The primary purpose of Prophetic Liturgy is to inquire into the prophetic dimension of the liturgy. Some questions addressed in the book are: How can a liturgy be prophetic? How can liturgy form and transform individuals and communities? In which sense does the liturgy facilitate a living participation in socio-political-economic life? How does the sacramental practice challenge the church to mediate God's gifts of grace, love, justice, and mercy to the world? Possible answers for these questions begin to emerge as we develop an understanding of religious praxis as an active and dynamic prophetic action, in which the community of faith claims its identity, promotes an engaged faithful Christian life, and affirms the sacramental life of the church as a source of formation and inspiration for prophetic praxis, mediating God's gift for the life of the world. There is risk in presenting an option for prophetic praxis, in that it may go beyond the comfort zone of a community and engender spiritual and political alienation. The most challenging ethical hope of this book is to provide the worshiping community with prophetic awareness of socio-economic injustice, while at the same time preserving the community's historical-cultural identity, its religious values, and its sacramental spirituality.

Throughout the year, readers proclaim and assemblies hear the words of the prophets in the liturgy. Who were they and what made them so urgent? This brief but deep and sympathetic introduction to the prophets will help readers proclaim the prophets’ words with more empathy and understanding. It will fascinate Bible study and Scripture sharing groups, and it will help interested assembly members appreciate more fully the meaning of the prophets’ messages—for their audience and for us.

Roman Catholics are a communal people. We gather for worship because we are more than the sum total of our individual selves. Going to church on Sunday is not only a statement of faith. It is also a place of support and affirmation. Participating on sacred days such as Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, or to celebrate the sacraments, underwrites cohesion and identity as a People of God. To lose all this during times of crisis, such as a pandemic, diminishes the communal enterprise and opens the door to the ills of isolation. This happened when public worship became a hazard with the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The ongoing critical decline in clergy has aggravated the situation. Mass via TV has proven helpful, but as an isolating activity, it ultimately undermines the Catholic genius of the Communion of Saints and corporate witness. Nothing can replace common worship in church, but we do what we can when necessary, and we are not without inspiration. The awareness of our need to include those traditionally excluded has provided another rich resource for legitimizing the gifts of the laity in many areas of the Church, including conducting public worship. In the end, when all pandemics are over, a more prophetic Church of shared and collaborative ministry may emerge. This book of lay-led liturgies foresees that day.

A life of consecration prefigures what Christians hope for by calling into question the value of power, sexuality, and material possessions. Religious life challenges the idea that these things alone bring happiness and shows that we can be more fulfilled, happier, and more whole without being attached to them. Furthermore, detaching ourselves from these desires allows others to live with more dignity and greater ease, as well. Consecrated life, then, is a prophetic witness to the joy of the eschatological call of Christianity. In the words of Pope Francis to religious men and women leading up to the Year of Consecrated Religious, “Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living!”

The American church avoids lament. But lament is a missing, essential component of Christian faith. Soong-Chan Rah's prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church's relationship with a suffering world. Hear the prophet's lament as the necessary corrective for Christianity's future.

An annual resource for parish ministers, liturgists, pastors, and planning committees, Living Liturgy offers a practical means for reflection on and celebration of Mass for Sundays and solemnities as well as select other days. Living Liturgy integrates spirituality and celebration, catechesis and pastoral practice, the ministry of the assembly and other ministries so that celebrating and living go hand-in-hand. Written by a pastorally experienced team with expertise in Scripture, spiritual direction, liturgy, and liturgical music, Living Liturgy teaches that we learn from each other of the fullness of God's mystery, and by learning and worshiping together we enrich each other. Living Liturgy helps people live a liturgical spirituality. This is a way of living rooted in liturgy, which opens their vision to their baptismal identity as the Body of Christ and shapes their living according to the dying and rising rhythm of the paschal mystery. The paschal mystery is the entire saving mystery of Jesus Christ--his life, mission, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, sending of the Spirit, and promised second coming--and our participation in this mystery. Liturgy enacts in the here and now Christ's mystery and sends each one of us forth to live this mystery. Anyone involved with liturgical planning and preparation will benefit from using this resource, including pastoral ministers, liturgy directors, musicians, and liturgy committee members. Living Liturgy also assists those who serve the community in the visible liturgical ministries--presiders, deacons, music ministers, hospitality ministers, altar ministers, lectors, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion--because it clearly shows thateach ministry deserves not only practical preparation but, even more important, spiritual preparation. Further, catechumens, candidates, and sponsors use Living Liturgy to support and deepen their liturgical journey within the RCIA. Members of faith-sharing groups use this resource as the focus of weekly prayer and reflection together. Parents and teachers will find that Living Liturgy can be simplified and shared with younger members of the liturgical community.

A critical issue in modern Catholic theology has been the relationship between the doctrine of revelation and the church’s liturgical and sacramental practice. This volume argues that although in the twentieth century Catholic theology increasingly recognized the centrality of Christology—particularly the person of Christ—as the locus of revelation and drew out the crucial implications of Christ as the revelation of God, it was slow to connect this revelatory dynamic with the encounter that occurs within the sacramental space of the liturgy, most notably the Eucharist. Taking the decline of the neoscholastic enterprise in Catholic theology and the challenges posed by modernism as his point of departure, Philip Caldwell traces the evolution of the Catholic theology of revelation in the twentieth century and the vital role played by the liturgical and sacramental renewal movements in reimagining this pivotal theological category. Examining the specific contributions of René Latourelle, Avery Dulles, Salvatore Marsilli, and Gustave Martelet against a background of pre-conciliar ressourcement theology, this volume provides a comprehensive account of why a Trinitarian and Christological construal of liturgy and sacraments as revelation is key to the vision that informed Vatican II and offers constructive theological and ecclesial possibilities for the future.

Doubts about the contribution of cult-prophetic speech to psalmody remain in debate. Psalms containing first-person divine speech exhibit numerous features and suggest life settings that conform to actual prophetic speech. Alternative explanations lack comparable examples external to psalms. On the other hand, Assyrian cultic prophecies parallel the characteristics of prophetic speech found in psalms. The Assyrian sources support possible composition and performance scenarios that overcome objections raised against the compatibility of genuine prophecy with psalmody. A model of cultic prophecy remains the best explanation for the origin of psalms containing first-person divine speech.

This is the fifth annual volume of the remarkably popular journal of biblical theology edited by Scott Hahn and his St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. This volume features important new works by Hahn, Brant Pitre, Matthew Levering, and Robert Barron, among others. The issue explores the biblical themes of Church and state; idolatry and power; religion and violence; worship and sacrifice; the Kingdom of God; and the Eucharist. Highlights include Hahn's new essay on the prophetic historiography of 1 and 2 Chronicles; and Pitre's essay on Jesus, the Messianic Banquet, and the Kingdom of God. The journal, which always seeks to reprint classic texts alongside groundbreaking new works, this time includes a new translation of St. Thomas Aquinas' Lectures on 2 Thessaloniansthe first time this work has been translated into English. Also included are an influential work by Louis Bouyer on Satan and Christ in the New Testament and Early Tradition. The volume concludes with a classic homily by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI on the morality of exile.

This book introduces Liturgico-Political Theology, whose bedrock is the reality of the Paschal Mystery of Christ and the fruit it has borne for humanity: salvation. It presents this embrace of theology, liturgy and politics as part of the effects of the Christ Jesus won for humanity in His victorious death on Good Friday. It reiterates the inseparable connection between liturgy and life, in a way that liturgical celebrations do not leave those who take part passive and inactive persons. Hence, proceeding through an hermeneutic study of liturgical orations of various Masses as presented in the Roman Missal, the underlining messages and tasks given to political leaders in particular, and public servants in general, are articulated. They come to realize that the ultimate goal of politicking, is to emulate the selflessness of Jesus in serving humanity.