Introduction to A Biblical Ballad of Mary Mother of Jesus

This booklet is a reflection or meditation on the Biblical Titles of Mary Mother of Jesus. You can read as many sections a time as you like, but by taking one for each day and pondering on it will yield more insight and meaning then just reading the book through all at once. Hopefully by meditating on these Biblical meanings of the Virgin Mary they will nourish and deepen your understanding and relationship with Our Lady.

Reading this book as a meditation will take 30 to 40 days or longer. St. Julian Eymard has written: “A devotion lasting a whole month covers its whole object, considers it under every aspect, and gives one a true and serious understanding of it. By meditations renewed day by day and by the unity of acts, virtues and prayers concentrated on the same subject, one eventually acquires a true and solid devotion in respect of any mystery thus honored for the space of a month. Thought thus consecrated becomes strong and satisfying.” (Eymard: La divine Eucharistie citing St. Julian Eymard.)

I started collecting scriptures on Mary back in my studies at the Franciscan University of Steubenville (1983) and came out with a small booklet on Mary in Scriptures. Then studying for my S.T.L. in Marian studies at the International Marian Research Institute (1995) I continued collecting and compiling Marian scriptures and came out with a large book: A Ballad of Mary’s Biblical Heritage, (2002) which had both scripture and church documents. That led to just this biblical version: A Biblical Ballad of Mary Mother of Jesus (2004). This was edited down to a shorten version of this work as found in: Biblical Titles of Mary, a Month of Scriptural Meditations (2006).

Some of the scriptural insights also come from the writings of Pope Paul VI; Pope John Paul II; St. John Etudes; St. Bernard of Clairvaux; St. John Damascus; Archbishop Ullathorne; Fr. Rene Laurentin; Fr. Raymond E. Brown; Aristide M. Serra; writings of the Church Fathers, the Saints, and others that the I came across in my studies of Mariology. Around fifteen different Bible translations, as well as the Greek and Latin Fathers and modern scholars, have been used to bring out the beauty in the biblical texts. The Marian Library, University of Dayton, Ohio, is the largest Marian library in the world and the main source for this work.

This book is probably one of the largest collections of Marian scriptures with accompanying titles in the world. These themes are found in many Marian books, from my studies and my review of the biblical literature on the Virgin Mary. With confidence and joy I can state that this book is probably the largest collection of scriptures on the Blessed Mother in the world, or at least in English!

Hopefully, by meditating on these scriptural pearls will lead to contemplation and to a deeper communion with Our Lady in the communion of Saints. Over the last few decades of discovering and pondering on the Biblical texts of Mary the Mother of Jesus, they have become a journey of faith and inspiration for me. I hope that these writings can become a means of inspiration and growth for the reader, too.