As Pope Benedict XVI notes in the first meditation in this collection, knowing that there is a God who is good, who knows us, who is so near to us, is truly the gospel—the good news that brings us joy. These fifty-five reflections on passages from the gospels, taken from the pope’s homilies and Angelus messages over the first three years of his papacy, reveal Benedict’s passionate love for Christ, his depth of faith, his grasp of Scripture, and his perspective on the challenges facing us as Christians in the world today.

Pope Benedict is a brilliant theologian and scholar, but first and foremost he is a pastor, and this is evident in every meditation in this collection. A strong advocate of lectio divina, the prayerful reading of the Scriptures, Pope Benedict shows us how much nourishment and inspiration we can derive from meditating on the word of God.