BOOKS BY BENEDICT
Holy Men and Women Of the Middle Ages and Beyond
by Pope Benedict XVI
Now available from Ignatius Press
Pope Benedict XVI continues his exploration of the greatest teachers and role models in the history of the Church with these sketches of twenty-six men and women from the Middle Ages and beyond.
From the start of his pontificate, the Pope has used his Wednesday Audiences to present the timeless wisdom that has been expressed in
the writings and lives of holy men and women down through the ages.
He began with the Apostles and then moved to the Fathers of the Church. Next he presented the great Christian teachers of the late Roman Empire and the early Middle Ages.
In this volume, he picks up the thread in the high Middle Ages with the inspirational St. Francis and St. Dominic, followed by some of the men and women they profoundly influenced, such as Clare, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas.
The collection goes beyond the Middle Ages and includes some Counter-Reformation saints, for example, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Robert Bellarmine. It concludes with a very popular saint closer to our own times who was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II: Thérèse of Lisieux.
The theme that unites these men and women across time is the constant need of the Church for renewal. In every generation, God raises up holy ones who challenge Christians to live as they ought-as true disciples of Christ.
Pope Benedict XVI is widely recognized as one of the most brilliant theologians and spiritual leaders of our age. As Pope he authored the best-selling
Jesus of Nazareth; and prior to his pontificate, he wrote many influential books that continue to remain important for the contemporary Church, such as
Introduction to Christianity and
The Spirit of the Liturgy.
Then, there's this book whose title I was seeing for the first time:
Since no blurb was available, I found this information online, with an outline summary of its contents:
alisonmorgan.co.uk/Ratzinger%2091.htm
The book contains talks given by Cardinal Ratzinger to a Communione e Liberazione retreat in 1986 at the invitation of founder Don Luigi Giussani. The English edition was first printed by Crossroads in 1989 and the again in 1991. The re-issue at this time is, of course, very timely for Lent.
Here's a customer review:
This book, which contains spiritual exercises on Faith, Hope, and Love, was first written by Ratzinger for a retreat he conducted in Collevalenza in 1986.
The meditations are very well documented scholarly pieces that
are more "lessons" than "exercises" - lessons written by a master teacher, a professor who enjoys keeping our focus by telling stories and introducing us to fresh insights into "old" concepts. I will relate a few of the ideas Benedict presents.
In the early pages he suggests that we need to learn the "skill of skills" or the "act of being human". Benedict posits that as people we are very good at making things and dominating the world that God gave us. We, however, are miserable in the art of existence. Somehow we have "lost" the art of how to live. We seldom even talk about what things and people "are", the very nature of "being".
In his section on Love, Cardinal Ratzinger begins to establish the view of love as Eros and agape being natural to the establishment of "real love" that is a true gift from God. This is a clear preview of the encyclical
Deus Caritas Est that he wrote as Pope...