The Second Eve Or the Mother of Life |
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Author:
| Dechamps, V. |
Prepared for Publication by:
| Hermenegild, Brother |
ISBN: | 978-1-4929-6413-1 |
Publication Date: | Oct 2013 |
Publisher: | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | USD $14.95 |
Book Description:
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We are persuaded that all the pages of this book, not only those of the second part, which is the longest and most practical, but also those of the first, are perfectly within the reach of the faithful. The chapter which requires the greatest attention to be fully understood is unquestionably the second, which, nevertheless, is entirely founded on a long passage from an ascetical work of S. Francis of' Sales, his Treatise on. the Love of God, in which the Saint has brought together the...
More DescriptionWe are persuaded that all the pages of this book, not only those of the second part, which is the longest and most practical, but also those of the first, are perfectly within the reach of the faithful. The chapter which requires the greatest attention to be fully understood is unquestionably the second, which, nevertheless, is entirely founded on a long passage from an ascetical work of S. Francis of' Sales, his Treatise on. the Love of God, in which the Saint has brought together the subjects of sermons preached by himself to the people. Those who wish to use this little book during the Month of Mary, will do well to take the 26th chapter first. It would have been placed at the beginning of the book, had it not been our intention to offer to the faithful a work which might be equally useful to them at every period of the year. They will find here a series of lectures, religious, dogmatic, moral, and ascetic, on the privileges of Mary, and on the graces which correspond to those privileges; on the life of the Mother of God according to the Gospels, and on the lessons which it contains; on the cultus or the worship which is due to her, and on the practices of piety flowing from it. All these lectures, like the chapters of Saint Liguori's Glories of Mary, are followed by prayers. It may, perhaps, be matter of surprise that one of his disciples and children should have thought of writing another book in honour of Mary, when S. Alphonsus himself has written a work on the glories of his Mother, so full of life and unction, that truly pious souls cannot read a single page of it without being deeply moved and enlightened thereby. We can enter into this feeling; but we believe, nevertheless, that Saint Alphonsus loves to see us follow his steps, and that he desires to hear us speak of Mary after our poor fashion to the Christians of our own day, in their own language; so as to draw to their Mother souls which, in order to love her better, need chiefly to know her better, and who require to be led to the Glories of Mary. But the motive which induced us to write will be better understood by the relation of a fact which suggested it.One day, when we were visiting a learned and pious friend, we found the Glories of Mary among the books which covered his table. He saw that we had observed it, and took it up, saying: "This is my spiritual thermometer; when I am in some degree faithful to grace, a few words from this book enlighten and encourage me; when I am careless and lukewarm, it no longer suits me; it becomes, as it were, too strong for me. When I feel this, I look into myself, and I soon find that it is not the light which has grown dim, but the interior eye which is no longer able to bear its brightness. I then labour to restore this eye of the soul to its strength and purity; and the thermometer soon rises, or rather the soul rises, and soon . finds itself in union with this precious book."We have been careful not to draw from this isolated fact a general conclusion which would be incorrect, for experience proves daily that the Glories of Mary touches sinners and brings them back to God, as it consoles the just and encourages them to perseverance; but it is no less true that there is a certain spiritual state unhappily too often experienced, a state of languor and darkness, in which we find the necessity of varying our reading, and of being brought back gently to books which seem at those times to be beyond us.We therefore offer this book to the world in the hope that it will be of service to those who have yet to learn to enjoy the Glories of Mary.