MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD: A SCRIPTURAL JOURNEY WITH MARY by Jeanne Kun

The Word Among Us Press, 2003

177 pages, $12.95

To order: (800) 775-9673 or www.wordamongus.org

Because she is the quintessence of humility and faithfulness, the Virgin Mary is a role model par excellence for those who want to actively develop those two virtues. In much the same way — specifically, by presenting the milestones of Mary's life as recorded in the Bible — this Scripture study can do a great deal to increase its readers’ faith and humbleness of heart.

That would be an especially noble aim to set for oneself Oct. 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Author Jeanne Kun presents the key events that have come to define Mary through the ages in 10 sections: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Nativity, The Presentation, The Adoration of the Magi, The Flight into Egypt, The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, The Wedding at Cana, At the Foot of the Cross, and Pentecost.

Although Kun calls the sections “Reflections,” each includes a breadth of material that seems to take it beyond that. Beginning with a telling verse from the Bible account, Kun adds a pithy quotation from a prominent Catholic writer or theologian. These introductory quotes are printed over a softly screened black-and-white image of the Virgin's beautiful face, enlarged from the color reproduction of Gerard David's The Rest on the Flight into Egypt that graces the book's cover. Gazing at that iconic face is itself an act of meditation.

Next is a lyric poem in which Kun meditates on the subject at hand. These lines are from “Anna's Heir”:

“I stand, Lord, keeping eager watch/as Anna did in distant times before me,/filling the full measure of her years/secluded in the temple/in adoring expectation./Now I am heir to her post,/a sentinel/still waiting through the long darkness/for the dawn of your return.”

Now, the reader tackles the full Scripture narrative. “Reflecting on the Word” adds historical background, commentary on related Bible passages, and interpretations by well-known scholars and historians, such as St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Venerable Thomas of Jesus, Pope John Paul II, Sister Wendy Beckett, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Romano Guardini.

“Pondering the Word,” the next portion, is an opportunity to write in responses to questions about the particular event in Mary's life. “Living the Word,” a similar activity, helps readers apply the truths of Scripture to their own lives.

Most books designed for Bible study and meditation end with the author's questions to the reader.

Kun includes two additional gems. “Rooted in the Word” offers, as Kun explains, “brief comments on various attributes of Mary, as well as of others in the Bible — among them Ruth, Hannah and Abraham — that are modeled in the corresponding scene. Additional Scripture texts further illustrate the virtue or character trait highlighted in the particular section. A selection from a Catholic writer — ancient or modern — concludes each chapter. These excerpts, under the heading ‘Treasuring the Word,’ are indeed treasures from the Church's rich Marian heritage.”

Kun works with Christian renewal communities and movements all over the world, giving retreats and seminars. This is her first book for The Word Among Us Press, whose stated goal is to encourage people “to come to know the love of the Heavenly Father more deeply.”

“We accompany Mary through the crucial events of her life,” writes Kun, “and she accompanies us on our pilgrimage of faith.”

As pilgrims encounter deep communion with all three persons of the Trinity, they will reach a clearer understanding of why the Church has given such honor to the mother of our Lord. May this book also guide them to faith and humility sufficient to discover their own Marian “movements that stir the heart.”

Ann Applegarth writes from Roswell, New Mexico.