Are liturgy and prayer important in an age of political crisis and the technological manipulation of human life? Yes, declares Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Genuine worship of God involves the sacred liturgy and prayer. Only if man authentically worships God will true human dignity be protected, and the principles and the power to resolve the crises of our age be found.
The Feast of Faith sets out to answer one basic question: How can we pray and praise God as we should? Written before Cardinal Ratzinger became pope, this timeless book reflects enduring and inspirational insights regarding divine worship and the sacred liturgy.
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“There is only one inner direction of the Eucharist, namely, from Christ in the Holy Spirit to the Father.” (Page 140)
“All this would be inconceivable if it had not been preceded by a prior loss of meaning from within.” (Page 142)
“The Eucharist is not a ritual meal; it is the shared prayer of the Church, in which the Lord prays together with us and gives us himself. Therefore it remains something great and precious, it remains a true gift, even when we cannot communicate.” (Pages 151–152)
“So Christian prayer depends on our continually looking to Christ, talking with him, being silent with him, listening to him, doing and suffering with him.” (Page 28)
“Only because there is already speech, ‘Logos’, in God can there be speech, ‘Logos’, to God. Philosophically we could put it like this: the Logos in God is the onto-logical foundation for prayer. The Prologue of John’s Gospel speaks of this connection in its very first sentences: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was in communication with God’ (1:1)—as a more precise translation of the Greek πρός suggests, rather than the usual ‘with God’. It expresses the act of turning to God, of relationship. Since there is relationship within God himself, there can also be a participation in this relationship. Thus we can relate to God in a way which does not contradict his nature.” (Page 25)
Joseph Ratzinger is one of the most revered Catholic prelates, scholars, theologians, teachers, and authors of our time. He has spoken on many crucial subjects, including sexual consumerism, roles of men and women today, marriage, the priesthood, and the future of the world. On June 29, 1951, Joseph Ratzinger was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Freising on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. He also received his doctorate in theology in 1953 from the University of Munich. Starting in 1959, Ratzinger taught theology at the University of Bonn.
After many years of teaching at several German universities, Ratzinger was appointed by Pope Paul VI as Archbishop of Munich and Freising in March 1977, and was elevated to cardinal in June 1977. In November 1981, Ratzinger was summoned by Pope John Paul II to Rome, where he was named Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and President of the International Theological Commission.
On April 19, 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected to be the 265th pope. He took the name Benedict XVI, after St. Benedict of Nursia. As pope, he received worldwide respect and was a spiritual influence to Christians and non-Christians alike. In 2013, he resigned the papacy, becoming the first pope to do so in since the fifteenth century. He retired to a monastery in the Vatican Gardens, where he continues to study and write.