Last week I found myself with time to "waste" in a local Borders' bookstore. Mmmmmm... I had a goal in mind, to find a journal specific to my dreaming. What I came away with, however, were two devotionals that I'm truly enjoying.
The first is John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer, released in 1949. This wee lil' gem offers a morning devotional as well as an evening recitation for 31 days with an additional Sunday. What drew me to it was Baille's humble note at the beginning: "These prayers are to be regarded as aids; they are not intended to form the whole of the morning's or evening's devotions or to take the place of more individual prayers. . . The prayers are suited to private use, not to the liturgical use of public worship."
I love how this author simply lays at my feet this small offering of help. Rather than being the end-all, be-all of devotionals, Baillie says, "Hey, here's a little something that may help. Take from it what you will . . ."
The second devotional has been filling as well, 365 Mary by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker. It's a daily guide to the wisdom of the "Virgin" Mary. Lately, I've been feeling a desire to call upon the Mother Mary as well as the Magdalene, for their strength and guidance and protection. When I opened up that day's reading, the theme was forgiveness (which I've been struggling with Big Time). I couldn't help, but smile, knowing another little sign was being brought to my shore.
In the different Magdalene things I've read, I'm seeing that many prayers, shrines, services, etc. that are devoted to the "Mother Mary," are actually heretical honoring of the Magdalene. And today's reading from 365 Mary hints at that: "The Litany of Loreto."
In the long list of homage to Mary, it starts with "Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God." HELLO!!!! Wasn't Jesus said to be the "son" of God? A little further down the list there's, "Mother of our Creator" and "Seat of wisdom" and "Spiritual vessel" and "Mystical rose" and "Tower of David" and "Ark of the covenant" and "Queen of apostles" and ends with "Pray for us, O holy Mother of God."
Now isn't that crazy wild?!!! Koenig-Bricker then poses the question, "What title of Mary appeals to me most?" With so many from which to choose, I think it's pretty obvious that this Mary she writes of is more than just the Mother of Jesus. She is a MARY, she is MANY MARYS. And I find that to be pretty dang cool . . .
