GOD IS NEAR US: THE EUCHARIST, THE HEART OF LIFE

by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Ignatius Press, 2003

152 pages, $12.95

To order: (800) 651-1531

www.ignatius.com

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger tends to speak in a plain yet eloquent way about the loftiest truths. This is certainly true of his latest work on the Eucharist.

The book is a collection of largely pastoral articles, conferences and sermons given by Cardinal Ratzinger for more than 25 years to various audiences as the archbishop of Munich and in his current position as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Though definitely of interest to pastors and theologians, the insights contained here are chiefly spiritual and suitable as an aid to meditation and Eucharistic adoration for any Christian.

The cardinal not only underlines the importance of the unchanging Catholic teaching that Christ is really present in the Blessed Sacrament, but he also shows how the Eucharist is central to the Catholic faith and illustrates its connections to the Church's teachings in other areas. This extends from the Annunciation and the Incarnation to the last things and eternal life.

In the famous line of St. John's Gospel, “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.” Henceforth, the cardinal says, “the holy tent of God and the cloud of his presence are found wherever the mystery of his Body and Blood is celebrated, wherever men leave off their own activity.”

He pointedly adds that this “means that the holiness is more concentrated and powerful [in the Eucharist] than it used to be in the Old Covenant.”

While most of the chapters that form the book come from the late 1970s and early 1980s, none of the material seems dated. Drawing mostly on scriptural themes and insights, this is a collection of original insights on timeless themes.

Even when the reader is prompted to take note of the historical moment of any of the author's reflections, it is not because they are in any way dated but in order to note their prescience, addressing issues and foreseeing trends that would not be prominent for years to come.

Central among these is the reverence and adoration due to the Blessed Sacrament both during and outside the Mass, and the unintended “desacralization” that accompanied the liturgical changes that followed the Second Vatican Council.

The cardinal avoids a polemical approach while showing how this trend — with its impact on everything from clerical dress to “Christian worship and church buildings” — is not consistent with a true understanding of the Gospel, its Old Testament roots and the tradition of the Church from the earliest days.

Cardinal Ratzinger seems ready in these pages to help nourish a renewed Eucharistic vitality — now apparent — that was bound to spring from the council.

He says “kneeling before the Lord: adoration” is necessary for a full communion with God and is not contrary “to the dignity and freedom and status of man … For if we deny him so as not to adore him,” there is no true freedom, only material existence.

The truth that adoration “does not make slaves of us but transforms us” was revealed by Christ on Holy Thursday. “The One whom we adore,” Cardinal Ratzinger says, “has himself knelt down before us to wash our feet. And this gives to adoration the quality of being unforced, adoration in joy and in hope, because we are bowing down before him who bowed down … We bow down to enter into a love.”

There's a meditation to kneel for all Holy Week long.

Joseph Cullen writes from Floral Park, New York.