Vicki Klima’s subtitle reveals the main purpose of her work, to deepen a person’s engagement in the Mass. Does this book accomplish it? I think it offers good guidance. But the effort must be expended by the reader, of course. In her introduction, the author relates the occasion of the coronavirus pandemic, the shuttering of public worship for many months, and the concerns about the impact this crisis will have on the future of Catholic worship.
Now three years after it was published, most people have returned to most former practices. Is that making a difference?
Participation of the Heart is offered in the style of a workbook. I can see an individual making much of this. Section I of the text covers about thirty pages and offers five ways we can “Make Sense of So Many Words.” Praying the text: one might presume we do that already. But do we really? I would applaud the use of Lectio Divina and using the imagination to place ourselves in a biblical passage. (Or homily I suppose.) Drawing upon the traditions of Benedict and Ignatius of Loyola is quite familiar in many Catholic circles.
Section 2 takes the reader through the Mass, part by part, taking a bit more than eighty pages. Ms Klima presents origins in Scripture and Tradition, documentation in the Roman Missal, and how each part connects to the Sunday. For journaling or group discussion, she offers good questions for reflection. Here, one can apply some or all of the five ways from the first section.
If a reader likes to write in books, this publication gives you big pages and a fair amount of space. If someone has reached a point of being deeply curious about the liturgy, this will be a very useful book with the potential to take a new Catholic or a less engaged one to the next level.
Speaking for myself, having wrestled with these questions and methods for many years, I can see much of my own journey reflected in the text here. I can recommend it.
Catholic Sensibility 