Lent and Holy Week 2025: 10 books recommended for spiritual growth

Lent and Holy Week are times conducive to reflection and spiritual growth. Next, we present a selection of recommended books that can help deepen the faith during this liturgical period.

1. Jesus of Nazareth (full edition)

This trilogy is a monumental work in which Pope Benedict XVI restores the identity of Jesus Christ from the Gospels. With erudition and spiritual depth, analyze the key moments of Jesus’ life, from his baptism to his passion and resurrection, offering an integral vision of his saving mission.

In the words of Gerardo del Pozo, author of the introductory study with which this edition opens, “Jesus of Nazareth is a service of the theologian Pope to the transparency of faith, which has always been the main intention of Joseph Ratzinger as theologian; And a defense of the faith of the singles, which, in addition to being a constant in it, has always constituted the inspiring criteria of the intervention of the Magisterium of the Church. ”

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/lXYT

2. The force of silence: in front of the noise dictatorship

This book by Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect Emeritus of Dicastery for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, addresses the value of silence in the spiritual life against a world saturated with noise. Cardinal Sarah, with the help of journalist Nicolas Diat, deepens the importance of recollection to listen to the voice of God. Through deep reflections and testimonies, it invites you to rediscover contemplation in a hyperconnected world.

“The true revolution comes from silence, which leads us to God and others, to humbly put ourselves at your service,” says the purple.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/z0vXb

3. They will look at the one they crossed

This book by Father Beteta offers a simple guide to deepen love and repentance through the contemplation of Christ’s sores, following the example of the apostle Tomás. With a clear and deep style, inspired by the tradition of the Church and the teachings of John Paul II, the author invites the reader to contemplate the passion of Christ from the view of the witnesses of the Gospel and from the tradition of the Church.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/3Gn7ty

4. The fourth cup

In this work, Scott Hahn, Bibliista and former Protestant pastor converted to Catholicism, unravels connections between the Old Testament, the Last Supper and the Death of Jesus in Calvary. Through a thorough analysis of the Scriptures, thus discovers the crucial importance of Easter in the salvation plan designed by God.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/XXOJ8s

5. The bitter passion of Christ

Based on the visions of Blessed Ana Catalina Emmerich (1774-1824), this book offers a detailed and overwhelming description of the Passion of Christ. His stories were a source of inspiration for the film “The Passion of Christ” by Mel Gibson, and are still a key reading for those who seek intense meditation on the redemptive suffering of Jesus.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/RPKoOSj

6. In the beginning God created: Four Lenten Sermons on Creation and Sin

Pope Benedict XVI, with his characteristic theological rigor and clarity, offers four sermons about the relationship between creation and original sin. Through these homilies, he invites us to reflect on the human condition and the need for redemption, in the path of conversion to God.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/pls58J

7. Considerations on the passion of Jesus Christ

San Alfonso María de Ligorio offers meditation for anyone who wants to grow in the love of God through the meditation of the passion and death of the Lord. With his pastoral style and full of love for Christ, he invites the faithful to contemplate the suffering of Jesus as an expression of divine love and the path of salvation. He also recalls that prayer is the primary means of grace: “There are no weak people and strong people in the spiritual, but people who do not pray and people who do know how to pray.”

The book can be read free here: https://goo.su/5p1wPw

8. Stories in the shadow of the cross

This book by Enrique Monastery collects reflections and meditations on different characters that surrounded Jesus in his passion such as Mary Magdalena, the apostles, Simon of Cyrene or José de Arimea, and enemies who sought their disappearance from this world: Caifás, Judas, Pilate, Barabás. With a close and poetic style, the author invites the reader to place himself next to the cross and to discover how the mercy of God transforms the life of those who approach him.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/OhaI0n

9. Getsemaní

Mons. Javier Echevarría, Prelate of Opus Dei between 1994 and 2016, deepens the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemaní, crucial moment before his final delivery on the cross and that serves as an example for the prayer of all Christians. The author offers meditations that help to understand the abandonment confident in the will of the Father and how this act of redeeming love illuminates our Christian life.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/2yRlCf

10. The crucified

In this book, P. José Pedro Manglano, a doctor of philosophy and anthropology, presents meditations on the passion of Christ, seeking that the reader approaches the cross with a heart willing to conversion. With a deep and accessible language, it invites you to experience the mercy of God from the contemplation of Jesus’ sacrifice. “We need to learn to look at the crucified. It is urgent to learn to look at him, ”writes the author.

The book can be acquired through the following link: https://goo.su/hHkRkmm