This year The Tidings will offer you, your family and friends a unique spiritual exercise for Lent: a retreat at home using your VCR or DVD player.

We will suggest scenes from Franco Zeffirelli's epic miniseries, "Jesus of Nazareth," for your viewing and discussion, covering Jesus' life from birth to resurrection. Each week you can gather your family or friends or prayer group for about an hour's viewing, discussion, and prayer.

Zeffirelli's "Jesus of Nazareth," first shown on NBC in 1977, is not a documentary about Jesus, or a biography. It is like the Gospels themselves, a document of faith, a testimony to what Jesus of Nazareth means, for you and me and the world. This film mixes the four Gospels together, although most of it follows the Gospel of John. We might call it, in fact, "The Gospel according to Zeffirelli," for he takes almost everything literally and portrays it as such, handling the infancy narratives and the stories from John as literally and graphically as he does the Passion accounts.

This experience will leave you with impressions of Jesus and the stories of the Gospel which you will remember for a very long time. And I think you will especially find the portrayal of Jesus very inspiring and memorable. Lent is a wonderful time to make Jesus of Nazareth a special guest in our homes and in our hearts. The weekly sessions will help us draw strength from the mysteries of Jesus' life, as we continue to live our own.

The film and discussion questions will be not so much a way to "look back" on the life of Jesus, as much as to ask how the Mysteries of Jesus' life are "acted out" in our own lives today. For instance, the story of the blind man and the Pharisees can prompt us to ask what kind of blindness might be affecting us today regarding Jesus in our lives.

We urge you to make arrangements now to purchase a videotape or DVD copy of the series; renting will cost as much as buying your own copy. Or neighbors may share a copy. You can purchase either for about $25 or less. Here are a few sources:

---Vision Video, P.O. Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490 ($24.99 for either).

---www.half.ebay.com for $14.50 (DVD).

---www.Buy.com for $22.99 (DVD)

---www.missiondirect.com for $23.67 (DVD).

---www.Amazon.com for $18.74 new or $14.99 used (DVD).

---www.columbiahouse.com for $21.95 or special sale $11.97 (DVD).

Search the web under "Jesus of Nazareth" for other opportunities. Your local video store may sell it. Videotape is often more expensive then the DVD, and you will find the DVD easier to use for this retreat, since we will choose "Chapters" for your viewing which will be easier to find on a DVD.

Next week: We set the stage for Lent by reviewing the infancy narratives in the film, from the birth of Jesus to the visit of the Magi. This will be like an "overture" of Jesus' life, and give us the chance to recall our celebration of the Christmas feasts, and what they mean for us.

---Rev. Anthony Scannell, OFM Capuchin