Mary

[Lil Red]

I'm reading [u]Looking for Mary, or the Blessed Mother and me[/u] by Beverly Donofrio. There is little tidbits throughout the book that have totally floored me. I thought I would share.

[Lil Red]

[quote]One day late that third spring, when the chestnut blossoms on the trees had already faded, I came in at sunset after a full day's gardening and stood at the bathroom sink to wash my hands.  I glanced at my face in the mirror and noticed for the first time that it was next to Mary's face on the varnished print.  It looked like we were standing next to each other.  Mary wore a mysterious half-smile as her hand gently pointed to the red heart on her sky-blue dress; flames shot out the top (passion); a sword went right through it (pain); tears dripped down (sorrow); but beautiful pink roses made a ring around it, too (joy, celebration, beauty, grace, redemption).

That heart told a story like a novel.  It was just like life:  complicated, changing, never the same.  And Mary was showing this to me.  I started to weep and didn't know why.  But I think it was from gratefulness.  My heart wasn't feeling so cracked anymore.  It was feeling like one of Mary's hearts:  a sword had pierced it, but roses encircled it, too.[/quote]


I just love the way that she describes Mary in the picture and then relates it to her own life.

[Theoketos]

I wish I could better share the smile on my face.

[ChronoMasta]

I think that the smile on my face would scare people away... :ph34r:

But that is very beautiful. I should check that book out sometime.

[Lil Red]

so far it's really great. I'm gonna keep posting things here throughout the book as I read them.

[Ashley]

Where might I find that book, Lil Red Devil?

[willguy]

That's beautimus!

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Ashley' date='Apr 14 2004, 03:58 PM']

Where might I find that book, Lil Red Devil? [/quote]
Ashley, I bought it from [url="http://www.bookcloseouts.com"]http://www.bookcloseouts.com[/url] Just try looking for the title or for the author. Pretty easy setup and cheap too! God bless!

[Lil Red]

another tidbit:

[quote][font="Arial"]"And Mary said,
'My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the
lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty...' "
-The Gospel According to Luke

The Magnificat is Mary's longest speech in the Bible and it is pure Mary.  Her words are a paean to the unexpected, the world turned upside down, a hymn of encouragement to the disenfranchised, a reason to take heart.  Mary was a Jew in Roman-occupied lands; she would marry a man who could not own land, which placed them at the very bottom of the social heap.  But Mary knew that the poor and the lowly were blessed to the Lord.

This was a belief her son would share.  Jesus would be schooled in Judaism, but he would also receive an earful from his mother.  Jesus had a mission and Mary wanted to steer him straight.[/font][/quote]

[Lil Red]

bumpity

[Lil Red]

[quote]Mary's pain in childbirth isn't mentioned in the Bible, but we see clearly the pain she felt as a mother.

When Christ is eight days old, Mary and Joseph bring him to the temple to dedicate him to God, as all firstborn male children of the Jewish faith must be.  There, the holy man Simeon prophesies to Mary, "A sword shall pierce through thy soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."  Mary will be wounded with the pain of mother love:  her pain will help others reveal the secrets in their own hearts; then her love will flow and flow, pouring graces over us all.[/quote]

[Lil Red]

[quote]Many years pass; Jesus is near thirty, and Joseph is no longer in the picture.  Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist and has begun to gather his disciples, but he has not yet preached or performed any miracles in public.  He and his mother and the apostles attend a wedding in Cana, and when the party runs out of wine, Mary wants to help.  She says to her son, "They have no wine."

Jesus says to his mother, "Woman, what concern of that is to you and to me?  My time has not yet come."

Mary basically ignores him and says to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Jesus obeys his mother and tells the servants to fill six jugs with water, then take them to the governor, the ruler of the feast.

When the governor tastes the water, he knows that it has been turned to wine.  And the Bible says, "Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana in Galilee, and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him."

The Bible doesn't say "thanks to Mary."  But it's implied by the story.  Mary is a good Jewish mother, who knows that wine is spirit too; she also knows from living with her son the miracles he is capable of performing, and she knows that contrary to what her son believes, his time has indeed come.  So Mary, like any mother who knows what's best, tells her son what to do.

[b]Mary never minds her own business.  Mary did in Cana what she has continued to do all along:  interceded on behalf of the people to her son.[/b][/quote]


I love that last part. What a modern and wonderful way to put that she intercedes for us.

[willguy]

That last part is awesome!

[Lil Red]

Isn't that awesome? The whole book is chock full of great things like that!

[Cesar624]

BUMPITY BUMP BUMP!