Meditations Before Mass
by Romano Guardini

Prefatory Note to Part Two

THIS BOOK is intended to help prepare the reader for genuine participation in Holy Mass. Part One was concerned with the attitude necessary to allow for and preserve full participation; Part Two considers the Lord's memorial itself, not for the sake of theoretical information, but in order to prepare us for the holy act.

As the subject matter in both parts is so closely related, it is impossible to avoid repetitions. When a thought is needed in some particular context, the reader cannot be expected to look it up in another. Moreover, repetitions are justified in a book whose practical aims have been frequently emphasized, for its intention is to guide the reader to correct doing, which is always a question of practice and consequently of repetition. R.G.