The Life of Mary As Seen by The Mystics is a book compiled by Raphael Brown. It consists of private revelations about Mary’s life from the engagement of her parents, St. Ann and St. Joachim, to Mary’s death, Assumption, and Crowning. The book relies on the writings of four holy women: St. Elizabeth of Schoenau, St. Bridget of Sweden, Venerable Mother Mary of Jesus of Agreda, and Blessed Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich.
I can’t remember how this book was recommended to me, but it caught my attention. I have always wondered about the life of Mary. We know so little of her. She is rarely mentioned in the Gospels, and rightfully so because the purpose of Mary is always to point to Jesus, her Son. It would make sense then, that Mary would only be mentioned a few times in the Gospels. Mary is God’s masterpiece and we should all aspire to be like her. Often times when I see an image of Mary either in artwork or as a statue, I see her simple loving smile and I know that she is a woman of many secrets.
As I was reading this book, it made me feel as if I was a little girl sitting on Mary’s lap listening intensively. I hope you find yourself childlike listening to Mary’s secrets about her life and that of her Son’s. She will tell you about her parents and the incredible way God prepared for her coming. She will tell you about her education in the Temple and how she adopted a rule of life as a Temple virgin. She will tell you about her longing to meet the future mother of the Messiah, not realizing in her humility that she was that future mother. She will tell you about God’s will for her to marry Saint Joseph and still maintain her virginity. She will tell you how generous she and St. Joseph were to the poor, so generous that they often lacked the basic necessities. She will tell you about how the Archangel Gabriel approached her and asked her to be the Mother of God Himself. She will tell you about the birth of Jesus, God become man, in a lowly cave in Bethlehem and the reception He had from angels, animals, and wise men. She will tell you about the suffering her and Joseph endured when people tried to kill Jesus early in His life. She will tell you about how our Lord was lost in the temple at 12 years old and how she never lost her interior or exterior peace. She will tell you the way our Lord lived, how He looked at her, the things He did that no one else knows. She will tell you about the majesty of His love and His determination to save the human race no matter what it personally cost Him. She will tell you about His love for His Father in Heaven. She will tell you about His Passion, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. She will tell you about the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and how she was offered a choice to join her Divine Son in heaven, but chose to stay and build up Her Son’s Church on earth through her prayers and witness. She will tell you about her own choice to imitate her Son in dying, and how she was greeted by The Holy Trinity when assumed into Heaven. Most importantly, she will reveal to you the majesty, beauty, and grandeur of God’s love in ways you never imagined.
In short, if you read this book slowly with devotion and attention, Mary will take you on her lap and tell you some of her secrets, some of her sufferings, and some of her joys as the Mother of Our Lord. She will help you to conform your heart to Christ. She will convict you that nothing is more important than her Son, that following Christ is your only true joy, and that nothing is impossible for God if you give Him permission to act powerfully in your life. You will come to see that our Lord is more beautiful, generous, merciful and winsome than you ever imagined, and that Mary is the best way to Jesus.
