"Do you want to see, understand, and appreciate Jesus today? I cannot think of a better way than to enter into the lives of those who are living similar experiences and struggles today, those living in the 'Galilees' of today's world, those living in the margins and crossroads," writes Virgilio Elizondo, professor of Pastoral Theology and Fellow at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is recognized in the religious and academic world as the father of U. S. Latino religious thought. Elizondo is the subject in this volume in Orbis Books' Modern Spiritual Masters Series. Timothy Matovina, a professor of theology at Notre Dame, has written an introduction to the book and selected its contents.
Elizondo has been a Catholic priest in San Antonio for nearly a half a century; he was ordained during the time of the Second Vatican Council and over the years has written about theology, evangelization, faith and spirituality, culture, and public ritual. His experiences as a Mexican American have informed his interpretations of Jesus of Galilee and Our Lady of Guadalupe. In the introduction, Matovina concludes:
"His writings offer a clear and concrete articulation of goodness and beauty in everyday life, as well as of sin and its effects. He also presents a divine plan that illuminates a truth larger than the visible realities of present struggles and suffering and gives people a reason for hope. This Gospel vision summons his listeners to discipleship: a commitment to both prayer and the action that flows from it and leads back to it."
This paperback is divided into sections which catch the spirit of Elizondo's writings: Life Journey, Gospel Dynamics, Guadalupe: An American Gospel, and Following Christ. Here you will find material on crossing borders, surviving injustice, ancestral roots, table fellowship, the gift of love, discipleship, piety, and risen life.
