The beauty is in the facts

The Mass by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Mike Aquilina
The Glory, The Mystery, The Tradition
Doubleday Religion, 2011

I suppose there's no shortage of books dedicated to the celebration of the Mass in the Catholic Church. It is after all, the "source and the summit of the whole Christian life." There are probably even many, many good books on the Mass – I know I have several. However, I'd be hard-pressed to find one more useful and practical than this 2011 offering by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Mike Aquilina.

This is no doctoral-level, academic study of the Mass. Those looking for obscurely-textured interpretations and theories about this or that facet of the Mass will be sorely disappointed. The authors focus squarely on the facts, and therein lies the real beauty of this book. While there can be no doubt that the Mass is a carefully crafted, incredibly intricate celebration quite worthy of thick volumes of theological study, that's not what most lay people need. In the words of an iconic Los Angeles TV police detective, what the people in the pews (and those considering taking a seat in the pews) need are, "Just the facts."
 
There are facts here and plenty of them: facts about the Mass in the Bible, facts about the Mass in history, facts about the different names of the Mass, facts about the people in the Mass, and facts about the things in the Mass (i.e., the church, the furnishings, the vessels, the clothing, etc.). Most importantly, however, there is a step-by-step explanation of every part of the Mass, one of the most exhaustive I've encountered. Nothing is missed or forgotten.

If all this dedication to the facts sounds boring, it's not. First, there's no chance to get bored. Each topic is covered in a matter of several pages or less. Secondly, the prose is a study in artistic precision – the meaning and intent of each subject is richly conveyed, the heart of its being laid bare with nary a wasted word.

This book is a great tool for Catholic adults who grew up in the 70s and 80s and were poorly catechized as a result of the manifestations of misguided interpretations of Vatican II. Most of them honestly probably don't fully understand everything that's happening at Mass (if they did, they wouldn't have traded Mass for other churches or their kids' AAU travel teams). It would also be wonderful for converts coming into the church, either to read in an afternoon on their own or as part of an RCIA program. Either way, everything anyone needs to fully appreciate the Mass is here and there's no denying the facts – there is tradition, mystery and glory in the Mass!