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18 August 2009 - 1:29pm — jpriest

Let’s not think about how much you’ll spend on books this Fall. Let’s think about books we actually want to buy! What book would you take with you onto a desert island? I ran across an article in last Christmas’ National Catholic Register entitled, “Necessary Books for the Well-Read Catholic.” Dr. Hahn recommended Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit: The Marian Teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe by Father H.M. Manteau-Bonamy, OP – available in the parish library! Reserve your copy today! J

 
Mary and the Holy Spirit
Dr. Hahn writes, “This is the first book that I read about Mary, and it opened my eyes to the truth, beauty and depth of the Church’s Marian doctrine and devotions. As an evangelical, I’d always felt that Catholics tended to attribute to Mary what we Protestants ascribed to the Holy Spirit. This book about St. Maximilian’s teaching convinced me that both were right! 
 
Since entering the Church over 20 years ago, I’ve come to see Kolbe’s theology of the Holy Spirit and Mary represents a major theological breakthrough, as much as John Paul’s theology of the body, but one that many Catholics still haven’t discovered. This book provides a key for unlocking Kolbe’s basic discovery: Mary the Immaculata is an icon of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the Church, and the universal instrument of the Spirit’s mission to unite all men to Christ our Savior.” 
 
Proper Papal Preparation
I’m sad to say that often in my life I’ve allowed non-Catholics to make me feel uncomfortable about our Marian beliefs and our devotion to her. I remember feeling a great sense of relief when I read these words from Pope John Paul II: “During the Second World War, while I was employed as a factory worker, I came to be attracted to Marian devotion. At first, it had seemed to me that I should distance myself a bit from the Marian devotion of my childhood, in order to focus more on Christ. Thanks to Saint Louis of Montfort, I came to understand that true devotion to the Mother of God is actually Christocentric, indeed, it is very profoundly rooted in the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity, and the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption.”
 
The Handmaiden of the Lord
All of this discussion can be boiled down to this phrase: Mary brings us to Christ. 
 
Mary’s mission is to bring Christ to the world and to bring the world to Christ. In the early centuries of the Church the doctrine about Mary helped us to formulate and maintain the truth about who Jesus is: Mary was called the Crusher of Heresies! [To this day we see many who shun Mary and so embrace a very different Jesus than the Church proclaims.] In the modern period Mary’s appearances have helped to evangelize the New World at Guadalupe.   Her appearances in the 19th and 20th centuries were calls to the disciples of Christ to return to Him and make Him again their first and greatest love. All the while Mary has spoken one message: “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5). 
 
Good Assumptions
As we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven, we again contemplate her message and her example. Mary shows us that when we do what Jesus tells us God does great things in us: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, for He who is mighty has done great things for me!” Not only does Mary’s soul proclaim the greatness of the Lord, but her very body proclaims God’s greatness, God’s faithfulness. Mary’s bodily assumption into heavenly glory is “a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of” all the faithful (CCC 966). Mary’s assumption is thus an image of the perfect and completed work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray for Us, that we too might follow in your footsteps and “do whatever He tells” us!