Books

STAIRWAY TO THE UPPER ROOM: Daily Meditations on the Gospel Readings

Reviewed by Michael Gilchrist

Contents - Sep 2005 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Support the 2005 Fighting Fund! - Peter Westmore Events: Sydney to host World Youth Day 2008 - AD2000 REPORT News: The Chuch Around the World Canadian Bishops' cave-in to 'renegade Catholicism' under fire Priesthood: America's 'vocation rich' dioceses: latest success stories analysed - AD2000 Report Can reverence at Mass make a comeback? - Michael Ryan Interview: Benedict XVI and the power of the Eucharist - Fr John Corapi Education: Catholic schools of the future - Br John Moylan CFC Cinema: The Church under Nazism: a sensitive film portrayal in 'The Ninth Day' - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) BOOKS: The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews from the Nazis - Thomas E. Woods Jr (reviewer) A religious response to evil ideologies - John Rego Letters: Liturgy - John Daly Letters: Liberal manifesto - Dr Peter Gilet Letters: Fatima and Benedict XVI - Paul MacLeod Letters: Society of St Pius X - Fr Kevin Robinson Events: C.S. Lewis Seminar - Sat 17 Sept 2005 2pm-9pm Letters: Ethical medicine? - Dr A.W. Hartwig Letters: Latin Mass - Richard Congram Letters: Simple Catechisms - Rosanna Sherman Letters: Gnosticism Letters: Good reading - E. Pickering Books: GOING AGAINST THE STREAM: Ethical Aspects of Ageing and Care, by Peter Jeffery - Kerrie Allen (reviewer) Books: THE ART OF GIVING by Francine Black - Kerrie Allen (reviewer) Books: THE PATH OF LIFE: Benedictine Spirituality for Monks and Lay People - Gabrielle Walsh (reviewer) Books: STAIRWAY TO THE UPPER ROOM: Daily Meditations on the Gospel Readings - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: The Holy Shroud, by Antonio Cassanelli - Gabrielle Walsh (reviewer) Books: More good reading from AD Books Reflection: Benedict XVI: how to make the new evangelisation more effective - Fr Dennis Byrnes PP

STAIRWAY TO THE UPPER ROOM:
Daily Meditations on the Gospel Readings for Sundays and Solemnities
(Volume I, Salvation History, Volume II, Sundays of Ordinary Time, 13-24)
by Ronald Walls
(Gracewing, 2002 and 2003, 155 and 145pp, $22.00 each. Available from AD Books)

These two volumes are clear, concise, easy to understand guides to the Gospel passages from the Church's three-year cycle of readings. The author's beautifully expressed reflections place the passages of a particular Sunday or Solemnity into the context of biblical revelation as understood, transmitted and celebrated by the Church in her Eucharistic Liturgy.

For example, with Pentecost, Father Ronald Walls includes quotes from Genesis, Exodus and Ezekiel as well as a portion of Psalm 104 to acc- ompany his discussion of St John's Gospel in which he writes: "The Gospel reading for Pentecost Sunday takes us back to the first Easter Day, which reminds us that Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, is the final act in the paschal drama."

Father Walls, himself, has had a remarkable life. Now aged 85, he was born in Edinburgh and began his adult career as a minister in the Presbyterian Church. In 1948, with his wife and three sons, he was received into the Catholic Church. In 1974, in a road accident he was badly injured and his wife was killed. In 1977, at the age of 57, he was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Aberdeen.

His autobiography, Love Strong as Death, is also published by Gracewing.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 18 No 8 (September 2005), p. 18