Reviews

"Mary, the Beloved by Keith Berube is a fresh look at our heavenly mother. How many Catholics do you meet who say they want to get closer to Mary but don't know how. Often this is because what is given them to read has old-fashioned language that becomes a barrier to understanding. Or, they think too much of Mary as a plaster statue, stately and lovely but distant, and certainly not a mother who loves them in an individual way as most other mothers love their children. By contrast, Berube's book is contemporary, but reliant on Scripture and tradition. He brings to bear on the subject of Mary not only Christian psychology, philosophy and theology but also a personal, charming literary style! It is full of surprises!" - Dr. Ronda Chervin, Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Holy Apostles College & Seminary, and author of Weeping with Jesus: The Journey from Grief to Hope "Keith Berube has composed a remarkable, exegetical, philosophical and theological meditation on the meaning of Mary. His Mary, the Beloved lovingly traces Mary's presence through the Old and New Testaments, dogma, doctrine and apparitions within a deep contextual appreciation of the nature of femininity and motherhood. This work takes the highest mystical and poetical exaltations of Our Lady and is able to transfer, without reduction, their crystalline wisdom into a rigorous reflection. What is never lost in this devotional exegesis is what Peguy knew to be true: that the only asylum is the hollow of Her hand as the garden where the soul finally opens up. And it is within this hollow that Berube elevates the mystery of the whispering of a secret between God and Mary so intimate, so historical, utterly loving, free and necessary to our salvation. Highly Recommended. - Caitlin Smith Gilson, PhD Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Holy Cross, New Orleans"