"Come, Lord, and work. Arouse us and incite. Kindle us, sweep us onwards. Be fragrant as flowers, sweet as honey. Teach us to love and to run." This prayer by St. Augustine is only one of the many gems of illustrative material in this two-volume set of lectionary readings by the prolific Megan McKenna. Armed with quotations from Thomas Merton, Paul Tillich, Pablo Neruda, Simone Weil, Rabindranath Tagore, and many others, she opens up the themes of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. Best of all are the treasuretrove of Sufi, Jewish, Islamic, Native American, Zen, African, and Indian stories which are used to prepare us for the day's reading or to illustrate it.
Volume I — Stories and Reflections on the Sunday Readings — includes the four Sundays in Advent for Cycles A, B, and C, as well as the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe, the three Christmas masses, the Holy Family, Mary, and Epiphany.