Posted on 03/14/2010 12:14:46 PM PDT by NYer
Romano Guardini wrote in his book on the Rosary, “To linger in the domain of Mary is a divinely great thing. One does not ask about the utility of truly noble things, because they have their meaning within themselves. So it is of infinite meaning to draw a deep breath of this purity, to be secure in the peace of this union with God.”
Guardini was speaking of spending time with Mary in praying the Rosary, but David Mills, in his latest book, Discovering Mary, helps us linger in the domain of Mary by opening up to us the riches of divine revelation, both from tradition and Scripture. Mills, a convert from the Episcopal Church, former editor of the Christian journal Touchstone and editor of the 1998 book of essays commemorating the centennial of C.S. Lewis’ birth The Pilgrim’s Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness, as well as the author of Knowing the Real Jesus (2001), has written a rock-solid introduction to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and done so with intellectual rigor and an affable tone.
His book begins with an introduction in which he describes how he came to discover the riches of the Church’s teachings on Mary: “I began to see how a sacred vessel is made holy by the sacred thing it carries,” he writes. “I began to feel this in a way I had not before. I found myself developing an experiential understanding of Mary and indeed a Marian devotion. Which surprised me. It surprised me a lot.”
Unfortunately, he notes, he did not learn about Mary from contemporary Catholics, nor in homilies, “even on Marian feast days.” It seems he learned on his own by reading magisterial documents and going back to Scriptures in light of those documents.
This book shares the fruit of that study. Mills examines the life of Mary, Mary in the Bible, Mary in Catholic doctrine, Marian feast days and the names of Mary. He includes an appendix full of references to papal documents and books on Mary.
Most of the book is done in a question-and-answer format, which usually works well, although at times it feels awkward. Would someone really ask, for instance, “What is happening in the liturgy on the Marian feast days?”
But most of the questions are natural. “What is the point of Marian devotion?” Mills asks. It is “to live the Catholic life as well as we can,” he answers. “This means going ever more deeply into the mystery of Christ, to become saintlier, more conformed to his image, by following Mary’s example and by turning to her for help and comfort.”
Next question: “Does devotion to Mary detract from our devotion to Christ?”
“Christians since the beginning of serious Marian devotion have been careful to emphasize Mary’s subordination to her son,” Mills replies. “In fact, they have said it so often that the reader begins to expect it. In the fifth century St. Ambrose put it nicely: ‘Mary was the temple of God, not the god of the temple.’”
David Mills, with the same radical clarity he showed in Knowing the Real Jesus, has written what has to be one of the best, if not the very best, short introductions to Catholic teaching on Mary, the Mother of God. Discovering Mary is ideal for those wanting to know more about her, whether they be skeptics, Protestants, or Catholics who don’t know the Mother of the Church well enough.
Franklin Freeman writes from Saco, Maine.
DISCOVERING MARY
Answers to Questions About the Mother of God
By David Mills
Servant Books, 2009
148 pages, $12.99
To order: servantbooks.org
Dear Marysecretary, how do you know they are "demonic apparitions?" I mean, what criteria do you use to make such a judgment? What evidence?
I personally have never witnessed a Marian apparition. I have no first-person experience. That being the case, I don't rule them in or rule them out. I do know that other people have experienced Marian apparitions, and have left their witness and testimony of what Mary said on those occasions. Having examined this type of evidence, I have not found a single statement that Mary ever uttered that could give aid or comfort to Satan. On the contrary, she is always pointing to her Son.
Why would Satan take the trouble to put on a deception, when the tool of the deception can't even get her pro-Satan spiel straight? When instead she's constantly "promoting" Satan's great Enemy — her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ?
Just wondering. Dear sister, I hope you are healing speedily! You've been in my thoughts and prayers....
“”In Lent, the adversary, being reminded that his time is short, is especially vicious””
The humble have nothing to worry about
From Saint Faustina
“Oh, how sweet it is to toil for God and souls! I want no respite in this battle, but I shall fight to the last breath for the glory of my King and Lord. I shall not lay the sword aside until He calls me before His throne; I fear no blows, because God is my shield. It is the enemy who should fear us, and not we him. Satan defeats only the proud and the cowardly, because the humble are strong. Nothing will confuse or frighten a humble soul. I have directed my flight at the very center of the sun’s heat, and nothing can lower its course. Love will not allow itself to be taken prisoner, it is free like a queen. Love attains God.” Saint Faustina- diary, p.199
Thanks for the ping.
May The Lord Himself enlighten per HIS priorities in such matters.
Me too, Cronos! Our minds are wired for temporal experience, it seems. And yet as the poet T.S. Eliot has said, "Man lives at the intersection of time and timelessness." I understand this to mean: Our bodies move in time; but our souls move in timelessness. For God IS eternally — i.e., in timelessness; and He draws our souls to Himself.
The above probably doesn't explain much; but it's the best I can do. Even physicists complain that our notions of time are beginning to limit further progress in their field. One time dimension does not seem to be enough.
Thanks so much for writing, Cronos!
Sounds perfectly fair and just to me, dear brother in Christ!
Thanks.
It does require, however,
that we be
OPEN TO WHATEVER
THE LORD may seek to impart to us.
???????
What have I done to offend you?
Good grief, dear brother — that goes without saying. There is no true spiritual progress otherwise.
I’m not that easily offended.
I mostly took it as a measure of stress you seem to be under recently.
However, I thought it good for you to reflect . . . You seemed to be ascribing to me a much more . . . something . . . larger, pervasive or something level . . .
of ‘spiritual deadness’
than I’d have ever guessed you’d have even thought of in terms of me.
I still don’t quite understand what you were referring to.
Kind of puzzled me and grieved me a bit.
Amen!
These doctrinal disputations seem pretty pointless anyway. Especially in this holy season, it would be better if Christians could focus more on what we have in common with Christians outside our own tradition, rather than on ancient, seemingly irreconcilable points of contention; for the universal Body of Christ is constituted of all faithful lovers of Christ. The members of the Body are Christ's choice. Therefore, Christians have no basis to complain about members of the Body from other Christian traditions. All of us are entailed by the divine command to love one another — Love thy neighbor as thyself.
Or so it seems to me.
Thank you so very much for your wise, perceptive essay/post, dear Mad Dawg!
"Spiritual deadness?" YOU, Quix?????????????????
Good grief man, you'd never hear a thing like that from me! It just wouldn't be true. You are one of the liveliest spirits I know — because you live in Christ, constantly, according to the Light and Grace of the Holy Spirit.
Jeepers, I hope we're not "quarreling," dear brother in Christ. That was never my intention.
Interesting, dear brother in Christ, that you would notice such things. Thank you so very much for your concern.
I find it helpful to think of those outside the body of Christ that are offended by anything done in the name of Christ. I've recently switched from a Plymoth Brethren church to an Assembly of God Church. The two are vastly different but everything in both is done in the name of God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not everything is perfect in either but I know that the Muslims, Darwinists, Humanists, Gays, the Liberal Media heathens and all other enemies of the Church are terribly offended by our gathering together in His name. I find that very comforting though I do pray for their salvation.
But truly, I do know this — just as you say:
"God the Father has revealed Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ, in the Person of the Indwelling Holy Spirit, in Scriptures and in Creation, both spiritual and physical."Thank you ever so much for your wonderful essay/post, and especially your selection of texts!
Atheists put themselves into the absurd logical position of stipulating that God does not exist, and then proceeding to argue about the non-existence of this non-existence. If He doesn't exist, why bother to go through this exercise?
Whatever, atheists can't "prove" anything about God (i.e., in the scientific sense), certainly not His non-existence: You can't prove a negative.
Atheists who proclaim that "God is dead" are like a bunch of undertakers who, at God's wake, are nervously hovering over the coffin in the greatest anxiety and distress — fearing that God will open it and step out; and that no matter how hard they try, they cannot keep it shut....
They're a funny bunch, those crazy atheists.... Not quite firing on all cylinders, if you ask me.... If they are "offended" by your Church community, it's because the simple fact that you are gathering in God's Name refutes their claim of His non-existence. They will not forgive you for this.
Thank you so much for your astute insights, DungeonMaster!
“I’ve been a life long Protestant, but (insert Roman Catholic Organization talking points)...”
Seen in:
“I’ve been a Republican all my life but, (insert Leftist talking points)...”
That Saul Alinsky really gets around. Or maybe in this case, he’s working right from home.
Yes, T Minus Four. I highly recommend the three we have (so far) from Benedict XVI: Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), Spe Salve (Hope Saves, or Saving Hope), and Caritas in Veritate (Love in Truthfulness).
Jeepers, it wasn't all that long ago that we were "disputing" the last one "hammer and tong" here in the Religion Forum....
You are totally right. And now just look at the titles the Roman Catholic Organization has bestowed on the being they refer to as “Mary”:
Advocate of Eve
Ark of the Covenant
Assumption
Blessed
Blessed Mother
Cause of Our Joy
Cause of Our Salvation
Comforter of the Afflicted
Co-Redemptrix
Destroyer of Heresy (lol)
Empress of the World
Ever-Virgin
Full of Grace
Gate of Heaven
God-Bearer
Gothic Madonna
Health of the Sick
Help of Christians
Holy Mary
Holy Mother of God
Holy Virgin
Holy Virgin of Virgins
House of Gold
Immaculate
Immaculate Mary
Immaculate Conception
Joy of the Just
Lady
Loving Mother
Madonna
Madonna and Child
Majesty of the Virgin God-bearer
Mary, Favoured Daughter of the Father
Mary, Queen of All Saints
Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit
Mary Untier of Knots
Ma’suma - “She who never sinned”
Mistress
Most Blessed
Most Holy
Most Pure
Mother of God
Mother of Christ
Mother of the Church
Mother of our Savior
Mother of Mercy
Mirror of Justice
Mother of the Poor
Mother of the World (Nyina wa Jambo)
Morning Star (rofl)
Mother Inviolate
Mother Most Admirable
Mother Most Amiable
Mother Most Chaste
Mother Most Pure
Mother of Christ
Mother of Divine Grace
Mother of Good Counsel
Mother of Orphans
Mother of Our Creator
Mother of Our Redeemer
Mother of Sorrows
Mother of the Son
Mother Thrice Admirable
Mother Undefiled
Mustafia - “She who was chosen”
Mystical Rose
Notre-Dame
Nova Eva (The New Eve)
Nur - Mary has been called Nur (Light) and Umm Nur (the mother of one who was Light)
Our Lady
Our Lady Nursing
Our Lady of Loreto
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Kazan
Our Lady of Akita
Our Lady of Akita
Our Lady of Aparecida
Our Lady of Banneux
Our Lady of Beauraing
Our Lady of Bethlehem
Our Lady of China
Our Lady of Combermere
Our Lady of Covadonga
Our Lady of Fatima
Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Our Lady of Grace
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Good Health
Our Lady of Good Success
Our Lady of (etc)
Pity
Pity of the Mother of Sorrows
Qânitah - the Arabic term implies the meaning, not only of constant submission to Allah, but also absorption in prayer and invocation
Queen Conceived Without Original Sin
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary
Queen of Peace
Queen of All Saints
Queen Assumed Into Heaven
Queen of Families
Queen of Heaven
Queen of Angels
Queen of Heaven
Queen of Patriarchs
Queen of Prophets
Queen of Apostles
Queen of Martyrs
Queen of Confessors
Queen of Virgins
Ravisher of Hearts
Refuge of Sinners
Râki’ah - “She who bows down to Allah in worship”
Saint Mary
Seat of Wisdom
She Who Shows the Way
Spiritual Vessel
Singular Vessel of Devotion
Star of the Sea
Siddiqah - “She who accepts as true” or “She who has faith”. The term has also been translated “She who believes sincerely totally”
Sâjidah - “She who prostrates to Allah in worship”
Sa’imah - “She who fasts”
Throne of Wisdom
Tabernacle of the Lord
Temple of the Most Holy Trinity
Treasure House of God’s Graces
Tower of David
Tower of Ivory
Tâhirah - “She who was purified”
The Madonna
The Virgin
The Virgin Mary
The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Blessed Mother
The Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Heart
Vessel of Honor
Virgin
Virgin Mary
Virgin Most Prudent
Virgin Most Venerable
Virgin Most Renowned
Virgin Most Powerful
Virgin Most Merciful
Virgin Most Faithful
What was the name of that Other Guy again? You know, that What’s His Name? He had something to do with Mary, didn’t He?
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