BOOK REVIEW: Saint Corbinian’s Bear – Lenten Companion for Bearish Humans

Review at Dappled Things written by Jonathan McDonald

One benefit of being a 1300-year-old bear blessed with the gift of reason through a sainted hermit is that it lends you the wisdom of experience. Said wisdom may be expressed in the form of blogging, or, even better, as a book on the spiritual life. St. Corbinian's Bear's Lenten Companion for Bearish Humans is part devotional and part (ahem) autobiography, detailing the Bear's first 40 Days of Lent under the tutelage of Corbinian himself.

The Bear and his co-authors Timothy and Kathryn Capps (cf. our previous interview with Mr. Capps) have crafted forty chapters of daily reading that entertain and educate. Each chapter is only a few pages long and covers one day in the Bear's Lent. He fights against the world, the flesh, the devil, and sometimes even against his ghostly father St. Corbinian. The Authors Capps offer some thoughts for reflection at the end of the day's reading, thoughts that often delve deep into the well of Catholic tradition and spirituality. They are Benedictine oblates, and that form of the spiritual life finds concrete expression in the interactions between bishop and bear. Continue reading here.