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
And, finally, The One Catholic and Apostolic Church (catholic, orthodox, oriental, assyrian) is not a denomination, please note.
Huh, I never realized that stalker was a neo-Christian denomination
My focus is always upon the words the prophet utters. The bells and whistles of it don't create much of a distraction for me. It doesn't matter how pretty the package is, it's what's inside that counts.
As is often the case 'tween you and I, we approach things differently, but wind up on the same page - I appreciate all the work you have done from your direction - debunking the apparition involved... It is important to recognize the commonality which does exist in false visions, that people might be prepared to be critical of such things, rather than simply becoming dumbstruck with awe.
As Alamo-Girl says so well and persistently: To God be the glory, not man, never man!
NEVER MAN, INDEED.
That is the absolute truth of it - Mary, as a creature, gets *no* glory, as no person outside of God deserves *any*. That this vision shows a creature coming in power and authority is diametrically opposed to the Word of God. It_is_blasphemy, by the very definition thereof.
Man may construe 'DEVOTION,' 'ADORATION,' 'VENERATION' and the like as wonderful weasel words side-stepping WORSHIP . . . but God does not.
One wonders why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't bow down in mere "veneration," huh? Since the same looks like worship, but isn't, it surely would have saved them the trip to the fiery furnace.
But then, having never experienced the fiery furnace, they would have never had their faith so prominently confirmed... I guess they were lucky to be so stupid as to not understand the distinction. ; )
Roman Catholics et al have been sooooooooooooooooooo indoctrinated, so brain-washed, sooooooooooooooooooo CONDITIONED [akin to the frog in the warming bucket] to have warm fuzzy FEELINGS about ALL THE MARIAN STUFF that their logic circuits seem to be more or less by-passed by anything with a white hanky associated with it.
Precisely so, and well said.
GOD IS NOT AMUSED.
Without a doubt. Some must forget the prophets who rail against the false shepherds, and what their fate entails.
HE HAS DECLARED THAT Believers who fail to 'hate' father, mother, sons, daughters, siblings compared to their DEVOTION TO GOD ALONE
ARE NOT FIT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
How much plainer could HE make it?
Absolutely! Such is the difference between worldly "honor," as one must give one's father and mother, and "worship."
Thanks, and great post.
The bible
Rev 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Rev 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
In light of infant baptism, it isn't flawed. If Catholics hadn't started infant baptism until later, it is reasonable to assume for a person not acquainted with that timeline and only cognizant of the current that a person not yet baptized in that period to be an unbeliever. So Ambrose became baptized to a bishop in a week. As an adult, what was he before he was baptized if not pagan? Was he saved prior to baptism? How so?
The diversity of basic dogma does not exist within The Church -- we have a basic, common, CATHOLIC understanding of dogma
And yet members persist in their own interpretations, CINOs if you will, some of them without penalty.
Exactly. Ask for the bona-fides. A refusal to answer the question, "Who is Christ?" must be taken as proof of ill intent.
Thank you ever so much, dearest sister in Christ, for your beautiful essay/post!
ad hominem: “attacking an opponent’s character rather than answering his argument.”
INDEED.
As is often the case 'tween you and I, we approach things differently, but wind up on the same page
THX BIG. I think you do a much better job than I do. Much appreciated, too.
- debunking the apparition involved... It is important to recognize the commonality which does exist in false visions, that people might be prepared to be critical of such things, rather than simply becoming dumbstruck with awe.
THAT'S A HUGE ISSUE TO ME in this ball park. I think Fatima was a relatively . . . abbreviated--as prolonged and elaborate as it was . . . compared to what's coming . . . it was a fairly abbreviated charade.
SCRIPTURE IS QUITE CLEAR--THE END TIMES DECEPTION WILL BE SO GREAT--THAT WERE IT POSSIBLE, EVEN THE ELECT WOULD BE DECEIVED.
I've ranted about this hereon for more than a decade and many folks are still UTTERLY CLUELESS about what's ahead. Not only do they have no clue about the broad outline of what's ahead, they have absolutely NO CLUE about the absolute comprehensiveness, drama, 'proof,' power, authority etc. that will be involved in the massive millenia long schemed and millenia long prepared GREAT DECEPTION.
In SOME respects, pagans watching some of the outrageous end times movies are better prepared for the shocking paradigm shifts ahead than are believers. Reminds me of a Scripture somewhat parallel to that about the children of darkness sometimes being more astute than believers.
We have, currently, the following context, circumstances building . . .
1. Israel is being pressed to the wall regarding attacking Iran with a traitorous Muslim imposter in the White House. Some think festivities will erupt this spring or summer and some within 18-24 months. A few years ago one source insisted that the PTB were trying to keep a lid on things until 2012. She would not elaborate at all and later denied to another FREEPER that she'd said anything of the kind.
2. The planned, created, schemed, prepared global economic collapse is looming closer and closer in overwhelmingly devastating terms that even the better informed seem wholesale ignorant of and unprepared for.
3. With WWIII triggered by Israel attacking Iran, most of the infrastructure is expected to utterly collapse--particularly in terms of fuel and food distribution as well as electricity--perhaps literally over night.
4. Schemes are also afoot globally and in Congress to prevent vitamins and supplements from being distributed at all--particularly without a prescription.
5. Similarly, schemes are afoot to prevent heirloom seeds and home gardens etc. from being possible, used.
6. OThuga's whitehouse is wrestling with being caught in felonies about promising jobs to avoid running for Congress.
7. OThuga's wrestling with trying to get passed the Trojan Horse of a health care bill/POPULATION TYRANNICAL CONTROL/MARK OF THE BEAST TREASON as devilishly as possible.
8. Web-bot software predictions for the next 6-18 months or so are off the wall horrific . . . One can track them down on AboveTopsecret.com.
9. Major quakes seem to have evolved to where a new one occurs before the last one has been even half-way cleaned up from--sometimes almost before the last dust has settled.
10. Many sources still insist that major engineered plagues are waiting in the wings ready for massive distribution to contribute to the massive deaths the PTB want toward reducing the global population to 200 million serfs and slaves.
11. MANY sources and puzzle pieces the world over seem to be indicating that a massive show of UFO FORCES and ET presence will be staged in the midst of or just after horrific chaos and catastrophe as a solution . . . PROVIDED the world's citizens will join in supporting a world government. This would be a classic strategy of: CREATE CHAOS and then offer the solution worse than the problem to solve the chaos deliberately created.
12. How many even FREEPER CHRISTIANS would rush in support of such tyranny because of loss of fuel, electricity, food . . . and more or less all that they could remember as normal. . . . rather than CALLING ON AND TRUSTING GOD AS THEIR SOURCE, THEIR ALL IN ALL.
13. These are increasingly rapidly becoming more and more the days when men's hearts fail them for FEAR. And I do not share these things to foster fear. SCRIPTURE IS FULL OF "FEAR NOT" exhortations. We are to TRUST GOD REGARDLESS. AND HE IS FAITHFUL TOWARD THOSE WHO LOVE AND PUT HIM FIRST. Regardless, as the 3 Hebrews said about the fiery furnace--OUR GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER US--REGARDLESS OF WHETHER HE DOES OR DOES NOT, WE WILL NOT BOW DOWN TO YOUR IDOL, OH KING.
14. God and satan both are keenly aware of the implications of BOWING DOWN to anyone or anything but GOD ALMIGHTY--whether it's Mecca, Mary statues or Momma Missy's Apple Pie. HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME MEANS WHAT IT SAYS.
15. Folks who claim meaningless distinctions between adoration, veneration, and worship are not likely to be very valiant in resisting commanding demands about THE GREAT DECEPTION looming closer and closer. They have already been conditioned to worship an earlier Great Deception.
That is the absolute truth of it - Mary, as a creature, gets *no* glory, as no person outside of God deserves *any*. That this vision shows a creature coming in power and authority is diametrically opposed to the Word of God. It_is_blasphemy, by the very definition thereof.
INDEED.
Certainly Believers full of Holy Spirit will be doing great exploits greater than the Old Testament prophets, greater than Moses and greater even than Jesus as Jesus asserted. They will be wielding great Godly authority, power, might, dramatic demonstrations of God's power and Presence. They will also walk in humility vs in gilded robes of fels-righteousness and self-aggrandizement.
One wonders why Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego didn't bow down in mere "veneration," huh? Since the same looks like worship, but isn't, it surely would have saved them the trip to the fiery furnace.
INDEED.
THANKS TONS for your kind words.
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
Though wisdom would do well to also keep in mind, in such situations . . . that satan and the demons in hell know who Christ is.
I don’t believe God would allow them to answer that Christ came in the flesh, however, given that was the Scriptural test criteria.
That seems to be a
habitual RELIGIOUS RITUAL
of some of the rabid clique varieties of Roman Catholics et al.
>>A little something that was not taught well at all.<<
Especially in the bible itself.
Matthew 12: 47-50
Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
I am assuming that is your apology for doing so; or if not, should I continue to expect to receive vile emails from you?
Thank you for seeing the point. I doubt you will get anywhere in a discussion with them. It's not like there is a desire to pursue Truth.
I amplified that same question a little later, we'll see.
INDEED.
Well done bro.
Of course not. "Everybody" knows that the Roman Catholic Church is the tool of Satan, and that the Catholic faithful are the spawn of Hell.
At least that appears to be the general jist of the thinking of not a few people around here.
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