The Eucharist: Wine of Faith, Bread of Life

Pennington, Cistercian monk and key figure in the liturgical renewal within Roman Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), is a legend in Church circles. His loving, reverential approach to worship, broad-minded grasp of the Catholic tradition and graceful writing make him a perennial favorite. All those qualities are on display here, as Pennington walks readers through the rite of the Eucharist Mass approved by Pope Paul VI after Vatican II. Pennington's discussion of the great anaphoras (the eucharistic prayers that form the heart of the Mass) manages to be both historically fascinating and an aid to personal devotion. He points out that having the priest face the people during the Mass--long a b te noir of the Catholic Right--is confusing during the Eucharistic prayer, which is the assembly's prayer directed to God. Yet he also calls for greater freedom for the priest to adjust the Eucharistic prayers to the needs of a particular congregation, something for which the Left has clamored. For Pennington, these are not political preferences but judgments informed by historical and liturgical study, as well as deep prayer. It is a pity that this book will not appeal to a wider audience--the broad majority of lay Catholics will probably find that it assumes too much knowledge of rites and ecclesiastical vocabulary. For priests and lay people involved in planning liturgies, however, Pennington's book offers abundant riches. (Apr.)