The Fire in the Cloud: Lenten Meditations; Daily Reflections on the Liturgical Texts

This book has a great balance of being scripture-centered while also allowing insight from modern Catholic thinkers. His reflections are intellectual yet written for anyone. This is great learning and great inspiration.

Those of us who seek to be nourished by the Lenten liturgy are always on the watch for a fresh approach, a new and deeper look at these texts which are so familiar and "well-worn," yet capable of touching something deep with us that waits to be awakened to total receptivity and total gift.Fr Francis Martin's book, THE FIRE IN THE CLOUD, is as striking as its title suggests. Reading it, praying it, is a personal journey into the desert. There the cloud shelters us, the fire burns us - and we are drawn beyond our familiar comprehensions to a landscape where new possibilities of self-gift are the horizon to which God's love beckons us through the texts set before us each day.

Fruit of the author's life-time dedication to the Scriptures, deep prayer, and spiritual direction, The Fire in the Cloud is a wonderful companion for Lent. The work is based on solid Scriptural scholarship, as well as liturgical history and theology, but is not concerned to draw us to these; rather, it draws us directly to Christ. It builds on the author's experience as student of the Scriptures, teacher, preacher, confessor and guide of souls. The power of Christ to transform our lives shines warmly from its pages. It's a simple and handy companion for Lenten observance and will do the reader more good than many other observances. It's solid nourishment for a time of fasting! You could hardly give a friend a better gift than this one, for it will bring all who use it rich fruit. Congratulations to Servant Publications for making it available!

The Fire in the Cloud is bound to be a classic Lenten meditation resource for it offers the very best of Fr. Francis Martin: profound spiritual insights & prayers and a deep understanding of the Scriptural text, written in everyday language. It helped me to see the wisdom in the Church's selection of daily readings and gave me a new sense of awe and appreciation for Jesus' great love for each one of us. I'm sure it will help anyone in his journey in faith by providing a platform by which he can enter into the mysteries of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a "must have" for every Christian desirous of a deeper relationship with the Lord.

As a lay member of the Catholic Church, I am grateful to Francis Martin for bringing scripture and prayer to life. He has the ability to illuminate certain truths contained in scripture by explaining the texts from a fresh perspective. Also, this book gets into the real flow of the lenten season, tying the daily liturgical readings together and building upon them so that they make personal sense. This book is such a great devotional, it's not the typical "syrup-sweet" kind of reflection that I've read before. It's a scholarly review and explanation, sort of a prayer in it's own right. I'd like to get a few copies for my close friends and family so we can move through the lenten season together.