 An active member of Spiritual Directors
International, the Religious Brothers Conference, and a member of the editorial board of Human Development,
Br. Joel Giallanza, CSC, is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross priests and
brothers. Presently with the Institute for Spiritual Direction of the Diocese of Austin, Texas, he has long been a regular
contributor to Review for Religious, Spiritual Life, The Priest, Carmel in the World,
and other periodicals. He is likewise the author of a popular little book of spiritual reflections entitled
Questions Jesus Asked (ST PAULS / Alba House, 2002).
Reviews
The title of this book comes from the words of the Second
Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). That document calls the Eucharist the "source
and summit of the Christian life." To help us understand the meaning of that phrase, Brother Joel Giallanza introduces six
popular Doctors of the Church and lets their words speak to us from each individual perspective.
Saint Teresa of Avila writes from her personal experience. Saint
Catherine of Siena stresses the importance of having a spiritual versus a bodily or sensory awareness. Saint John of the Cross
encourages readers to explore their own experiences and discover the Lord there. Saint Francis de Sales looks at the
reception of the Body and Blood of Christ as personal but not private, that is, we are "drawn into union with others and
especially those with whom we share faith as followers of Christ." Saint Alphonsus de Liguori advocates that a person should
receive the sacrament as often as possible, because in his day it was commonly received only infrequently. And Saint Thérèse
of Lisieux emphasizes how lovable we are to Jesus, who seeks to find a home within us.
Giallanza intersperses his own comments among the excerpts from
the saints' writings. Although his commentary seems lengthy and repetitive at times, overall I found it helpful to better
understand the era in which each of these saints lived and how their message is pertinent to our present-day experience of
receiving the sacrament.
This book will increase one's understanding of and devotion to
Jesus, who is entering our bodily home. All of us need such reminders to help us avoid approaching holy Communion merely in a
routine fashion at Mass. Each chapter contains material suitable for prayer and meditation as well. --Marjorie
F. Kolb, D.Min. in Liguorian, October 2005
Eucharistic guides: Six great saints -- Doctors of the Church -- weigh in on what the Second Vatican Council calls
"the source and summit of Christian life," the Eucharist. Using their words and reflections, Brother Joel Giallanza, CSC
brings together a deep well of information on the central part of our lives.Source and Summit: Six Great Spiritual Guides
Talk About the Eucharist offers the hungry an opportunity to fill themselves spiritually with the bread of life. The six
Doctors are: Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Francis de Sales, Saint
Alphonsus de Liguori, and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Biographical, historical and doctrinal material is incorporated
into each chapter to assist the reader in understanding the message of that particular saint. --Crux
of the News, November 14, 2005
In Source and Summit, Br. Joel has gathered a fine
collection of statements on the Eucharist by six of the most influential doctors of the Church. This being the "Year of the
Eucharist," the reflections are especially timely, though their relevance goes far beyond this particular occasion.
Apart from a brief introduction and a short concluding summary,
the book is comprised of one chapter each on St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis
de Sales, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, and St. Therese of Lisieux. Br. Joel sets out to reveal how these saintly educators in
the fatih related personally to the Eucharist.
The title, Source and Summit, is taken from section 11 of
the Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium, the Constitution on the Church. The Fathers wrote, "Taking part in the
Eucharistic sacrifice, the source and summit of the Christian life, they offer the divine victim to God and themselves along
with it."
Br. Joel sets his course: "For these present reflections we will
view the Eucharist from the perspective of the spiritual life and the journey toward union with God on which Jesus leads and
accompanies his followers." Our teachers and guides will be six great saints. Br. Joel says, "The reflections offered here
are designed to support us along the paths of our spiritual journey." He hopes that "we may learn from their wisdom and their
example, so our own daily life and work will reflect that Jesus alone is truly the source and summit of all that we are and
of all that we hope to become."
The author has chosen appropriate selections from the words of
each of the six doctors of the Church connecting them smoothly with his own observations and experiences, showing how the
six have developed their unique relationship with Jesus. Br. Joel, a man of prayer, shows that he is truly sensitive to and
familiear with each grat saint's relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. The reader quickly discovers that though all
six saints were great intellects, their approach to Jesus in the Eucharist was anything but cerebral.
We should bear in mind that these holy men and women lived
for the most part during times when the reception of communion was an infrequent practice. Only since the early 20th century
have we been encouraged to communicate frequently, even daily. Despite differences in practice common to the eras in which
the six lived, none of them were any less blessed by the One invited so welcomingly into their hearts. Whether they actually
received communion, or participated only "vittually," through "spiritual communion," their conscientious preparation assured
their appreciation of who it was they were about to entertain in their heart.
The reader benefits from the book’s comfortable rhetorical flow,
a sign of a practiced author, and Br. Joel, focusing on the single clear topic, makes the work a quick and easy read. He
invites the reader to internalize what these women and men reveal about their relationship with the Eucharistic presence of
Jesus, and offers many intriguing thoughts and conclusions that obviously have arisen out of the author’s own prayer and
meditation.
In treating each of the six saints, Br. Joel naturally finds
common themes running through the approach each takes to the Eucharist, best simplified as “reliance on God’s presence and
support.” The Eucharist, properly appreciated and welcomed into the life of an individual, sharpens a keen awareness of God’s
presence, and defines and clarifies God’s will for the person. As the author says in the chapter on St. John of the Cross,
“a major task in the spiritual life—if not the major task—is directing our will toward unity with God and conformity to God’s will.”
The reader will find interest in seeing how, even in such brief
vignettes of these six acknowledged experts in orthodox dogma and apologetics, he or she can experience this same gift of
God, the Eucharist, so similarly and yet exhibit such an intimate relationship that, with Isaiah, each personalizes the
words of Yahweh, “I have called you by your name, you are mine” (Is 43:1).
Although the reception of Holy Communion assures our advancement
in intimacy with God, almost regardless of our degree of awareness, each of the six saints promotes a regimen of preparedness
and thanksgiving that exhibits the recipients’ appreciation of the immeasurable value of conscientious reception, an
awareness that will carry over into daily life as we strive to imitate Jesus, fixing on him as our ultimate goal.
This short book reminds us of the value of the Eucharist in our
private, unique relationship with Jesus, and thus with God. Then, taking us where we are, Br. Joel extends the application
for us, alluding to the community aspect of the Eucharist and all it implies for our individual role in the building up of
the Kingdom.
In the end, Br. Joel gathers the principal effects of the
Eucharist among the six and summarizes: “Through the Eucharist we are transformed by the sacred gift we consume; truly it is
the Lord who is then present and active in us and our thoughts.”
Our faith urges us to believe that even as Jesus became like us
through the Incarnation, so we become like Jesus through the Eucharist. “Our relationship with the Eucharist begins by God’s
loving initiative. Jesus comes among us as one of us, and remains with us as one of us by his presence in the Eucharist, in
the Church, and through the continuing work of the Holy Spirit. All this will remain little more than static historical data
unless we choose to respond, unless we decide that the gift of Jesus’s Eucharistic presence will make a significant
difference in our life.”
“The effects of our relationship with the Eucharist must extend
outward to our family and neighborhood, work environment and faith community, culture and country, Church and world. Then,
through the example of our lives, we hand to others what Jesus has given to us. The Eucharist must be for us a means for
mission.”
If we readers need or want a fresh start toward appreciation of
the Eucharist and its inestimable value, Source and Summit will serve as a significant instrument helping us to
realize that goal. --Br. Philip Armstrong, C.S.C., May 9, 2005
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