A Meditation

It is difficult, perhaps, perhaps even presumptuous, for a reader without theological training, who is not a professing Roman Catholic, to attempt an evaluation of this work by Father Bouyer, which is a meditation on the last three days of Holy Week. One can record, however, a personal impression.

Father Bouyer’s work has seemed to one reader neither an addition to pietistic and sentimental works of devotion, nor a formal analysis of liturgy. The restatement of Catholic truth in contemporary terms, without distortion, is part of a necessary exercise of Christian freedom. But some such statements seem likely to increase the real and lamentable fragmentation of Christendom; while others, however indirectly, may assist toward an inward unity of believers, in Christ.

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Father Bouyer’s view of heresy must of necessity be offensive to many believing Protestants. But his meditation upon the mystery of the Redemption as shadowed forth in Roman Catholic liturgy can only command our respect and veneration. In particular, his consideration of death, of Divine love and judgment, and more generally, his treatment of Old Testament sources, have great depth and cogency. No reader with an awareness of religious problems can fail to be moved and enlightened.

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