What Every Catholic Needs to Know about the Eucharist: A Guide for the Liturgical Assembly

The primary focus of this book, described as a "reflection on Eucharist," is on the importance of the assembly in the eucharistic liturgy. Using the catechetical method, Kwatera begins with the familiar and moves to the spiritual. In a down-to-earth and easily readable style that is crisply articulate, he discusses the meaning of liturgy and its individual parts. He emphasizes the importance of God's action in calling the assembly together as a worshipping body, not as a collection of individuals. He discusses the active particiation of the assemlby and explains why this is essential to liturgy. He reminds us throughout the book that liturgy is to make a difference in what we do when we leave the communal celebration. he answers the questions "What is the assembly?" and "What is its purpose?"Far more than being simply a "reflection on Eucharist," this book gives us our "marching orders" for participating with understanding, for appreciating the "real presence" in its various forms, one of which is the assembly, and for understanding the Eucharist as relational.