Reviews for Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer

The average rating for Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-02-25 00:00:00 Gary Pyle An Important Book regarding the Eucharistic Liturgy and to be specific the direction that is to be preferred during the Eucharistic sacrifice - The priest towards people or the priest along with people towards God. And UM Lang using theological, historical and even psychological/anthropological elements holds the view that during the central part of the mass everyone should be facing the same direction. And the claim is supported with very convincing evidences. Thus he might appear to be a person who is against the liturgical reforms brought out by Vatican II. But that is a superficial observation. He also convinces that Vatican II was never for the reforms in liturgy that is understood today (it was an imprudent interpretation). He says for instance: 1. Vatican II never called for the breaking up of the old altars. 2. The early Church always prayed facing the direction of the East (the place of Paradise and the Rising Sun represented the glorious second coming of the Saviour). 3. The East was then replaces with the common direction for both priest and the faithful and there is a reason. There are many more interesting and invaluable information that a student of Liturgy should not miss and even serves well for the ordinary Catholic. The liturgical, theological and historical meanings of the liturgical actions have been lost. It is time we knew them. Read the book.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-04 00:00:00 Robert Wheeler This book was indeed a short yet extremely insightful read on the historical background and architectural designs as well as the mystical and theological reason for "Turning Toward The Lord" in during the Celebration of the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass. The author quotes sources (some of which even I was surprised by) who made/make it clear that even in the Novous Ordo Missae, certain parts of the Mass ought to be celebrated facing God, or liturgical east in order to make apparent the sacrificial conception of the Mass. The book is definitely high in re-readability, for the dedicated it can be finished in 3 or 4 Days at maximum, whether your explaining this to Catholics who have not been catechized properly or if your a priest who needs to give a reason for why the Liturgy ought to be done "Turning toward the Lord" and are afraid of people accusing you [the priest] of turning your backs on them, you now will have a reason.