A famous Italian theologian's eloquent reflections on beauty and God. / "Beauty is an event: it happens when the Whole, the All, offers itself to us in the fragment, when the Infinite makes itself little." This is how Bruno Forte describes the long-held Christian tradition that sees God as the source of all beauty. In The Portal of Beauty Forte examines the deep, though not always obvious, contribution of theological thoughtfrom the minds of such luminaries as Augustine, Aquinas, Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Balthasar, and Evdokimovto our understanding and experience of beauty. / The Portal of Beauty is an erudite, moving, and deeply-felt study by the most famous Italian theologian in Italy on the nature of beauty and how it can lead us to a greater understanding of and communion with the divine.

A little more than a year before his death, Pope John Paul II gathered his closest aides for an extended retreat at the Vatican. During this retreat Bruno Forte offered a series of meditations revolving around Jesus' words in John 8:12: "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."

Now translated by David Glenday and collected in this lovely book, these meditations draw us into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and orient us toward the mission of the church. A master of thoughtful questioning, Forte shepherds his readers through the classic Ignatian spiritual exercises: a day of purification, a day of illumination, and three days of reflection on Easter, the church, and mission.

Each day includes four meditations, two reflecting on the day's theme followed by two careful considerations of scriptural texts. Forte concludes his meditations with questions that provoke deeper reflection on our own faith journeys.

Thoughtful, insightful, and nurturing, Forte's book has much wisdom to offer all Christians who desire to follow more closely the "Light of life."