Living The Mysteries: A Guide For Unfinished Christians

by Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina

Our Sunday Visitor, 2003 288 pages, $12.95 To order: (800) 348-2440 www. osvpublishing. com

When is a person's Catholic education complete? After confirmation? When RCIA is completed? Eighth grade?

In the early Church, baptism was followed by a period of continuing education in the faith. This ongoing catechesis was called mys-tagogia. Lacking that, the faithful might go along with the practices of the Church while maintaining or even promoting beliefs inimical to the Catholic faith. The need for such instruction is no less great today. In fact, as our society becomes increasingly secular and antagonistic toward religion in general and Catholic Christianity in particular, the need for a faith that is both understood and lived becomes more important.

Living the Mysteries by Scott Hahn and Mike Aquilina can help. The book is divided into a seven-week program. For each day in that period, a short reading is offered from the Church's greatest teachers — Sts. Augustine, Ambrose, Pope Leo the Great or John Chrysostom, for example. These selections have been translated into language that is readily accessible to the average reader yet true to the depth of meaning found in the original. The topics range from the Eucharist to the need for ongoing conversion to the joys and challenges of living a sacramental life.

The authors also provide short introductions to each daily excerpt. This introductory material provides background information to assist the reader to a fuller understanding of the passage that follows. For example, introducing an article concerning the feast of Pentecost by St. Leo the Great, the authors write: “On the first Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit lit up the minds and hearts of thousands. Now they could understand, and now they could speak with understanding, to help others understand. Now, with the fire of the Spirit of Christ, they had pierced the veil of the mysteries. This fire blazed from person to person to consume whole families and, soon, entire lands. The Holy Spirit had come to renew the face of the earth.”

One thing that repeatedly amazed me was how often these ancient teachers said things that resonate with relevance even today. For example, in a section of the book that deals with Christian marriage, St. John Chrysostom says: “After marriage you are no longer two, but one flesh … [therefore] 'mine' is a cursed and abominable word” in marriage. I — and every married person — would do well to reflect on that passage.

Catholic education also involves much more than spiritual geniuses cramming facts into the heads of neophytes. Catholic teaching is meant to lead the individual both to deeper love of God and greater service to neighbor. Following each daily teaching selection, Living the Mysteries provides the reader with useful tools in sections such as “Take it to Prayer,” “Learn it by Heart” and “Apply it to Your Life.” They're clearly keen on the idea that, just as information is indispensable, so practical tips and encouragements are vital if the Catholic is to cultivate a rich and life-changing faith life.

This book can be used for individual study, but its format allows for other uses. For example, each week focuses on a particular topic, which makes it ideal for a group study over a seven-week period. The book also could be used in a family setting. The short daily selections could be read before family dinner.

The suggestions for applying the teaching to Catholic living would make for fine dinner discussion. And the prayer-starter provided by the authors gives good material to end the discussion and the meal.

It's 2004. Do you know where your Catholic education is?

Regis Flaherty, editor in chief of Emmaus Road Publishing, writes from Pittsburgh.