“Every now and then you hope for a book that will be scholarly, easy to read, pastoral, witty, very historical, practical, and helpful to a wide audience, especially on a very important topic. Barry Hudock has written such a book. This book would be helpful for a self-study or group sharing. I highly encourage every priest, deacon, and layperson to purchase this book to see how they participate in the eucharistic prayer and how they may grow in their understanding and awareness of ‘the high point of the entire celebration’ of Mass.”
— John Thomas Lane, SSS, Emmanuel Magazine
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“Written from the ‘pew,’ The Eucharistic Prayer [is] a fine study for lay people without background in liturgical things…. It is especially enlightening for lay people to discover that the Eucharistic Prayer is not exclusively that of the priest, but all assembled have a part…. Every study of liturgy struggles to show its connection with the rest of life. Hudock is especially successful in uniting the two…. Chapters are very short, and the language is simple, non-technical. Yet there are numerous footnotes. One realizes that Hudock has distilled the finest theological research on the Eucharistic Prayer and made it available to the average person who wants to know more.”
— Fr. James Challancin, Pastoral Music (see the entire review here)
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“[The Eucharistic Prayer] can draw many non-academic readers into a new discovery of the richness of the eucharistic prayers and their structure, meaning, history, theology, and praying. It would be especially helpful to put in the hands of neophytes and used for mystogogical catechesis.”
— Joyce Ann Zimmerman, CPPS, Liturgical Ministry
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“A first-rate piece of work. This treatment of the eucharistic prayer is both respectable and very accessible. It should be very helpful in catechizing for the new translation of the Mass.”
— John Baldovin, SJ, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
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“Especially helpful in this book is the section in which Hudock relates the history of each of the four major Eucharistic Prayers and explains the differences between them.”
— Our Sunday Visitor
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“Hudock provides a well-documented, yet quite readable study of the history and component parts of the Roman Rite’s multiple Eucharistic prayers, and offers reflections on the special thrust of each of the prayers currently in use. To conclude, Hudock links liturgy with life and offers his thoughts on developing an authentic contemporary spirituality based on the Eucharistic prayer.”
— Dennis Smolarski, SJ, Author of How Not to Say Mass
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Buy it from Liturgical Press, an independent bookstore, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.
Or buy the Italian edition (from the popular Italian Catholic publisher Elledici) here.
Faith Meets World 