Analyzes the relation between the seven recorded words that Mary spoke in the Gospels and seven last words of her Son as He hung on the cross. Offers solace for the fears and dilemmas of today's Christian by interpreting the Gospel from the intertwined perspective of Mother and Son.
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This review is from: Seven Words of Jesus and Mary: Lessons on Cana and Calvary (Paperback)
The well-known Reverend Fulton Sheen (for whom the well-known actor Martin Sheen chose his stage name) wrote this book fairly early in his public ministry, as it was first published in the forties and reprinted in 1953. Those early editions are still generously available here upon the amazon, for example at Seven words of Jesus and Mary, as well as now this well crafted recent reprint from Liguori Publictions, the noted Catholic printing house. Please note this work is under one hundred pages, yet presents an intriguing theological analysis of the interplay of the words of the the Blessed Virgin Mary, compared and complemented with the so-called Seven Last Words of her Son Jesus Christ on Calvary. Please remember we here speak of the significant number seven in the same way we speak of the seven days of Creation. Certainly counting word for word we may find in the varying Gospels more than seven individual words. The sense lies in seven sayings or sentences, as was traditionally understood at the traditional Good Friday sermon. And thus Bishop Sheen presents as well seven "words" of Mary. Perhaps the most earth-shaking words of Our Blessed Mother of God are those recorded by Saint Luke at the Visitation, when she declares the Magnificat announcing the fulfillment of the vision of Isaiah in her unborn son. God has done mighty things. Holy is His Name. Previewing the Beatitudes, she declares blessings for the poor and woe to the rich, as the poor will be filled with every good thing and the rich sent empty away (or as in the Latin, filled with vanity and inanities). The powerful will be torn down from their thrones and the humble lifted up. The Magnificat for good reason is recited standing with special liturgical mmovements and antiphons each evening in Vespers, and is further commentated in such works as Le Magnificat, ou, La revolution de Dieu (Racines), Mary: Model of Justice (Reflections on the Magnificat), etc., etc., etc. With so much spiritual wealth available we may of course forego therefore in this vein the opportunity to read the new collection of conference papers of widely varying quality gathered in Living the Magnificat: Affirming Catholicism in a Broken World (Affirming Catholicism). In any case, and not to dwell much longer upon it, we may find Bishop Sheen's brief booklet herein well published once more by Liguori. We may hear once more with him and through his meditations that interesting conversation in Cana, and the painful words of Calvary. Much is hidden within this seemingly small book, and as we look even now ahead to Lent we may consider it for our Lenten lectio divina. Highly recommended for all Catholics wishing to experience and to begin to understand more deeply the tender and strong relationship of mother and divine son. We Catholics may also well turn to such well known and respected works as Mary, Mother of the Redemption: The Religious Basis of the Mystery of Mary, Praying With Jesus And Mary: Our Father, Hail Mary and Mary of Nazareth: Prophet of Peace.
