Meditations on the Christ

by Romano Guardini

These pages don’t tell you what Jesus did — you know that already! Instead, they take you into the mind and heart of the Son of God in a way you may not have thought possible. You’ll come to understand the inner logic of Jesus’ why He did what He did, including puzzling aspects of His life — ones that may trouble your mind and your faith.

You’ll find out why Jesus’ life had to take the course it took — why He couldn’t have been the earthly King many were expecting, and why He couldn’t have conformed to the conventional ideas of a warrior, a hero, or even just a successful man.

You’ll even see why He had to be abandoned by everyone — including His disciples — yet His Father remained close to Him then, just as He remains close to you now. Your new insight into why Jesus chose His particular paths then will illuminate the paths He is choosing for you now, for which you’ll be filled with gratitude!

Let your newfound knowledge of Jesus blossom into joy as — directed by these pages — you open yourself to the One whose whole being will resound in your heart and will nourish your soul.

Genres: Catholic, Theology, Spirituality, Faith

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2014

About the author

Romano Guardini was a Catholic priest, author, and academic. He was one of the most important figures in Catholic intellectual life in the 20th century.

Guardini was born in Verona, Italy in 1885. His family moved to Mainz when he was one year old and he lived in Germany for the rest of his life. After studying chemistry in Tübingen for two semesters, and economics in Munich and Berlin for three, he decided to become a priest. After studying Theology in Freiburg im Breisgau and Tübingen, he was ordained in Mainz in 1910. He briefly worked in a pastoral position before returning to Freiburg to work on his doctorate in Theology under Engelbert Krebs. He received his doctorate in 1915 for a dissertation on Bonaventure. He completed his “Habilitation” in Dogmatic Theology at the University of Bonn in 1922, again with a dissertation on Bonaventure. Throughout this period he also worked as a chaplain to the Catholic youth movement.

In 1923 he was appointed to a chair in Philosophy of Religion at the University of Berlin. In the 1935 essay “Der Heiland” (The Saviour) he criticized Nazi mythologizing of the person of Jesus and emphasized the Jewishness of Jesus. The Nazis forced him to resign from his Berlin position in 1939. From 1943 to 1945 he retired to Mooshausen, where his friend Josef Weiger had been parish priest since 1917.

In 1945 Guardini was appointed professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Tübingen and resumed lecturing on the Philosophy of Religion. In 1948, he became professor at the University of Munich, where he remained until retiring for health reasons in 1962.

Guardini died in Munich on 1 October 1968. He was buried in the priests’ cemetery of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Munich. His estate was left to the Catholic Academy in Bavaria that he had co-founded.

Reviews

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short set of meditations on the personality and characteristics of Christ originally published in German in 1957 and first appearing in English in 1959. The work struck me as a short of introduction to The Lord, and some passages were lifted from or reflected directly observations in The Lord. Meditation on the Christ was an accessible introduction to Guardini's style, much more so than his most famous short work, The Spirit of the Liturgy. Not a five-star read, but a compelling and complex set of meditations from an important theologian.

[Joyce Donahue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply beautiful

This inspiring collection of meditations approaches Jesus Christ from a variety of viewpoints, each rooted in scripture and spirituality. A book to be savored.

[Aileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended this to me, it was used as one of his seminarian reflections on Christology😇💗🙏