Recent decades have been marred by pervasive Eucharistic abuse, from violations of liturgical norms and rubrics to practices that encourage irreverence and facilitate habitual sacrilege. The coronavirus crisis in 2020 has occasioned a further wave of sacramental manipulation, desacralization, and deprivation that has left almost no Catholic in the world unharmed.
These disturbing ï¿1/2ï¿1/2ï¿1/2signs of the timesï¿1/2ï¿1/2ï¿1/2 call for an unsparing reassessment of official and unofficial policies, practices, customs, and attitudes, along with fresh appreciation for ï¿1/2ï¿1/2ï¿1/2creative minoritiesï¿1/2ï¿1/2ï¿1/2 that are taking a different, more difficult, and more successful path to reverence.
The Holy Bread of Eternal Life is a powerful and timely book by scholar Peter Kwasniewski that exalts the divine gift of the Blessed Sacrament, which can never be too much adored, too much loved, too much cared for, or too much sacrificed for.
Drawing on both Testaments, the Fathers of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Magisterium, Kwasniewski describes the fitting veneration and handling of this ï¿1/2ï¿1/2ï¿1/2mystery of faithï¿1/2ï¿1/2ï¿1/2 past and present, the dispositions we need to cultivate for a fruitful reception of the Lord, and the blessings that follow from a life centered on Holy Communion. At the same time, the book critiques many novelties in modern Catholic worship and shows why they must be set aside for the health of souls and the Church.
There is far more at stake in todayï¿1/2ï¿1/2ï¿1/2s debates concerning Holy Communion than what preferences should be indulged or slip-ups tolerated. At stake is whether we truly believe in Jesus Christ, our God, our Savior, our Friend, and our Judge, really present in the Eucharist; whether we acknowledge and accept His lordship over us in every aspect of what we do and say; and whether we will act, react, worship, and pray in a manner consistent with true belief.
Audiobook available HERE.
Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Thomistic theologian, liturgical scholar, and choral composer, is a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College and The Catholic University of America. He has taught at the International Theological Institute in Austria, the Franciscan University of Steubenville's Austria Program, and Wyoming Catholic College, which he helped establish in 2006 and where he taught theology, philosophy, music, and art history and directed the choirs. He writes regularly for The New Liturgical Movement, OnePeterFive, Rorate Caeli, The Latin Mass Magazine, and other websites and publications. He has published sixteen books (eight as author and eight as editor), including seven on traditional Catholicism: Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis (Angelico, 2014), Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness (Angelico, 2017), Tradition and Sanity (Angelico, 2018), John Henry Newman on Worship, Reverence, and Ritual (Os Justi, 2019), Reclaiming Our Roman Catholic Birthright (Angelico, 2020), The Holy Bread of
