Are you observing Lent this year? Lent is a forty-day period of reflection and preparation for Christians, as they wait for the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection on Good Friday and Easter. Many traditions are observed during Lent; in the next few weeks, you can learn about and participate in some of these traditions at the library.

On our monthly book display table, you will find items that can “cast a mood” for contemplation. Consider watching a film that has such a Lenten cast, such as Babette’s Feast, or Chocolat.  Or immerse yourself in our collection of sacred music. We’ve even dug selected vinyl LP’s out of our closed stacks, so take this opportunity to hear works of Tallis, Vivaldi, Pärt, Vaughan Williams and others.

The avenues of individual meditation during Lent are diverse, as some of the books on the table reveal. Jane Mossendew devotes each day in Lent to describing various garden plants and methods for cultivating them, in her “Thorn, Fire and Lily”. Paul Wesley Chilcote pays close attention to the songs of the church in his “The Song Forever New: Lent and Easter Meditations on Charles Wesley’s Hymns.” And Evelyn Underhill plumbs the depths of the heart, as always, in her meditations for Lent, edited by G.P. Bellshaw.

Finally, in our reading room, we have constructed a “prayer labyrinth” to allow you a few moments to center down, and reflect on the approach of Easter. Used by people of many faiths since ancient days, a labyrinth is a maze-like walking path used to aid one in contemplation and quiescence. Ours is constructed from green and white books laid out like dominoes, spiraling around in a looping switchback pattern. As you rush around squaring things at the beginning of term, take a turn in the labyrinth and recollect yourself.