The Living Spirit: Prayers and Readings for the Christian Year

The Living Spirit is a richly diverse anthology of prayers and readings which offers round-the-year spiritual sustenance as it follows the seasons of the Christian year and remembers the witness of those who have left a mark on our lives, from the great saints of the past to those who have challenged the evils and injustices of our own age. Many women are commemorated here and devotional material is included for such occasions as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Remembrance Day and Homelessness Sunday. In her preface, Margaret Hebblethwaite writes, the liturgical year is the spiritual air that we breathe…It gives us a balanced diet in which every aspect of our faith finds its appropriate place, saving us from the tyranny and smallness of our preoccupations of the moment. The liturgical year reflects the seasons of waiting and penance, the measured pace of Jesus’ ministry, the climaxes of joy and the exuberance of mission…It builds up a store of spiritual responses in us that can be drawn upon year after year was we live through the familiar cycle.
The imaginative variety of this collection makes it ideal as a resource for worship and intercession, and as an inspiration for personal devotion throughout the year.