{"id":39683,"date":"2013-05-14T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-05-14T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=39683"},"modified":"2013-05-14T12:11:29","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T17:11:29","slug":"review-the-worlds-first-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/review-the-worlds-first-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditations on Mama Mary (Review: “The World’s First Love”)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"She

She just wants to give you a hug.
Photo by Racineur at flickr\/89544908@N00.<\/p><\/div>\n

Oh, May: the month of flowers, of the fullness of spring, of mothers, and especially of the Blessed Mother, Mary, the Mother of God. I must confess that I didn’t quite realize the convergence of these annual symbols when I selected my next book for this column; the Holy Spirit surprises me like that sometimes. I imagine that her intimate meeting with the Holy Spirit also surprised Mary, and her unique relationship with the Trinity gives her unspeakable joy even now in heaven. It certainly called to her devoted son, Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, and inspired him to write the contemporary classic The World’s First Love: Mary, the Mother of God<\/em><\/a>, which in turn inspired me.<\/p>\n

It helps to have a little background on Archbishop Sheen before approaching The World’s First Love<\/em>. He grew up in a churchgoing Catholic family in Illinois, becoming a well-known and well-loved preacher in adulthood. His 1950s television show, Life Is Worth Living, easily competed with the most famous programs of the day. (You can see samples on YouTube<\/a> and EWTN.) His intelligence, rich voice, and skill at speaking aided in the conversion of countless souls to Christ. Currently, his cause for canonization is underway<\/a>, with beatification expected fairly soon.<\/p>\n

One thing I never picked up from watching Archbishop’s sheen’s show and recordings of his other talks was how much he loves Mary. Boy, does he love Mary! The World’s First Love<\/em> is divided into two parts: The Woman the World Loves and the World the Woman Loves. The first part is dedicated to meditations on the life of Mary. I consider myself fairly well versed in Catholic stuff, but I had never considered when Mary would have told others (besides Joseph) about the virgin birth. I guess I always assumed she would have been talking about it from the beginning. Until the Resurrection, though, who would have believed her? Even the apostles could barely believe that the Resurrection had come, and Jesus had been telling them about it for years! No, it makes sense that Mary would have kept that secret in her heart as she awaited the terrible day of the Crucifixion. If seeing Jesus alive wasn’t enough proof, she had another knowledge bomb to drop.<\/p>\n

\"Baby

Baby Jesus and Old Man Joseph? Archbishop Sheen says no.
Painting by Guido Reni.<\/p><\/div>\n

Similarly, Archbishop Sheen makes a fantastic case for St. Joseph’s being a young man, not an old one. In brief, he emphasizes that if Mary’s virginity was so critical to her role in salvation history, why would we attribute Joseph’s chastity simply to the inability of old age? Why wouldn’t his purity be an additional sign of his justification and worthiness to be the earthly father of the Son of God? Archbishop Sheen even connects the seven last words of Christ to the seven words of Mary. He is insightful and skillful. My mind is blown.<\/p>\n

The second part is dedicated mainly to Mary’s influence in the world. Archbishop Sheen tackles such down-to-Earth topics as the relationship between men and women, feminism, the Rosary, and current (for him) politics. It is important to keep in mind that Archbishop Sheen wrote his book from a specific position at a specific moment in time. Writing in 1952, Archbishop Sheen is adamant fighting the rise of communism and continuing the work of worldwide evangelization. His chapter on Mary and Muslims is quite diplomatic (ever wonder why Fatima is a city in Portugal and the daughter of Muhammad?), but he has little love for communists and the developers of the atomic bomb. I would be interested to see what he’d think of the new atheism, globalization and the Internet, and the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.<\/p>\n

This is not a book to casually skim; it’s for detailed reading and reflection. As with other spiritual classics I’ve reviewed here (Theology for Beginners<\/em><\/a>, Orthodoxy<\/em><\/a>), The World’s First Love<\/em> is written by a very smart man for people who are well educated. If you’re not already familiar with the Gospels and with terms and phrases associated with Mary and Jesus, you will probably get overwhelmed pretty quickly.<\/p>\n

If you have a good foundation, though, you will find much food for thought here. As I was reading, I missed hearing Sheen’s voice and the power behind his words, but I had greater opportunities to listen when I was enlightened by something I read, and I could take it to prayer. If you haven’t called your heavenly mother lately, I think she would love to hear how Archbishop Sheen told you all about her.<\/p>\n

—
\nUp next: Strange Gods<\/em><\/a>, a contemporary take on the idols we worship by Elizabeth Scalia, the Anchoress at Patheos.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, May: the month of flowers, of the fullness of spring, of mothers, and especially of the Blessed Mother, Mary, the Mother of God. I must confess that I didn’t quite realize the convergence of these annual symbols when I selected my next book for this column; the Holy Spirit surprises me like that sometimes…. [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,90,87],"tags":[773,163,1699,101,143,866],"class_list":["post-39683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","category-faith-blog","category-reviews","tag-book-review","tag-books","tag-fulton-sheen","tag-mary","tag-saints","tag-virgin-mary","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14070,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/03\/the-last-seven-words-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":39683,"position":0},"title":"The Last Seven Words of Christ","author":"Rita Suva","date":"March 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Seven Last Words of Christ refer to the final seven phrases that Our Lord spoke as he hung on the Cross. These phrases were not recorded in a single Gospel but are taken from all four Gospels. Greatly revered, these last words of Jesus have been the subject of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/4768-R1-10-14A.jpg2_-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42314,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/11\/review-hail-holy-queen\/","url_meta":{"origin":39683,"position":1},"title":"Never Be Ashamed of Your Mother (Review: “Hail, Holy Queen”)","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"November 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"To be Catholic is to love Mary. Although Marian devotion is not nearly as much of a dividing line now (between Catholics and those who could be Catholics) as it once was, it remains a hallmark of Catholicism. If I see a rosary hanging from a rearview mirror, I know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Hail, Holy Queen\" cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/hahn-hailholyqueen-197x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":343651,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/sunday-says-podcast-january-1-2017-mass-readings-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":39683,"position":2},"title":"Sunday Says Podcast – January 1, 2017 Mass Readings and Reflections","author":"Steve Scott","date":"December 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Octave Day of Christmas Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God Sunday January 1, 2016 Lectionary: 18 (NAB Translation) Reading 1 Numbers 6:22-27 This week\u2019s first reading is from the book of Numbers, the fourth book in the Old Testament and part of the Pentateuch.\u00a0\u00a0 This particular passage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ACNM"","block_context":{"text":"ACNM","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/SundaySaysPodcast-logo-300x231.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":147630,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/chaplet-child-mary\/","url_meta":{"origin":39683,"position":3},"title":"Chaplet of the Child Mary","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"September 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Chaplet of the Child Mary (to be prayed on ordinary rosary beads) written by me in honor of Our Lady's Birthday Make the sign of the cross and pray the Sh'ma, a prayer the little Mary would have grown up reciting every day with her Jewish family and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo Shawn Chapman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/476622_3665381757608_1810148288_o-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/476622_3665381757608_1810148288_o-550x367.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/476622_3665381757608_1810148288_o-550x367.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39834,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/mother-of-pentecost\/","url_meta":{"origin":39683,"position":4},"title":"Mother of Pentecost","author":"Rachel","date":"May 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Sunday, the glorious Easter Season came to it\u2019s pinnacle in the celebration of Pentecost. 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