Hear the Just Word and Live It

Spiritual Life, Fall 2000 by Jordan, Regis

Hear the Just Word and Live It. By Walter J. Burghardt. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2000. Pp. 96. Paper. $5.95.

So many people hear without listening-especially to sermons. In this book, Walter Burghardt, one of the country's best preachers, moves to "the other side of the rail" and explains how to listen to the Word. Listening is a risk, an act of love, an act of being truly present and truly human. Burghardt begins by explaining the "Just Word"God's plan for salvation taking place within a specific community. He then connects the Word to today's headlines to show how sermons are or can be immediately relevant. Finally, he offers a 4-step model that helps audiences listen more deeply to what Jesus is saying, to what the Church is saying, to what the world is saying-and then respond to what they hear. These are transcendental principles because they underlie all our categories and are ways in which we transcend ourselves. Written for a wide ecumenical audience, this book provides concrete help for both the people "in the pew" and the preacher who is trying to reach them.