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
Not nice, BOF.
How do you know what appeared to the children of Fatima? On what does your claim rest?
Personally, I believe Satan is unlimited in the scope of deception. But still you do not show any logical, reasonable, or experiential connection between the dirty devil and the Blessed Mother of Christ.
I'm not slamming you, dear brother; just saying I want to see your evidence.
Rev 12 refers to Israel in the end times prophecies...
Amen, kimmie.
The RC Church is who declared it to be a credible apparition, so you go first. What’s the proof that it WAS Mary? Because it said so?
Mary’s dead, friend. And if she trusted in Jesus Christ alone for her salvation, she is in heaven with him now.
Good one, Theo....
Yep, they sure can be nasty about your words.
Mary can’t protect anyone, dear Betty. That’s not her job. If anyone is protected, God does it.
Me three...
That wasn't the question I asked you, T minus four. I didn't ask about what the Catholic Church thought about the events at Fatima, or what evidence they used to confirm them as genuine (unlike other "Marian apparitions" that have occurred since that time; i.e., early 20th century).
I was asking about your view of the matter, which I suspect has been informed on grounds other than direct evidence, logic, or reason. And from "outside" the Catholic Church and its historical traditions. [Probably meaning that you would hold any evidence produced by the Church as "suspect," prima facie, a priori.]
You wrote: "Mary’s dead, friend. And if she trusted in Jesus Christ alone for her salvation, she is in heaven with him now."
That's a pretty drear and dread statement, my friend, though it is not false. But where is the Holy Spirit to help such a person, who could say such a spiritually attenuated, deadly thing? Mary doesn't "reduce" to a "select" doctrine. And neither do we; for like Mary, we are flesh and blood — and Spirit.
Assuming you're a mother and you protected your child,I find it odd that you can't see Mary as a protector when you know full well that she protected Baby Jesus as His mother
Listen to this with your heart From GK Chesterton.....
When I was a boy a more Puritan generation objected to a statue upon my parish church representing the Virgin and Child. After much controversy, they compromised by taking away the Child. One would think that this was even more corrupted with Mariolatry, unless the mother was counted less dangerous when deprived of a sort of weapon. But the practical difficulty is also a parable. You cannot chip away the statue of a mother from all round that of a newborn child. You cannot suspend the new-born child in mid-air; indeed you cannot really have a statue of a newborn child at all. Similarly, you cannot suspend the idea of a newborn child in the void or think of him without thinking of his mother. You cannot visit the child without visiting the mother, you cannot in common human life approach the child except through the mother. If we are to think of Christ in this aspect at all, the other idea follows I as it is followed in history. We must either leave Christ out of Christmas, or Christmas out of Christ, or we must admit, if only as we admit it in an old picture, that those holy heads are too near together for the haloes not to mingle and cross.-GK Chesterton
I don’t think the ‘normal word’ meaning is the point.
I think the meaning is . . .
slip the idea in painlessly and admirably . . .
that Mary has an Immaculate Heart . . . kind of equal to Jesus . . .
It’s a barely subtle elevation of Mary and Mary’s Heart compared to the hearts of other mortals graduated and not—even compared to the hearts of the Apostles/Disciples.
Even compared to the heart of John the Baptists OF WHOM JESUS HIMSELF SAID, THERE WAS NO ONE ON EARTH AS GREAT AS JOHN THE BAPTIST. The Vatican conveniently 24/7 denies, refutes and contradicts those words of Jesus.
Satan persistently tries to detract from, rob from, diminish the Deity of Jesus The Christ—the ONE who defeated him at The Cross, at the gates of hell and the empty tomb.
I told you my view of the matter - based on ZERO evidence that the apparation was who it claimed to be, I reject it.
Probably meaning that you would hold any evidence produced by the Church as "suspect,"
How do you know? Bring me some.
That's a pretty drear and dread statement
Are you KIDDING? That's the most wonderful news that ever got proclaimed since the fall of man - if we trust in the Lord Jesus, we will be with Him in heaven for ever and ever! Hallelujiah! I do believe!
The rest of your post doesn't make sense to me.
Incredible.
It still boggles my mind that folks . . . with the label of “Christian” and with otherwise bright minds
can believe such deceptions from hell.
How far we humans have sunk!
I much appreciate your questions and the logic and tone of them.
I am trying to assert however clumsily . . .
that from hell’s perspective, it’s much more important to gently seduce folks into trusting a charicature of Mary—a phony Nephilium generated personage . . . as leader of their lives and focus . . . interposed between them and Jesus—awaiting a critical moment or set of moments when said personage can lead them horrifically as a ‘miraculously’ accompanied personage of the END TIMES.
Lots of koser prayers are said by rote without heart investment—whether taught at Fatima, or not.
Scripture teaches that the words are far less important than the heart attitude and than the actions.
If the dark forces can seduce ultimately believer’s focus, hearts and actions away from Jesus—however slightly askew—they have won their goal.
I have found that demonic forces are not that concerned about someone even shouting JESUS who doesn’t know and walk with Jesus . . . or even someone who does but is doubtful of their place in Jesus and authority in Christ’s Blood. They may even laugh derisively and pull some dramatic stunts in the face of such.
However, someone who wields THE NAME OF JESUS AND THE POWER OF HIS BLOOD from an INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with Him—is powerful and frightful to demonic forces, indeed.
Boggles the mind.
It’s so much easier to think we can jump on the boat and get swept into heaven without ever having to really DO anything except “requirements”.
Someone once posted a long time back on a similar thread that when they had to face the judgement of God, they would hide behind the skirts of Mary.
That is enough to make a Christian weep in despair.
Yes. Ferraro’s book clearly STILL HAS HER CAST IN THE ROLE OF
SPOUSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Incredible.
Praise God for His moving on your heart, mind and spirit at such a young age, so successfully.
AND you for listening and paying attention.
Praise God for His moving on your heart, mind and spirit at such a young age, so successfully.
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