Cardinal Martini experienced the excitement and transfiguration of the Church during the events of Vatican II. He also experienced the fears and hesitations of the post-conciliar period. Reflections on the Church contains seven meditations on the Church, based on Scripture and conciliar documents. The reader is encouraged to discover the richness of the Council and is prepared for the Church's arduous entry into its third millennium. Through all the newness, the central proclamation of God's saving plan for us in Christ Jesus remains intact.

Reflections on the Church is an indispensable guide to the nature and mission of the post-conciliar Church in an ever-changing and complex world.

Carlo Martini is a Jesuit, former Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute and of the Gregorian University in Rome. He was chosen by Pope John Paul II to be Archbishop of Milan in 1980 and has been a Cardinal since 1983. He is the President of the European Episcopal Commission of Bishops and a member of the permanent council of the Synod of Bishops.

Widely regarded as a man of acute pastoral and spiritual instincts, Carlo Martini insists that 'theology becomes a mere cultural ornament unless it is integrated into living Christian experience'.