Mary of Galilee.
Vol. II: Woman of Israel-Daughter
of Zion A Biblical, Liturgical, and
Catechetical Celebration of the Mother
of Jesus.
Bertrand Buby, S.M.
New
York: Alba House, 1995
This is the second part of Fr. Bert
Buby's trilogy on the Blessed Virgin
Mary in the Scriptures. The first work
dealt with Mary in the New Testament, the second with Mary in the Hebrew
Scriptures, and the third part will deal with Mary in the Apocrypha and
Apostolic Writers.
Because some may be surprised to
learn that there are any references to
Mary in Hebrew Scripture, the introduction provides valuable principles for interpreting
the Scriptures.
The Catholic Church regards the Scriptures as a living text with a
specific historical reference but with
new meanings for successive generations of believers. The Lectionary of the
Mass (1981) states that God's word is
enriched with new meaning and power
at each liturgy.
The Hebrew Scriptures provide
symbols, themes, and events, which,
when read in the light of Christ's death
and resurrection, point to the person
and role of the Virgin Mary. Underlying
this method of interpretation is the principle that both the Hebrew Books and the New Testament have
one ultimate author and attain their
fullest meaning when read in the light
of Christ's paschal mystery: "They
comprise one book which is inspired
and revealed by a living, loving and
personal God."
Mary was a true "woman of Israel"
and we understand her better through
the Jewish context in which she lived.
There were Scriptural verses which she
pondered and prayed, and customs
which every Jewish mother and wife
followed. Within the Catholic tradition,
she was seen as the daughter of Zion,
the representative of her people, and
the woman of faith. The Church's
liturgy has seen her exemplified and
prefigured in the holy women of the
Hebrew Scriptures-Rachel, Rebecca,
Miriam, Judith, Esther, and Ruth.
The work deals with the readings
from the Hebrew Scriptures used in
the Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Marian themes found in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church. The appendices contain lists
from the Hebrew Scriptures and Marian
references in Catholic catechisms.
Similar to the approach used in the
first volume, the author always has an
eye on the pastoral implications of a
text. The work opens new ways of
appreciating the Scriptures; it will be
useful to homilists and teachers who
want a succinct and readily available
introduction or review of a Scriptural
verse related to the Virgin Mary.
--Thomas A. Thompson, S.M.
Return to Book Review Index
Return to the Resources Menu
Return to The Mary Page
This page, maintained by The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute,
Dayton, Ohio 45469-1390, and created by was last modified
Monday, 09/08/2008 14:05:25 EDT by Ajay. Please send any comments to
Johann.Roten@udayton.edu.
URL for this page is http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/bkrevbuby2.html