More “Books I Had Forgotten Were On My Shelf”

From Vittorio Messori’s interview with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger published as “The Ratzinger Report” in 1985:

He goes on: “The Eucharist is the central core of our liturgical life, but for it to be the center, we need a shared total context in which to live. All investigations of the effects of the liturgical reform show that if the Mass is over-emphasized pastorally, it becomes devalued. It is placed in a vacuum, as it were, without other liturgical acts to prepare for it or deepen it. The Eucharist presupposes the other sacraments and points toward them. But Eucharist also presupposes personal prayer, prayer in the family and extra-liturgical prayer in community.”

What are you thinking of here?

I am thinking of two of the deepest and most fruitful prayers of Christendom, which are always leading us anew into the mighty river of the Eucharist: the ‘Stations of the Cross’ and the ‘Rosary’. If nowadays we are so dangerously exposed to the attractions of Asiatic religious practices, it is surely in part because we have forgotten these prayers.” He observes, “If the Rosary is prayed as tradition envisages, it draws us into a rhythm of calm which makes us flexible and well balanced, giving a name to this peace: Jesus, the blessed fruit of Mary. Mary, who kept the living Word in the quiet peace of her heart and so was able to become mother of the Incarnate Word. That is why Mary is the ideal of genuine liturgical life. She is Mother of the Church, and as such she also shows us the task and the highest goal of our worship: the glory of God, from whom mankind’s salvation comes.”