Posted March 9, 2007 Book: A Short History of the Mass Author: Alfred McBride, O.Praem. St. Anthony Messenger Press. Cincinnati, OH. 2007. Pp. 128 An Excerpt from the Jacket: From the Last Supper to the Mass of the Apostles, from house churches to medieval cathedrals, from the Tridentine Mass to the sweeping reforms of Vatican II, the Mass has undergone many changes in two thousand years. Yet, for Catholics, the Mass is the source and summit of our faith and remains, at its core, eternally unchanged and unchanging. Alfred McBride expertly guides us through the history of the Mass — the meaning of each element, the saints who illumined our understanding of it, the church and political influences that challenged it. With dozens of illustrations, McBride offers a clear explanation for those new to the Mass and a deep revelation for those well-acquainted with it. An Excerpt from the Book: The Eucharist causes Unity of the Church The church is not born as a simple federation of communities. Her birth begins with one bread, with the one Lord. . .She becomes one not through a centralized government but through a common center open to all, because it constantly draws its origin from a single Lord, who forms her by means of the one bread into the one body. Because of this, her unity has a greater depth than that which any other human union could ever achieve. Precisely when the Eucharist is understood in the intimacy of each person with the Lord, it becomes also a social sacrament to the highest degree. — Pope Benedict XVI Table of Contents: 1. The Last Supper 2. The Eucharist in the early church 3. The Eucharist in the age of th Fathers 4. The Eucharist in the middle ages 5. The Mass in the time of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation 6. The Mass in the ear of Vatican II