This book has opened my heart to a deeper devotion to our Blessed Mother! Fulton Sheen expresses the need for the Virgin Mary in each individual's life as well as the world as a whole. He is prophetic in the way he speaks of the problems of society back in the 1970s that apply to this current age. This is a fantastic book that will change one's relationship with our Blessed Mother!

Excellent book that discusses many aspects of our Blessed Mother. As a recent protestant convert, this book helped me understand the apostolic veneration to Mary. Honestly, I would give 5 stars just for the first chapter in the second half, Man and Woman (https://www.catholictradition.org/Mar...). Man what an enlightening essay!

Highly recommend this to anyone who struggles to understand Marian veneration and her role in salvation history.

This book is so dense and rich, despite being written in clear prose, that it takes time, patience, and sometimes a group of friends and fellow seekers with whom to discuss in order to digest the truth it contains.

A beautiful explanation and exposition of Marian belief and doctrine.

Parts of this book literally made me catch my breath, because the statements made were so beautiful and profound. You can see the light shining through Fulton Sheen's words. Highly recommend this book, which is like a beautiful composition of music and colors wrapped in God's love.

Fulton is a Modernist. Liberal in ideas and light in brainpower.

I love Fulton Sheen! I have now read this book twice. (The second time for book club).

The second time around I finished it during Lent, and I read the chapter on the 7 Sorrows of Mary during Holy Week and it was amazing. I am sure I could read this again and again and get something new from it each time.

The first book I’ve read by Archbishop Sheen, but certainly will not be my last. It is obvious that he has a great love for Mary, but a love that points always back to Jesus. His knowledge of scripture, history and current affairs (at least from his time period) allow him to weave a seamless and powerful picture in defense of devotion to and love of Mary.

ENGLISH: Many of the thoughts in this book are highly applicable today, seventy years after it was published. Let's look at a few quotes:

From chapter 2: Millions of us are seeking to give up their freedom - some by repudiating it, because of the burden of their guilt - some, by surrendering it to the moods and fashions of the time - others by absorption into Communism, where there is only one will, which is the dictator's, and where the only love is hate and revolution! We speak much of freedom today, Mary, because we are losing it - just as we speak most of health when we are sick.

From chapter 8: Home life is the God-appointed training ground of human character, for from the home life of the child springs the maturity of manhood, either for good or for evil... By making Himself subject to Mary and Joseph, the Divine Child proclaims authority in the home and in public life to be a power granted by God Himself... By a peculiar paradox, as the home loses its authority, the authority of the state becomes tyrannical.

From chapter 11: Once having boasted that [man] came from the beast, he now found himself to be acting like a beast.

The discussion in chapter 4, "When did belief in the Virgin Birth begin?" is quite similar to the way in which Robert Hugh Benson described his main character conversion (or his own) in his novel By What Authority?, by pointing out that the Scripture does not have authority to declare itself the Word of God, and that this authority belongs to the Catholic Church.

Chapter 15 (Equity & Equality) is very good. I wrote a similar post in my blog, titled "Numerical equality or equal opportunities": https://populscience.blogspot.com/201....

A few things I didn't fully agree. In chapter 7, Sheen offers an alternative about the age of Joseph: either he was old (which he rejects, together with Corinna Turner in her Old Men Don't Walk to Egypt: Saint Joseph), or he would have been quite young. I think he should have considered a third option: St. Joseph could have been in his prime, age about 40. Then he would have died between 65 and 70, a typical age for old men at that time. I prefer this option to the other two.

I also don't fully agree with his personal interpretations of what happened at the marriage feast in Cana.

ESPAÑOL: Muchas de las ideas de este libro son plenamente aplicables hoy, setenta años después de su publicación. Veamos algunas citas:

Del capítulo 2: Somos millones quienes tratamos de renunciar a nuestra libertad; algunos repudiándola, para escapar de la carga de la culpa; algunos, rindiéndola a los estados de ánimo y modas de la época; otros dejándose absorber por el comunismo, donde hay una sola voluntad, la del dictador, y donde el único amor es el odio y la revolución. Hoy hablamos mucho de libertad, María, porque la estamos perdiendo; igual que hablamos más de la salud cuando estamos enfermos.

Del capítulo 8: La vida del hogar es el campo de entrenamiento designado por Dios para el carácter humano, porque de la vida del hogar del niño brota la madurez de su humanidad, para bien o para mal... Al someterse a María y José, el Divino Niño proclama que la autoridad en el hogar y en la vida pública es un poder otorgado por Dios mismo... Por una paradoja peculiar, a medida que el hogar pierde autoridad, la autoridad del estado se vuelve tiránica.

Del capítulo 11: Tras jactarse de proceder del animal, el hombre descubrió que estaba actuando como un animal.

La discusión del capítulo 4, titulado "¿Cuándo se empezó a creer en el nacimiento virginal?" es bastante similar a la forma en que Robert Hugh Benson describe la conversión del personaje principal de su novela By What Authority? (o la suya propia), haciendo ver que la Escritura no tiene autoridad para declarar que es la Palabra de Dios, y que esta autoridad pertenece a la Iglesia Católica.

El capítulo 15 (Equidad e Igualdad) es muy bueno. Yo dije cosas parecidas en un artículo de mi blog: "Igualdad numérica o igualdad de oportunidades": https://divulciencia.blogspot.com/201...

No estoy de acuerdo con algunas de las cosas que dice. En el capítulo 7, Sheen ofrece una alternativa para la edad de José: o era viejo (y lo rechaza, junto con Corinna Turner en su Old Men Don't Walk to Egypt: Saint Joseph), o habría sido bastante joven. Creo que debería haber considerado una tercera opción: San José podría haber estado en su mejor momento, unos 40 años. Entonces habría muerto entre 65 y 70, una edad típica de los ancianos de entonces. Prefiero esta opción a las otras dos.

Tampoco estoy muy de acuerdo con su interpretación personal sobre lo que sucedió en las bodas de Caná.

Looking for a good Catholic book? ‘Always choose Sheen,” says my Spiritual Director.

Highly recommended by my priest to me a few months ago, Lent would have been a perfect time to read this one, but it continues to sit on my nightstand. He says it is great though.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but I found in Chapter 12 a section on the nature of men and women that was fascinating as well as insightful. I would read this book just for this section, but there's more!

This book wins just for these sentences: "Which stands up better in a crisis - man or woman? The best way to arrive at a conclusion is to go to the greatest crisis the world ever faced, namely, the Crucifixion of Our Divine Lord. When we come to this great drama of Calvary, there is one fact that stands out very clearly: men failed." LOL!!!

I enjoyed reading the second half of the book more than the first half of the book and found many sections worth pondering in my own heart, the way Mary pondered these mysteries during her lifetime here on Earth.