Dennis J Billy

Diamonds are beautiful and precious gems. The gift of a diamond says something about the beauty one person sees in another. In Eucharist: Exploring the Diamond of Our Faith, Dennis Billy meditates on the various facts of the Eucharist described in the writings of the New Testament. Jesus left the mysterious gift of the Eucharist to his disciples as a precious diamond because of the hidden beauty he saw in their hearts. In turn they became keenly aware of the intimate connection between the breaking of the bread of life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In an engaging style Fr. Dennis Billy looks with the eyes of faith at the significant passages on the Eucharist in the four gospels, Acts, and the letters of Paul. He guides readers in delving more deeply into the meaning of these passages, to appreciate more fully the tremendous gift of the Eucharist and its meaning for our lives. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter help readers personalize the content of this book. Eucharist: Exploring the Diamond of Our Faith is an excellent resource for individual and group mediation and study, as well as a reference for catechists, teachers, RCIA leaders, and anyone involved in faith formation.

Diamonds are beautiful and precious gems. The gift of a diamond says something about the beauty one person sees in another. In Eucharist: Exploring the Diamond of Our Faith, Dennis Billy meditates on the various facts of the Eucharist described in the writings of the New Testament. Jesus left the mysterious gift of the Eucharist to his disciples as a precious diamond because of the hidden beauty he saw in their hearts. In turn they became keenly aware of the intimate connection between the breaking of the bread of life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In an engaging style Fr. Dennis Billy looks with the eyes of faith at the significant passages on the Eucharist in the four gospels, Acts, and the letters of Paul. He guides readers in delving more deeply into the meaning of these passages, to appreciate more fully the tremendous gift of the Eucharist and its meaning for our lives. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter help readers personalize the content of this book. Eucharist: Exploring the Diamond of Our Faith is an excellent resource for individual and group mediation and study, as well as a reference for catechists, teachers, RCIA leaders, and anyone involved in faith formation.

This book retells the narrative of Christ's redemptive journey by looking at some of the Gospel's underlying assumptions and showing how they are both reasonable and credible. For Christians, faith is not contrary to reason, but presupposes and even builds on it. This faith asks us to put aside whatever preconceptions we may have regarding the Gospel message and listen with an open heart to the way it speaks to the universal human condition. The seed of hope buried deep within the mythologies of old is nothing but a faint reflection of God's dream for his creation. For Christians, this dream has entered the arena of history in the person of Jesus Christ, the New Adam, who sheds light on our human condition by ""making all things new"" (Rev 21:5). ""Dennis Billy retells the narrative of Jesus' redemptive journey in a simple, yet profound way. He helps us to discover the perennial impact of the mystery of Jesus on our own life. I recommend this book especially for those who want to come to a deeper knowledge and love of Jesus, who is Savior and Lord."" --Donna Orsuto, Professor, Pontifical Gregorian University; Director, the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas Author of numerous books and articles, Redemptorist Dennis J. Billy has a ThD in church history from Harvard Divinity School and an STD in spirituality from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas. He is currently a Fellow of the Graduate Theological Foundation and serves there as the Karl Rahner Professor of Catholic Theology.

This book examines the central elements of Francis' vision of the Church as it sets out to preach the gospel to people of every nation and every walk of life. In four chapters, it examines the heart of his message and the focus of his vision for the future of Catholicism, Christianity, and the world. Central to that vision is his call to continue the new evangelization. He writes: "Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society" (EG 187). The pope admits that neither he nor the Church has "a monopoly on the interpretation of social realities or the proposal of solutions to contemporary problems" (EG 184). He wishes, however, to contribute some constructive insights concerning our present situation. For Pope Francis, the joy of the gospel is simple: God wishes to live in our hearts. When we let God do so his Spirit dwells there, purging our imperfections and slowly divinizing us so that as free and faithful disciples we follow the way of the Lord Jesus.

This book seeks to respond to the challenge put forth by the late Pope John Paul II to all the Catholic faithful to “put out into deep water” (Duc in altum) by contemplating the face of Christ as they navigate the waters of the new millennium. It brings the discussion about the relationship between spirituality and morality to a deeper level of theological discourse by looking at the common ground shared by the action of contemplation and the spiritual moral life. Its aim is to incorporate a contemplative attitude toward life into the methodology, discourse, and way of thinking of Catholic moral theology. After developing a contemplative methodology for the Catholic spiritual moral life, it applies this approach to moral discernment to the Eternal Word, the Incarnate Word, Jesus’ life and ministry, his suffering and death, and his risen life. It then offers concrete guidelines for the spiritual moral life that flow directly from this contemplative approach to the mysteries of Christ. To engage its readers at a still deeper level, it offers a series of reflection questions and practical exercises at the end of each chapter. The book emphasizes the close bond between contemplation and action for Christian living and highlights how immersing oneself in the mystery of Christ affects the way a person thinks about the nature and scope of his or her action in the world. †

This book examines what some of the most prominent voices of Christianity's distant past have taught about the Eucharist including Ambrose, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine of Hippo. A title for the Year of the Priest, this book examines what some of the most prominent voices of Christianity's distant past have taught about the Eucharist. The author's goal is to look at how the proponents of an emerging Christian orthodoxy understood, celebrated, and presented the Eucharist in the centuries immediately following the end of the apostolic era. Father Billy has made a monumental contribution to the popularization of the Church Fathers at a time in the life of the religious community when being reminded of tradition is vital for the perpetuity of the faith. By a careful, sensitive, and thoroughly readable exposure to the original texts of the Fathers, this book provides the faith community and the individual with a very useful resource of the Church's teaching about the Eucharist. If ever a time was right for such a reintroduction of the Fathers' teachings, now is unquestionably the time. John H. Morgan, Ph.D. President, Graduate Theological Foundation Dennis Billy has done a masterful job of exposing us to almost 600 years of Christian belief on the Eucharist as reflected in the Fathers of the Church. He reminds us that this living faith of the dead is part of our heritage, something that we ignore only at our peril and loss. His writing is clear, practical, and his treatment of each Father consistent. He helps us to see how each writer adds to the mosaic and richness of our Eucharistic faith. Especially helpful are the reflection questions that end each chapter, as these force readers to plumb the depth of their own understanding and faith, and to examine how the Eucharist affects the whole of their Christian lives. I recommend it highly. Paul Bernier, SSS Editor, Emmanuel Magazine

Fr. Dennis Billy, noted teacher and spiritual guide, helps today's readers interpret "The Imitation" by raising their awareness of how the world of Thomas A Kempis colored and shaped his presentation of the spiritual life.