and prayerful.

The Hildegard of Bingen Pilgrimage Book, by Anette Esser, Liturgical Press, 2022. Our guide is Esser, the initiator of the Hildegard of Bingen Pilgrimage Way in Germany & the editor of the 59 tableaux along the way. This is a literal tour, through the texts of Hildegard with color images of her visions, color photos of pilgrimage sites, and space for writing one’s reflections. This is simply a beautiful book.The Hildegard of Bingen Pilgrimage Book