BOOK REVIEW:
Behold, Believe, Become: Meeting the Hidden Christ in Things We See, Say, and Do at Mass.
Author: Timothy P. O’Malley
Ave Maria Press
We are in the midst of the Eucharistic Revival. This is the third book in the series on the Eucharist by Timothy O’Malley. The first two book (The Real Presence and Becoming Eucharistic People) were aimed more at parish leadership and catechists and focused primarily on the theology of the Eucharist and the Culture of a Eucharistic parish.
This book is squarely aimed at the person in the pew, and it connects everyday life to the celebration of Mass. One thing we have lost in our secular, technological culture is a sense of wonder. We often fail to be amazed at the beauty of creation, the awesomeness of the universe and even the fact that the sun rises in the morning, and we fail to realize every day is another opportunity to love our neighbor and worship our God.
This little book connects the so-called ordinary things in our life that we often take for granted to the physical things in our churches and to the extraordinary things that happen at Mass. One example is a door. To enter the church, we cross the threshold by opening and going through a door. But every time we go through a door, we leave one space and we enter another. Think about coming home at the end of a long hectic day, opening the door to your home, and feeling a sense of peace where you can finally breathe and relax. Similarly, think of entering through the church door, perhaps leaving a noisy street filled with traffic and entering into the quiet of the church, filled with colors of light passing through stained glass and being able to just BE in the real presence of God. In addition to a chapter on the door, there are chapters on the font, the nave, words, the altar, candlelight and incense, and many other “ordinary” extraordinary things we take for granted. The book uses these elements to connect our daily life to worshiping the God who is Life.
In addition to the book, there are 15 very short videos, one for each chapter, available on the Ave Maria Press YouTube channel. For example:
I highly recommend this book for personal meditation, discussion and perhaps looking at the world and the church with eyes of renewed wonder and awe.