Sacrifice As Gift: Eucharist, Grace, and Contemplative Prayer in Maurice de la Taille by Michon M. Matthiesen

Abstract

205 Book Reviews Eucharistic spirituality wherein the focus is upon the personal presence of Christ rather than the change that accompanies it. One can see the influence of previous scholars, particularly Schillebeeckx and Chauvet, throughout this work. As such, it follows a predictable course, and scholars may not find anything too surprising. Nevertheless, it may serve as an effective tool for students seeking a resource in contemporary liturgical studies. James K. Lee Southern Methodist University Dallas, Texas Michon M. Matthiesen Sacrifice As Gift: Eucharist, Grace, and Contemplative Prayer in Maurice de la Taille Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2013 297 pages. Hardcover. $69.00. I have had a policy of “never volunteer, never refuse” when it comes to book reviews: that is, I will not refuse to write one when asked, but I have never voluntarily submitted one because I didn’t want that to be a consideration when taking down the next book off the shelf to read. Until now. I actively sought out this book in order to review it. Maurice de la Taille, S.J., was a professor of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and his principal work was a three-volume scholarly study on the sacrifice of the Mass, titled Mysterium Fidei, which appeared in 1921. The question of sacrifice was one of the issues I especially had to deal with as a Lutheran convert to Catholicism, and several references had directed me to de la Taille. From what I was able to read—the first two volumes, and a 1930 collection of essays titled The Mystery of Faith and Human Opinion Contrasted and Defined—I was indeed persuaded that de la Taille’s insights needed recovery. So when I learned that a newly hatched graduate student from Boston College , now at Providence College, Rhode Island, had written her dissertation on de la Taille, I sought it out with alacrity. I was not disappointed in what I found. Matthiesen’s work is precise and clear and full-bodied. She reviews and confirms material I had already read, but then additionally provides a well-rounded picture of de la Taille by drawing from a considerable number 206 Antiphon 17.2 (2013) of additional primary sources. Her work therefore provides biographical context, identifies the questions de la Taille was pursuing, mentions the reception his books received, and also laments that he has faded from sight. In an article published in New Blackfriars in 2012 she quotes the Dublin Review when it called Mysterium Fidei the “most important and influential theological work since the Vatican Council,” and then wonders herself: “Given such an assessment, it is certainly puzzling that the name of de la Taille and his masterwork have all but disappeared from theological discourse . One is hard-pressed indeed to find mention of his name in chronicles of early 20th-century theology.” We can all hope that this book will make a contribution in remedying that. If I may be permitted one last time a personal perspective, de la Taille is important for solving a dispute between Catholics and Protestants that had gone on from the 17th to 19th centuries. An assumption was shared by both parties that sacrifice is an act of immolation. If that is so, then in order to argue against Protestant claims that there is no sacrifice of the Mass, Catholics had to assert that an immolation happens on the altar. In other words, Christ is somehow re-victimized. De la Taille deftly shifts the argument onto a different plane by showing it was standing on false grounds. He proposes that sacrifice actually contains three moments, immolation being only the middle one. Sacrifice consists of offering, immolation, and acceptance by God. At the Last Supper, Christ acted as priest and offered himself; on the cross, Christ was immolated as victim; and in the resurrection, God’s acceptance of the sacrifice was revealed. In this way, de la Taille can say that the Mass is a real sacrifice but a mystical immolation. The sacrifice is real because the offering can be repeated: this is precisely the power Christ gave to his apostles when he told them “Do this,” and...