2021 Catholic Media Association Award first place award in Catholic Social Teaching In The Meal That Reconnects, Dr. Mary McGann, RSCJ, invites readers to a more profound appreciation of the sacredness of eating, the planetary interdependence that food and the sharing of food entails, and the destructiveness of the industrial food system that is supplying food to tables globally. She presents the food crisis as a spiritual crisis—a call to rediscover the theological, ecological, and spiritual significance of eating and to probe its challenge to Christian eucharistic practice. Drawing on the origins of Eucharist in Jesus’s meal fellowship and the worship of early Christians, McGann invites communities to reclaim the foundational meal character of eucharistic celebration while offering pertinent strategies for this renewal.
Hunger is a menace in different parts of the globe. It has more unnatural than natural causes. Though efforts have been made towards alleviating its causes and consequences, more actions still need to be taken for its genuine alleviation and eventual eradication in the world. For Joseph Grassi, painful hunger is a daily occurrence that must be countered by ongoing effective programs that enter into the lives of every Christian. Such position not only recognises the frequency and excruciating nature of hunger but also suggests that Christians and other religious groups have a very important role to play in order to eradicate hunger and its devastating effects. This book explores the nuances of hunger, its causes, dimensions and approaches, as well as its connection to the Eucharist. It argues that hunger can be eradicated and that the Eucharist stands out as a veritable model.
The meal that Jesus of Nazareth gave his followers, celebrated with grand liturgy and golden chalice, or words pared lean and tiny plastic cups, is the distinctive rite of the church. The Eucharist is regarded as the source and summit of Christian faith—or maybe just a symbol—but what all Christians know is that Holy Communion does something. It’s what and how the supper does what it does that divides us. In The Hunger Inside, Brad Roth explores the myriad ways the Lord’s Supper transforms lives. As on that ancient gospel hill where more than 5,000 hungry people were fed, the abundance of Jesus’ table touches uncountable human stories. Drawing generously on eclectic theological traditions, Roth takes a narrative-driven approach to plumb the rich depths of symbolism, power, and presence communicated in the communion meal. This book is a call for all followers of Jesus to encounter again the One who meets our deepest hungers at his table.
This timely book shows how a deep understanding of and participation in the Eucharist can mobilize not only individual sharing but community action to end hunger. Calling it a "new food-language for the world" Joseph Grassi shows how meaningful celebration of the Lord's Supper can and should promote efforts to eliminate the poverty and oppression that leave so many hungry today. Book jacket.
No matter how much or how little you already know about the Eucharist, the "secrets" revealed here will bring you to a new, personal "Emmaus" experience, again and again. Perfect for personal devotion, catechesis, study groups, book clubs, and theological studies, The Seven Secrets of the Eucharist will rekindle the "Eucharistic amazement" called for by Pope John Paul II.
Argues that the Eucharist is deeply political and potentially subversive and explores some of the many different aspects of the inseparable relationship between Eucharist and social justice.
Our most familiar human activities are transfigured in the eucharist and bring us into life-giving contact with God in Jesus Christ. This statement lies at heart of this thought-provoking work. In this essay of "meditative theology," which incorporates aspects of contemporary philosophy, anthropology and linguistics in relation to eucharist, the author reflects on the intimate connection between food and language in the eucharist. Tracing the progression from the act of eating to the celebration of a festal meal, he then moves to language, because the festal meal often concludes with a discourse addressed to the heroes of the feast. Finally, he examines eucharistic discourse in order to relate the eucharist to all other festal meals: what it remembers; what is given in it to eat; what is realized. The eucharist is discovered to be the place of communion with God, founded on the memory of Jesus Christ, hoped for in its perfection in eschatological time, already realized in the symbolic celebration. And yet it also reveals itself as the symbolic fullness of human existence. +