“If we want to be close to Jesus, we need to be close to His Mother” is a phrase I have repeated to hundreds of students through many years of teaching.
This past year, I have read and re-read a very inspiring book: Mary and the Interior Life by Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR. I was first drawn to the book by its cover, which is Tanner’s “Annunciation” and the title itself. In this book, Father Shryock, an author new to me, takes the familiar Marian Gospel stories and invites us to take on the “eyes” and “posture” of Mary; truly the essence of her Immaculate Heart.
I was also particularly touched by how he correlated “Ordinary Time “with the return of the Holy Family from Egypt to Nazareth. Father gives practical suggestions of how to hold Mary’s hand daily while following in the footsteps of her Son. As the soon to be beatified Bishop Fulton Sheen once said: “Jesus suffered for three hours on the Cross to redeem us, spent three years in ministry to teach us, and thirty years with Mary to learn from her.”
I believe this book is a must-read for us as daughters of Our Lady. It has inspired me to deepen my own relationship with Mary as loving Mother and model disciple. May Our Blessed Mother lead us all closer to her Son!
Shryock, J. M. Mary and the Interior Life. Paraclete Press, 2023
Book Review submitted by: Sister Mary Anne Sweeney