Mother of God (hardcover)

The number of books on Mary is immense, significantly proving a realisation of her essential place in the Christian system. But for all their number they leave a gap, and this masterly work of Carmelite exegete Fr. Cyril Bernard fits neatly into it. The great bulk of those books do not get down to the doctrinal bedrock on which devotion stands. Most people would justify devotion to Mary on sentimental or unsubstantial grounds. They would most likely produce the oft-quoted analogy of going to the king's mother so that she will approach the aloof kind on our behalf. But this is worthless, and perhaps harmful, as applied to our relations with Jesus and Mary. It supposes we know the mother better than the son; or that she is approachable and He is not! These would be strange Christian ideas.
Let there be no mistake about it. Mary belongs to the inner core of salvation in the sense that not only is she the Mother and the Partner of Our Divine Lord in all the mysteries of salvation, including the administration of its graces, but that she served uniquely to initiate the whole process of restoration.
The rejection of Mary has consequences more serious than the loss of an earthly mother's care. Her maternal work frustrated, everything starts to go wrong. The Church says that she solves all dogmatic crises: overthrows all heresies. Likewise does she bring healing to other issues. To think of her seems to put things in right relation. Her presence is discernible at all important moments. Now, as of old, she inaugurates the reign of grace. Where she comes the Lord is born. As she brings Him, so she takes Him away with her. She speaks and His power is manifested. It is always through her that people believe in Him and become His disciples.
Hardcover with dust jacket, 174 pages.