Within the first month, the book had sold nearly 12,000 advance copies— and the book was still at the printer.

Stacey, the executive director of Little Books, knew they had found a topic that resonated with people.

Bishop Robert Gruss of the Saginaw Diocese said the number of early orders for the book “says something about people’s trust in Little Books.” The bishop said he hopes the Little Book on the Eucharist will increase people’s understanding of and devotion to the Eucharist, as well as deepen people’s relationship with Jesus.

The idea for the book began in early 2024 after conversations that Stacey had with colleagues. Bishop Ken Untener, who started Little Books with the help of dedicated staff members in 2000, had a special devotion to the Eucharist.

Since Little Books have a worldwide circulation in the millions, Stacey and her editorial staff thought a book about the Eucharist would be a wonderful way to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Little Books in 2025.

It also is the last year of the National Eucharistic Revival, so Stacey thought it only made sense to publish a book based on Bishop Ken’s writings about the Eucharist, she said.

In the spring of 2024, Stacey began combing through Bishop Ken’s writings. The entire project was wrapped in prayer, as Stacey even took the writings into the Center for Ministry chapel to pray with them.

“It was a labor of love,” she said.

The Little Book on the Eucharist, which includes 30 undated meditations, follows the same format as the well-loved Little Books for Advent/Christmas, Lent and Easter. Bishop Ken’s writings and homilies appear on the right hand side and interesting facts related to that content are on the left.

Sold both as individual copies and in bulk, the book can be used to help educate students and people in Bible studies. Any kind of youth programming can benefit from using the book. Families also can use it as a springboard for spiritually enriching dinner table discussions.

“As many ways to pray as you can think of, you can use the Little Book on the Eucharist,” Stacey said. “Basically, our goal is for people to spend quiet time with the Lord. That has been our mission for 25 years, and it will remain our mission because it is so important. This book will help them do that and grow closer to Jesus.”

Bishop Gruss believes the book will help readers better understand and appreciate the Blessed Sacrament.

“The Eucharist itself is the greatest gift we have been given. It is [Jesus’] Body and Blood,” Bishop Gruss said. “Our Savior, our Redeemer, gives himself to us in the Eucharist. He gives himself to us this side of eternity. And we receive what we hope to become.”

Praying on the subject of the Eucharist can have a profound impact.

“Opening our hearts to receiving Jesus’ self-giving, divine love in the Eucharist transforms us," he continued. “It purifies us whereby we grow in our love for the Lord. Then we’ll do anything for him.”

Publication of the Little Book on the Eucharist comes at a critical time. This is the last mission year of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival, which was launched by U.S. bishops after a 2019 Pew Research study stated that only one-third of Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Belief in the Real Presence is a core foundation of the Catholic Faith. A more recent study, published in 2022 by Catholic research firm Vinea Research, shows that 69 percent of Mass-going Catholics believe that bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and the “instrumentality of the priest.”

Some people may not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist due to a lack of understanding about the theology of the Eucharist, Bishop Gruss said.

Father Pete Gaspeny, pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Shields, is confident that anyone who reads the Little Book on the Eucharist will have a much better understanding of the sacrament.

“[Bishop Ken] was a good teacher. …He had a way of making things simple to understand and to grasp,” he said. “Bishop Ken used the term ‘kitchen-table talk’ to describe how we should speak with people. He told us we should talk with them in plain terms—as if they were sitting across the table from us.”

Father Pete, ordained by Bishop Ken in 1983, welcomed the opportunity to review the book before publication. He could almost hear his mentor’s voice speaking through the pages.

Erin Looby Carlson, writer and editor for Little Books, has spent a lot of time looking through Bishop Ken’s writings and homilies to include in each edition.

“In going through Bishop Ken's writings, his deep love for the Eucharist is very evident,” she said. “His message about what a life transformed by the Eucharist looks like is an important one for us to hear. Our Faith is never meant to just be kept for ourselves. The Lord has commissioned us to share the Good News of the Gospel.”

It is vital for people to understand what the Eucharist is all about, Father Pete said. It is “the heart of who we are” as Catholics. “We gather to hear the Word, to receive the Eucharist, to become what we receive, and then we’re sent out to be the presence of Jesus in the world.”

“The world desperately needs us,” Father Pete said. “That’s our challenge.”