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For Christians, last month’s Ash Wednesday marked the start of the Lenten Season, a 40-day period (excluding Sundays) for fasting, solemnity, and personal introspection in preparation for Holy Week. Christians from various traditions—Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical, Roman Catholic, Anglican—have long used this period to consider their own mortality and the seriousness of sin, as well as the forgiveness of God as offered in the Gospel. It is also a common occurrence for laymen and clergy alike to use the period to rededicate oneself to a disciplined spiritual life, reforming or recommitting certain habits to aid one’s contemplation of God’s words during this time. Along this note, several textual aids are available to the individual or group desiring direction during Lent, as well as several classic texts addressing themes appropriate to the season.

In the past couple of decades, there have been many texts published concerning the Spiritual Disciplines, but several titles have stood the test of time. Richard Foster’s classic work, A Celebration of Discipline, is lauded by many as one of the best treatises on the importance of the core spiritual disciplines. In the book, Foster outlines 12 disciplines under three broad categories: the Inward Disciplines, the Outward Disciplines, and the Corporate Disciplines. Thus habits like meditation, prayer, simplicity, service, confession, and worship are put in the context of personal, familial, civic, and communal life, giving the book a certain pastoral completeness.

Other titles in this category include Donald Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and John Calvin’s classic reader, Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life. For those looking for books treating individual disciplines, John Piper’s book on fasting, Hunger for God is very good. Also, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Meditating on the Word is a small treatise for those looking to grow in this important discipline.

Finally, the use of prayer books in lay life is an increasingly popular activity these days, especially during intensely devotional seasons like Lent. Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer has served a central role in Western directed prayer for over three centuries. Additionally, the Valley of Vision is an excellent compilation of Puritan prayers published by Banner of Truth. Finally, Phyllis Tickle has compiled a three-book series of directed prayer and praise for individuals and groups called The Divine Hours. The three book series contains Prayers for Springtime, Prayers for Summertime, and Prayers for Autumn/Winter, respectively.