Books in the Biblical Meditations series

The subject Cardinal Martini develops in this book is that of apostolic consciousness. It is the result of a retreat he preached to seminarians. Following the examples of the Apostles Peter and Paul, every Christian should be aware of being 'sent' by someone else to carry out a work that is not theirs. Christians are not people who roll up their sleeves thinking they have to undertake heaven knows what, organise strategies or believe that everything depends on their ability and efficiency. We are not about pursuing our own pet project. Rather, Christians should experience the excitement of responding to a God who loves them and calls them, and in calling them, sends them into the world, thus having them share in the 'mandate' Christ receives from the Father.In our time, as Pope Francis has also often insisted, especially in Evangelii Gaudium, it is urgent that our faith matures toward a consciousness of mission which is totally connected with that of the Son. In this sense, Martini's book can be said to anticipate Pope Francis' view of the Church.

Why did Jesus speak in parables? This is the question that brings together the reflections in this volume, a collection of meditations preached by Cardinal Martini at a spiritual retreat.With profound wisdom, Martini reflects on the many gospel parables - parables about the seed, judgement, call, the lost and found. He highlights and identifies first of all how Jesus has the need to communicate the mystery of the Father very much at heart. But the mystery of the God is so far beyond any notion of ours that it is precisely for this reason it can be expressed in so many ways. Hence, to reveal the confounding love of the Father, Jesus chooses to speak in parables, in this way respecting our freedom and also being attentive to our fragility. Jesus' parables also force the listener to take a stance regarding his message and person. It is a book that introduces us to a wise reading of the Gospel and to hearing the questions hidden within the Scriptures, as well as tasting God's presence.

The Theme of this volume is the Our Father, which Cardinal Martini tackles at a retreat he gave to priests. The Archbishop of Milan offers a series of reflections to his retreatants on the Prayer which Jesus taught, seeing it, along with Tertullian, as the "summary of the whole Gospel." Though it is true we are talking about a prayer everyone knows by heart, it should not escape notice that the Our Father is "ever new, mysterious, all-purpose". It is indicative of a richness that only Christ could communicate since there we find "a correspondence, a perfect correlation between the Our Father, the teaching of the Gospel, the life of Jesus the Son of God who died and rose for us." The pages are packed with thoughts intended to accompany the reader on a journey. Step by step he reintroduces this journey to us so we can discover the inexhaustible treasures of the believers' best known prayer: the Our Father.

The meditations brought together in the current volume lead us to the heart of the New Testament message. Cardinal Martini reflects on the account of the Passion in various retreats he based on the canonical Gospels. The fact that they have once more been brought together in a single volume allows our reader to access the lively, humble and at the same time, authoritative prose of a preacher who approaches the subject of his preaching in fear and trembling, thus displaying his sincere empathy with all his listeners. It matters little that there is no clear connection between all the mediations (in fact the material has been drawn from different contexts): a believer among believers, Martini confesses the consternation which overcomes the mind preparing to reflect on the mystery of the Passion, clearly highlighting the seriousness, the dramatic nature of this kind of meditation which, when it occurs truthfully, that is, by seeing the consequences for our life, seems rather like a snare that snatches us and sweeps us up.