Lent 2026
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I don’t remember how or why I acquired Bishop Erik Varden’s book, Chastity, A Reconciliation of the Senses two years ago when it first came out. But, I do remember skipping chores around the house, and hollering, “I’ll be with you in a minute” to buy myself time to read another few sentences. And then, upon finishing it, I remember trying to convince everyone in my life to read it as well.
Since that time, I have acquired several more of Bishop Varden's books. The 51-year-old Cistercian bishop of Norway has a way of writing that resonates deeply with me. I feel hopeful and free when I read his books and reflections, and ready to turn my heart away from following my own desires and back to following Jesus.
Turns out that maybe Pope Leo feels similarly. He asked Bishop Varden to preach his Lenten retreat this year, his first Lent as pope; the retreat will be held February 22-27.
I plan to read from Bishop Varden’s books this Lent, joining Pope Leo in spirit. If you would like to explore some of his books as well, here is a brief rundown of a few to help you choose one.
(If you want to read some of his reflections right away while you wait for a library hold to come in, or for an order to ship, look on his website).
From wounds to conversion
In this very Lenten book of reflection, Bishop Varden translates and expounds upon a striking poem from around the 13th century that addresses each of Christ’s wounds. He has the goal to "understand Christ’s wounds [...] as the living source of a remedy by which sin is cured and humanity’s wounds, my wounds, are healed?” (20).
He notes that as our own wounds heal, we are then able to see differently, to see with the eyes of Christ crucified. I won’t do it justice here, but the last chapter of this book, called “Flourishing,” gave me a new view of suffering, and that view continues to bring me to my knees in gratitude and hope.
Here, Bishop Varden weaves a rich tapestry showing a vision of wholeness, of living fully integrated, and how this is the essence of the Christian life. He references opera, dance, literature, saints, historical figures, all woven with the thread of Scripture. He explains, “The essence of becoming chaste is not a putting-to-death of our nature, but its orientation [...] towards fullness of life” (28).
With the sexual darkness that prevails everywhere today, this book brings joy and hope to the problem of our time — the problem present in our own, broken, hearts.
If understanding true chastity is one looming problem of our current era, the problem of loneliness is another. Bishop Varden builds this book “around six biblical commandments to remember: commandments that, to me, have been beacons to navigate by. I have endeavored to write from experience. [...] I offer it companionably as an invitation to set out” (11).
In explaining remembrance as the antidote to loneliness, he shares what prompted him to join the Church as a teenager. “The Church became for me an inspirer of remembrance. It permitted me to read my banal, sometimes squalid life into a narrative of redemption that not only reaches back to time’s beginning but remembers forwards, into eternity” (9).
The chapters range from “Remember you are dust” to “Do this in memory of me.” As always, he brings threads together from all sorts of sources to put into full-color the vision of life for which God made us.
What is the “one thing necessary”? An encounter with a homeless man named Emmanuel revealed to Erik Varden that he was missing something in his life. After this meeting,“My heart, previously dark, was charged with a joy so profound it was painful. Walking home, I was inundated with light. Though did I walk? I felt I was dancing” (14).
This experience prompted him to become a monk. As a monk, Bishop Varden has continued to listen for the music he experienced that night, and the collected pieces in this book (gathered from talks and homilies he gave while abbot at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey ) are his attempts to show the “glorious potential” and resonance of a life of constant conversion. Although it is written for an audience of monks, I found many helpful chords for my own (very not-monastic) life.
You can also find a variety of interviews with Bishop Varden at The Pillar.
