Part I of the book is essentially informative, focusing on how we should think about abortion. Part II is inspirational in that it directs our feelings about abortion. Both parts are unceasingly interesting.

The author is an attorney in Pennsylvania, and no doubt comes across inanities on a regular basis in his practice of law. But the inanity that undergirds the Roe v Wade decision of 1973 may be unsurpassable. The Court construed (or misconstrued) the word “person” as a legal term of art. In so doing, it could choose to define it for legal purposes in any manner it saw fit. As a result of this inane process of wrenching words from their connection with reality and defining them arbitrarily, the human being who spends nine months growing within his mother’s womb is not a “person,” and yet an incorporated tattoo parlor is!

Real persons have been deconstructed! Artificial persons have been constructed! “Things are in the saddle riding man,” as Emerson once lamented.

Bohan is logical, as a lawyer should be logical. But by no means is he legalistic. His heart shows through and so does his knowledge of American history and dramatic literature. Can we learn from our own history? In the mid-nineteenth century, Louis Agassiz, an opponent of slavery, a Harvard Professor and America’s leading biologist at the time, declared: “The brain of the Negro is that of the imperfect brain of a seven months old infant in the womb of the white.” Yes, leading intellectuals can make egregious mistakes.

Can we learn from dramatic literature? The “House of Atreus,” a metaphor for contemporary America, is accursed. Twenty-five centuries ago, Aeschylus wrote a trilogy depicting the ghastly misfortunes that befell Agamemnon and his family, members of the House of Atreus. The sin that set a series of calamities in motion was Tantalus’s testing the perspicacity of the gods by serving them his own son at a lavish banquet. The gods were not deceived and condemned Tantalus to the frustration of remaining eternally hungry in the midst of superabundance.

America is searching to recover its soul. It is spiritually frustrated in the midst of unparalleled affluence. Bohan tells us that “we relentlessly pursue our own concerns blind to the consequences for our young.”

In the first of the book’s three parts, “Gift of the Mass,” he demonstrates that as the sacrifice of the Passover lamb prefigured the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, on the cross of Calvary, so the offering of Melchizedek prefigured the Real Presence of Christ offered under the appearance of bread and wine in the Eucharist. Using the Acts of the Apostles and the Didache as references, he further shows that for the first generation of the evangelized “to be a Christian was to go to Mass.” Having traced the roots of the liturgy to the Old Testament, he cites Justin Martyr and Hippolytus as witnesses of early liturgies which by their words and respectful silence—like the one in the Book of Revelation—unite earth with heaven in sealing the Covenant of God. Before bringing this section to a close, he emphasizes the benefit of a routine liturgy over spontaneity and explains some details of the liturgy (e.g., sign of the cross, confiteor, Gloria, scriptural readings, intercessory prayer, epiclesis, the narrative of institution, the communion rite).

In “The Revelation of Heaven,” the book’s second section, he asserts that what John describes is a new Jerusalem, a new covenant and a new order of worship. Revelation’s temple is modeled after the court of heaven where a nation of priests worships together with the angels. The beasts, angels, people and strange creatures that inhabit the Book are part of a pattern of covenant, fall, judgment and redemption describing every period of history. All of them are subject to the Lamb who is the Son of Man robed as high priest, the sacrificial victim and God himself.

Driving home the point that apart from the liturgy, the Book of Revelation is incomprehensible, he writes: “Now, where on earth can we find a universal Church that worships in a manner that is true to John’s vision? Where can we find priests in vestments standing before an altar? Where do we encounter men consecrated to celibacy? Where do we hear the angels invoked? Where do we find a Church that keeps the relics of the saints within its altars? Where does art extol the woman crowned with the stars, with the moon at her feet, who crushes the head of the serpent? Where do the faithful pray for the protection of St. Michael the archangel? Where else but in the Catholic Church, and most particularly in the Mass?”

In “Revelation for the masses,” his final section, Hahn claims that not only does the Apocalypse sparkle with details of the liturgy but that the book—like the Mass—divides into two parts. The first eleven chapters, containing the letters to the Churches and the opening of the scroll, matches the liturgy of the word. The second half, containing the pouring of the seven chalices and the marriage of the Lamb corresponds to the liturgy of the Eucharist.

This wholehearted love for God differs in many ways from love that creatures have for one another, for this love can never end in disillusionment or tragedy. This supernatural friendship begins at the moment of Baptism. It develops into a conscious love of mutual well-wishing between God and the soul. How does one acquire this friendship with God? “We learn to love by loving.” This is done through the practice of the presence of God. This practice requires two actions of the intellect and the will. In the first action, one thinks of God. In the second, the individual desires to be with him.

The first way of learning to live with God is by elevating the mind to him through the visible things around us. The very commonplace events and things can reflect God. This exercise is not to be exaggerated. If one continually looked outside of oneself for things and events that reminded one of God’s presence, a strong dislike for the exercise would undoubtedly arise. It is rather sufficient to raise one’s mind to God when the occasion offers itself.

The practice of the presence of God likewise calls for one to listen. Prayer is a conversation with God. God speaks through creation, through the scriptures and through the Church. God may use any of these pathways to speak to the individual. God gives the person the grace to “think good thoughts and to desire holy things.” God does not have to use external words and signs. Rather, he illuminates the intellect and inspires the will. It is important that one be patient with oneself in this journey. “In learning to live continually with God in learning to converse with Him, we must proceed gradually and in an orderly manner.”

One of the easiest ways to live in God’s presence is to look upon Christ as the divine Son of God. Through the humanity of Christ, one has “ready access to union with the Divinity.” Christ calls each of us to a personal friendship with him, thus leading us to an intimate love of God. The liturgical year is beautifully arranged to make one conscious of the role Christ can play in one’s life. What is essential in this journey is daily effort, one step at a time.

Another way to live in the presence of God is to offer oneself and all actions to God the Father in union with Christ crucified. This offering must come from the heart. It certainly can be done at the daily Eucharist. One can also offer oneself to God through the prayer the Angelus, for the prayer reminds the individual of Mary’s oblation made to God and therefore incites us to do likewise. All of one’s actions during the day should reflect this offering. Prayer will begin to flow naturally from the heart, presuming that one is sensitive to graces offered.

Fr. Kilian refers to saving the “good wine for the end” when he writes of God dwelling within. A popular name among Christians in the early Church was Christopher, “Christ-Bearer,” for these early followers of Christ chose names that would remind them of their vocation to live with Christ. As the author states, “Once conscious of bearing God, we begin to talk to Him. We call out to Him, even in the heat of great work.” This practice will not lead one to become introverted or self-centered but rather “God-centered and neighbor-conscious.”

How does one begin to walk with God daily? Thinking of God and loving God make up the two acts in the exercise of the presence of God. Thinking of God leads to loving him. Fr. Healy has heretofore presented several ways to assist the reader to think of God and acquire recollection. How might this recollection be “fanned” into a flaming love for God? Prayer consists not so much in thinking of God as in loving him. Thinking of God will draw the individual into closer union with “our divine Friend” in that one begins “to desire to do His will, to long for greater intimacy with Him, and to speak to Him the language of love.” When one has arrived at this stage, acts of love and praise come more easily. One finds oneself turning to God and addressing him with short, fervent acts of hope, love and praise. As Fr. Kilian states, “When these acts are frequent and regular, they are a sign that we have fallen deeply in love with God and now enjoy true intimate friendship with Him.” These aspirations are expressions of love, “sighs of the hidden desires of the soul.” It is this going out towards God, this loving awareness of his presence that “really makes for intimate friendship” with him. It would be a mistake to identify the heart afire in the prayer of aspiration with joyous emotions and consolation. “The aspirations, the desires come from the soul and not from the senses.” Thus, the feeling of joy may come or go, but the soul remains rooted in God, making known its desires to him. These interior aspirations are for all times and places.

Peter Kreeft has topics like “Why Prayer Is More Important Than Eating,” “Ten Compelling Reasons to Pray,” “Methods: Why We Need None,” and many more.

We parish priests who are with the people every day and know their needs well have long wished for a book like this, written in a way parishioners can understand.

Kreeft asks, “What should we say when we pray?” How often the parish priest is asked this. Too many writers in religion have made out prayer to be some mysterious activity, whereas it is the most ordinary thing in the world. It is talking to God. Does one have to go through some special, complicated routine to sit down and talk to his father? God is our heavenly Father. Prayer is just talking to him, or to Jesus, or to our holy Mother.

All the time his devotion was truly admirable. His days were a preparation and a thanksgiving for the Eucharistic sacrifice. And even when ill he was always affable and cordial. He had throughout his life, amid all his trials, the virtue of a joyful spirit.

At length he was sent to a monastery where the climate and all agreed with him and he was able to remain. He was appointed spiritual director for the students and he impressed them greatly.

In Italy priests had to serve in the military. In World War I he was called to active duty and assigned to serve in a military hospital. The whole time was a special penance; he was laughed at for his piety. The place seemed insane; he longed for the monastery. His health deteriorated and he was dismissed.

In 1913 in a vision Jesus told him, “Fear not; I shall make you suffer, but I shall give you strength.” In 1918, on the morning of September 20, he was alone in chapel, looking at the crucifix. He received the stigmata, the five wounds of Christ, and his hands and feet and side oozed with blood.

People came to him, sometimes crowds gathered. He blessed them all, heard Confessions and offered Mass. He answered many letters. He was not well but he carried out his duties. He also suffered by being misunderstood by the Vatican. But he obeyed at once and always remained calm and serene.

He heard countless Confessions. Padre Pio was in the confessional a loving father, helping, giving hope. At Mass he was saintly.

He wanted a hospital built in the town of the monastery. It got built. He promoted Catholic schools for the children. Many miracles were reported. He helped found many prayer groups. He told them, “Never tire of doing good.”

In the book’s Preface, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger reminds us all that, “. . . at the stage of present development of a new image of a new world, we reach the point where the Christian—not only him, but especially him—is obliged to protest.” This book does just that! While acknowledging the positive aspects of the idea of man’s rights, the author unhesitatingly fixes his gaze on the fact that this new perspective is “founded on man alone.” Arianism and Gnosticism revisited! Thus it will, ultimately, destroy those very freedoms it seeks to promote.

Schooyans’s introduction reminds the reader that “. . . just as the Church did not remain silent in the 19th century, so the Christian community cannot remain silent at the present moment when some are attempting to organize the ‘New World Order’ and when the profile of the 21st century is being defined.” In the remainder of the book, the author systematically outlines the issues and how each may, indeed must, be addressed from a Christian perspective.

The litany of problems within the “culture of death” is indeed frightening. Human life is threatened on myriad fronts. Abortion, abusive medical practices, euthanasia, sterilization, and other problems with harmful repercussions (e.g., homosexuality, drug addiction) loom large in this New World Order. AIDS continues to spread at an alarming speed and suicide of young people is a “. . . pitiful indicator of society’s malaise.” An insightful, if brief review of the contempt for human life reminds the reader of the recurring history of such behavior (e.g., extermination, genocide, infanticide, to name a few). The first chapter closes with a brief description of the powerful agents of dissemination of such attacks on human life. These include various public international institutions like the United Nations Fund for Population, WHO, and even UNICEF. Various national governments, too, play a vital role in such activities, including the United States.

Schooyans also sheds light on the role of private groups in the dissemination of the “new mentality,” including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Population Council, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, National Organization for Women, Catholic Pro-Choice and National Abortion Rights League. He reminds the reader not to forget the role of powerful pharmaceutical firms, especially in preparing abortifacient drugs and other products for the contraceptive market. Listed are Hoechst-Roussel-Uclaf and Schering laboratories, Parke-Davis, Johnson & Johnson, American Home products, Akzo Pharma, Syntex, and Upjohn.

Finally, the media’s role in “. . . dissemination of methods of controlling human life and their justification . . .” is highlighted. And, as with each succeeding chapter, the first is supported with extensive and expanded footnotes and provides numerous suggestions for related resources.

The second chapter is an historical tour-de-force that charts the philosophical journey of 19th century socialist and liberal ideology to the present. How the fundamental themes of Feuerbach, Marx, Lenin, Malthus, and Galton “. . . continue to furnish the principal arguments for ‘justifying’ disdain for human life” are presented and connected to the present attitudes about human life that prevail on a world scale.

Through the discussion the reader begins to understand the growing reality that the very human freedoms such philosophies purport to defend are being usurped at an increasingly rapid pace! That such perspectives also contain substantial racist overtones is axiomatic. At the very simplest level, efforts to maintain the current material and energy-based lifestyles of highly developed nations is already subverting less developed nations’ efforts to improve the daily existence of their citizens. That the dividing line appears to fall somewhere between racial lines is chilling indeed. Further, that human life even in the most developed nations is swiftly being subordinated to the economy is equally chilling.

Chapters Four and Five offer a detailed analysis of “The New Age: Its Paradigm and Networks,” and the “Dangers to the Rights of Man.” These two complete the painful sketch of the rising tide of the culture of death and the subversion of human life and personal freedoms. Subsequent chapters address appropriate Christian responses to the prevailing contempt for human life based largely on “a morose conception of human existence.” Chapter Six begins by asking “How can a conception of man that places its trust in suspicion, resentment, jealousy, anxiety, fear and even hate lead to happiness?” Schooyans drives to the heart of the matter by also asking “How could a lugubrious ideology that recommends, as the price of unbridled pansexualism, sterilization, abortion, systematic contraception and even euthanasia provide men with the joy of living and the joy of loving?” Clearly they cannot!

Schooyans operates from the simple but profound reality that all people are created in the image and likeness of God. From this perspective flows the logical conclusion that we have been created to love and be loved. Thus begins the author’s challenge to the false anthropology lying at the root of the New World Order. Chapter Eight reveals the evolution of euthanasia’s impact on traditional conceptions of human life and the degree to which arguments for euthanasia are based on social and economic utility. He offers the alternate proposal of palliative care. His description of the “Dutch model” is both instructive and enlightening in a perverse sort of way.

Schooyans takes the “first step” in Chapter Nine by stating simply that “The message of the Church here has the simplicity and radicalness of the Gospel: happiness cannot be found but in an authentic love that reaches out to all men.” His argument focuses on such concepts as “a politics for living together” (we must respect the equal dignity of every man), the need for values (a society without them ends up decaying, becomes gripped by anarchy), medicine in the service of life (a genuine return to the Hippocratic Oath and recognition by the medical world of the social dimensions of its activity).