Book Review: God is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life

February 9, 2006

EDITOR'S NOTE: This book review is sponsored by the Religious Education Media Center as a service to those interested in developing their own spirituality. Books featured in this column can be borrowed from the diocesan media center.

You may request this or other books by writing Deacon Larry Sitzman, Religious Education Media Center, 1821 Jackson St., Sioux City, IA 51102, e-mail him at larrys@scdiocese.org or phone (712) 255-7933.

Sister Joan Stoffel, OSF, the former superintendent of Catholic education for the Diocese of Sioux City who is now retired, reviewed GOD IS NEAR US: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) @ 2003, Ignatius Press, San Francisco. ISBN 0-89870-962-8 (150 pp)

This collection of sermons preached by the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger on the theme of the Eucharist as the center, the very heart of the church, is both scholarly and pastoral. The titles of the Chapters bear this out. For example, "God with Us and God among Us" is a reflection on the Incarnation as recorded in Luke's Gospel and the beginning of John's Gospel. He explains the birth of Jesus was and is to bring God present "among us whenever we are gathered together in his name." P. 22.

Though each "sermon" is significantly longer than one would expect in a homily or sermon, a reflective reading of a chapter provides food for thought, which strengthens one's understanding of the real presence in the Eucharist. In the chapter titled, "God's Yes and His Love are Maintained Even in Death," Ratzinger links the Last Supper, the "suffering servant" in Isaiah, Jesus' death on the cross, and the Resurrection. "From out of this whole matrix - that he transforms his death, that irrational event, into an affirmation, into an act of love and of adoration - emerges his acceptance emphasized by God and the possibility of his being able to share himself in this way."

Ratzinger draws upon St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, the Old and New Testament and other writers to explain the place of the Eucharist in the modern life of the church, as it is lived day by day. "The Lord is Near Us in Our Conscience, in His Word, in His Personal Presence in the Eucharist," the seventh sermon, dwells on three aspects of Christian living _ that of prayer in the presence of the Eucharist, celebration of Sunday as the Lord's day and love of the law which guides our lived experiences to true freedom. Only living within the word of God, can we understand and receive the Eucharist as gift of God's presence.

The following sermon titles may spark an interest in learning how Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his love of the Eucharist and its importance in the life of the Church and its members: "The Immediacy of the Presence of the Lord Carried Into Everyday Life" "Standing before the Lord - Walking with the Lord - Kneeling before the Lord" "Banquet of the Reconciled - Feast of the Resurrection" "My Joy Is to Be in Thy Presence" (Belief in Eternal Life)

A chapter, which, in a way, was prophetic, moves the author from Cardinal to Pope. "A Church of All Times and Places" is one of the shortest and very direct sermons. He states: "We celebrate together with our Pope. Christ gives himself in the Eucharist, and he is entirely present in each place, so that whenever the Eucharist is celebrated, the whole mystery of the Church is present." P. 119.