THE YEAR MADE HOLY

This effort to prove that the liturgy of the Church is inherently perfect in capturing the intended spirit of the season -- as interpreted by the author -- just doesn't come off. If anything, it suggests by trying too hard on difficult-to-demonstrate cases that the spirit just cannot be created. In plodding through this unfortunate book in this subject area, one wonders why an author, so sold on the liturgy's potential values for all who would draw on its riches, writes of it so inadequately. It is at best a stringing together of quotations, sometimes apt but frequently less than such. Here is an example, ""A spiritual circumcision, cutting away the sproutings of evil which grow and ever grow again."" Enough said! Many a priest given the assignment of speaking on the liturgy every Sunday could draw from his personal studies more than this book offers. The liturgy should be made to live, but this is not the book which will help make it possible.