As Pope Benedict XVI notes in the first meditation in this collection, knowing that there is a God who is good, who knows us, who is so near to us, is truly the gospel the good news that brings us joy. These fifty-five reflections on passages from the gospels, taken from the pope s homilies and Angelus messages over the first three years of his papacy, reveal Benedict s passionate love for Christ, his depth of faith, his grasp of Scripture, and his perspective on the challenges facing us as Christians in the world today. Pope Benedict is a brilliant theologian and scholar, but first and foremost he is a pastor, and this is evident in every meditation in this collection. A strong advocate of lectio divina, the prayerful reading of the Scriptures, Pope Benedict shows us how much nourishment and inspiration we can derive from meditating on the word of God.
