books by author Mark P. Shea, takes the reader on a

Everything you need to fully understand the Churchs teaching about Mary!

Mark P. Shea's groundbreaking trilogy Mary, Mother of the Son introduces a modern audience to the Blessed Virgin Mary in a new, exciting, compulsively readable, and comprehensive way. Shea takes the reader on a tour de force of the Marian dimension of Catholic thought, life, prayer, and practice. Along the way, you will discover how various misunderstandings of Mary have arisen and how to cure these misunderstandings. You will gain a clear understanding of the ancient biblical and apostolic fountains from which authentic Marian teaching and devotion springs and grows. You will learn the origin and meaning of the four great Marian teachings of the Church, as well as encounter Mary in the mystical and prayer life of the Church. In Part I: Modern Myths and Ancient Truth, you discover the fascinating way in which Mary emerges with profundity, beauty, and love from the pages of Scripture in the light of apostolic teaching. You probe how the gospel of Christ crowns and perfects, not only the Old Testament, but the deepest insights of the great non- Christian philosophies, religions, and myths. You learn how to read the Bible as the earliest Christians did and find out how Mary safeguards the deepest truths about Christ and his Church.In Part II: First Guardian of the Faith, you will learn about the biblical and apostolic roots of Mary's title as Theotokos; as well as her Perpetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, and Assumption into heaven. In addition, you will discover the astonishing relevance each of these teachings has, not only for the Christian believer, but for the twenty-first century as it comes to grips with such questions as the dignity, origin, and destiny of the human person. In Part III: Miracles, Devotion, and Motherhood, you will explore the devotional life of the Church: a life which includes not only the worship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but the communion of saints, the Holy Rosary, the mysteries of private revelation and Mary's God-given role as mother of all who are chosen in Christ.

Increasingly, recent scholarship has focused on those married women and mothers in the Middle Ages who achieved holiness. The Merovingian Waldetrudis and Rictrudis; Ida, mother of the crusader king Godfrey of Bouillon; Elisabeth of Hungary and Bridget of Sweden are among them. Unlike Mary and her mother, Saint Anne (mother saints, whose sanctity was based on motherhood) these female parents were honored despite rather than because of their children. They were holy mothers, whose status as spouses and mothers gave them a public voice and opened for them the road to sanctification. They successfully combined marriage and motherhood with a religious life and functioned as holy women in their community. Despite increasing respect, tension between the roles of saint and wife persisted. Saintly women were not expected to be happily married: the ancient prejudice against sexual passion and physical ease mitigated the enjoyment of married life.The book's original essays focus on Northern Europe, where the cult of Saint Anne reached its climax around 1500. It does not explore Church doctrine and theology, as other studies do, but examines the religious experience of historical holy mothers and saints and how these women were perceived by their communities and their biographers.

Three preeminent historians provide an ecumenicalportrait of Mary by exploring the varied ways in whichthe mother of Jesus is perceived. For Pelikan, Mary is thefocal point for spirited theological discussion and dogma. ForFlusser, Mary is a symbol for myriad Jewish mothers whosuffer and endure — the mater dolorosa in a world of totalinhumanity. For Lang, Mary is the wife and mother throughwhom flows the love and devotion of centuries of faithfulRoman Catholics. Their engaging text, for the first time available in paperbackand with a new Preface, is enhanced by forty-eight pages offull-color illustrations, accompanied by excerpts from earlyChristian sources and from the Mary legend traditions. Illustrations include photographs of actual sites as well asmagnificent reproductions of art inspired by Mary.

In Dear Child of Mine, Deirdre Tolhurst finds the beauty in each day that passes from conception to birth. Addressing the growth of the baby within and giving God the glory for each of His miraculous works is the mainstay of this powerful devotional. To be read out loud, each devotion begins with sweet words to the baby. The baby is told every day that it is loved and wanted, and the devotion notes what miracles are happening as the child grows. Followed by a prayer, the exciting changes inside the mother are spoken of with adoration of Gods kindness and miraculous ways. A scripture completes the devotion, always bringing the glory back to God. This uniquely personal devotional has lines included each day so the mom can write the feelings and thoughts that captured her own heart at that stage of her pregnancy, making this a beautiful heirloom for generations to enjoy!

A New Light on John’s Gospel The Gospel according to John has always been recognized as different from the “synoptic” accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But what explains the difference? In this new translation and verse-byverse commentary, Michael Pakaluk suggests an answer and unlocks a twothousand-year-old mystery. Mary’s Voice in the Gospel according to John reveals the subtle but powerful influence of the Mother of Jesus on the fourth Gospel. In his dying words, Jesus committed his Mother to the care of John, the beloved disciple, who “from that hour . . . took her into his own home.” Pakaluk draws out the implications of that detail, which have been overlooked for centuries. In Mary’s remaining years on earth, what would she and John have talked about? Surely no subject was as close to their hearts as the words and deeds of Jesus. Mary’s unique perspective and intimate knowledge of her Son must have shaped the account of Jesus’ life that John would eventually compose. With the same scholarship, imagination, and fidelity that he applied to Mark’s Gospel in The Memoirs of St. Peter, Pakaluk brings out the voice of Mary in John’s, from the famous prologue about the Incarnation of the Word to the Evangelist’s closing avowal of the reliability of his account. This remarkably fresh translation and commentary will deepen your understanding of the most sublime book of the New Testament.