On the Lord's Appearing: An Essay on Prayer and Tradition

On The Lord's Appearing concerns itself both with the nature of tradition in the Catholic Church and with what that tradition teaches about personal prayer. Father Jonathan Robinson maintains that tradition in the Church comprises two interdependent components: content, or what is handed on from the earliest days of the Church until our own time, and activity, or the process of receiving and handing on the content to subsequent generations. Though the emphasis is often on the ""activity"" of tradition, Father Robinson reminds readers that without some standard content, whether written or unwritten, tradition loses any lived connection with the given elements of Christianity.

Divided into two main parts, the book begins by examining how tradition functions in the Church. Father Robinson suggests that tradition is an activity analogous to lectio divina, or meditative reading. That is, the given elements of the tradition are the object of personal appropriation by the saints and doctors of the Church, as well as by more ordinary Christians. What is handed on is derived from Revelation, but it issues from the work of this lectio in a form that is both fresh and new.

The second part of the book presents the author's reflections on the various forms of personal prayer by commenting on a Laud of the thirteenth-century Franciscan Jacopone da Todi. The Laud deals with the five ways in which the Lord reveals himself in this life. Following in the footsteps of St. Philip Neri, the author uses Jacopone's Laud as a framework to discuss the practice of prayer and the obstacles it meets.

Jonathan Robinson is the superior of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Toronto, and rector of St. Philip's Seminary. He is former professor and chairman of philosophy at McGill University, and the author of numerous articles and books, including Duty and Hypocrisy in Hegel's Phenomenology of Mind

""God appeared in history and 'appears' in our hearts through prayer. The message is not that 'prayer works' but that those who work at prayer learn that God works through prayer, and that even our praying is his work. Such are the truths illumined by Father Robinson in a book that is thoroughly Catholic in doctrine and wise in the ways of the Spirit.""-Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, Editor-in-Chief, First Things

""Drawing on Newman, St. Philip Neri, and other classical writers, Father Robinson puts us in touch with the ways the mystery of Christ has been lived by faithful Christians in their life of prayer from the apostolic age to our own time. A balanced and very helpful book!""-David L. Schindler, Editor, Communio

""At once intellectually rigorous, deeply faithful to the traditions of the Church, and immensely practical in its advice to those seeking spiritual growth.""-Rev. Ronald K. Tacelli, S.J., Boston College

""Robinson is writing for ordinary Christians who, with much to repent of, will benefit from his careful analyses of the initial process of conversion and of the means by which it can be incorporated into a developing life of prayer. His accurate and detailed description of the stages of spiritual life will encourage and safeguard serious Christians on their journey to God.""--The Chesterton Review

""This is a fine work on the meaning and working of sacred Tradition in the Catholic Church. Intellectually stimulating, the book investigates the various meanings of tradition or what is traditional in Catholicism. . . . [The author's] teaching on the spiritual life is both orthodox and inspiring, faithful in every respect to the spiritual doctrine of the Church's great masters. Indeed, in many areas what he hands on is deeply moving, coming as it does from the authentic mystical experience of holiness. This book is highly recommended for clergy, religious, and laity.""--Social Justice Review