On the way to Jesus Christ.

On the way to Jesus Christ WRITTEN BY Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger PUBLISHED BY Ignatius Press, 2005, ISBN: 1586171240, Hardcover, pp. 185, $26.70 CDN 

This book contains a series of profound meditations published as individual articles between the years 2000-2003, with one essay dating back to 1997, and another one never published before. As the author himself explains, they are all attempts to approach Jesus in a search for his authentic, undiminished figure (p. 8). The Cardinal is not saying this in a vacuum; on the contrary, he seeks to recover the person of Jesus in an age where Christ has been "de-mythologized."

The heart of the meditations lies in Scripture where the author finds the "Face of Christ," as seeing Jesus in the gospel of John (Ch. 1); or finding him in art and the "aesthetics" of Faith; or finding the uniqueness and universality of Christ, the Redeemer of Mankind, in His Church; or looking at Jesus as reflected in the gospel passages about His temptation.

The author's main purpose is to place Christ into modern culture.

In his easy-to-follow conversational style, he touches upon various aspects of post Vatican Council Catholicism, analyzes them, and then brings his deep knowledge of Holy Scripture to bear upon them. Throughout he is serene, utterly confident that "the Christian faith is open to all that is great, true and pure in world culture" (p. 49), quoting St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians in support of this view.

All along there are little asides that set things right. At one point he touches on "orthodoxy and orthopraxis," with moderns scowling at the first and emphasizing the importance of the second; i.e., of doing things right. Wrong, says the Cardinal. Orthodoxy itself means right worship; we cannot do without it. "If God is shut out, peace on earth breaks down, and no godless orthopraxis can save us" (p. 108). In Canada this reminds one immediately of the efforts of the Judiciary and the political bureaucracy to silence or marginalize religious faith in the public forum.

At another point he mentions that St. Paul uses the term "Supper of the Lord," no doubt one source for the post Vatican II argument that the meal aspect of the Eucharist should be emphasized. He rather drily notes, however, that this title soon disappeared and that by the second century it was no longer used (p. 109). In following pages he explains why it fell into disuse and why its revival after 1965 was not well thought out.

Further, the Cardinal observes that the Church does not arise from a loose federation of communities (as Cardinal Walter Kasper would have it--whom he doesn't mention--but who argued that the local Churches existed before the one, centralized Church). The Church originates in the one bread, in the one Lord. She does not become one through a centralized government, but because she is derived from the One Lord (p. 118).

It is wonderful reading for any time during the year and well worth having.

One final point. The author points out that the Christian faith is

not a religion of the book, as Judaism and Islam are. The Christian faith rests in Jesus, and Jesus is very much alive.