Book Review: Divine Love Made Flesh

It's a couple days late, but Happy New Year to all of you! I hope 2012 was a good year for you and that 2013 will be better than the last. Today at Stuart's Study, I am reviewing the book Divine Love Made Flesh by Raymond Cardinal Burke. Cardinal Burke is the Episcopal Advisor of the organization Catholic Action for Faith and Family. He is a man faithful to the Church's teachings and doesn't mind telling people they are not living correctly, such as telling "Catholic" pro-choice politicians that they should not receive the Eucharist. I bring up this example, because this book is about the Eucharist and the Church's teachings on it.

Divided into two parts, this book covers two important works on the Eucharist - Ecclesia de Eucharistia by Blessed Pope John Paul II and Sacramentum Caritatis by Pope Benedict XVI. Each chapter in the book is then devoted to a section of one of these two major Church documents by putting them in understandable language for us laymen. I don't know if you've ever tried to read an Encyclical or an Apostolic Exhortation, but you can find yourself drowning in a sea of words quickly if you dive in  without guidance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am glad it was the first book I read for 2013. My favorite chapter was Chapter 20 "Becoming Whom We Receive in Holy Communion." In this chapter, I learned that by receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, we are called to become more like Jesus in our daily life. We are also truly called to change every aspect of our lives, not just show up on Sunday and be good for an hour, then live how we want to the rest of the week.

Overall, this book increased my appreciation of the Blessed Sacrament and created a longing in me to receive Jesus' Body and Blood more often than just Sunday Mass. It also created a sense of guilt in me that I have not been to Eucharistic Adoration in a long time and makes me want to go soon. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars and recommend you read this to increase your knowledge, reverence, and love of the most important sacrament in our Church, the Holy Eucharist.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Divine Love Made Flesh. The Catholic Company has great gift ideas for all seasons of the liturgical year, be sure to check out their Advent selection and Catholic Christmas Gifts.