The Reed of God- an Introduction

In ONE WEEK we will begin our book club studying The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander.  Every Thursday we will post comments on the corresponding chapter.  If you're just hearing about it, it's not too late!  Go ahead and order it and just start when it arrives.  For more information and to sign up, click here.   

Today's post serves as an introduction- to the book and to you!  Why have you signed up for this book club?  What are you hoping to learn?  Do you already have a relationship with the Blessed Mother or are you skeptical that it would take away from Christ?  Introduce yourselves!

My name is Lauren, and as I explained in the previous post, I've always found Mary to be such a divisive issue with my Protestant friends, that I've tended to shy away from her.  And yet, as a Catholic, I feel like something's missing!  Sure I pray my Rosaries and celebrate my feast days, but rarely do I turn in prayer to our Mother.  "Why spend time asking her to pray for me when I could talk to Jesus directly!" has always been my attitude.  During this study, I'm hoping to understand more about Mary as a person and how she adds to my relationship with Christ, instead of detracting from it.  I'm hoping for the "aha" moment of understanding why I should do move from admiring her as a porcelain doll to embracing her as a favorite stuffed animal. 

I just finished reading the introduction of the book and already I am captivated.  Her childhood memory of trying "never to do anything that Our Lady would not do" is enchanting.  She explains that "I simply could not imagine her doing anything at all" (The Reed of God, pg. 15).  And isn't it true, that the world pictures holiness, not as an active and positive state, but a negative and withdrawn state!  To be holy is to sit kneel in a Church all day long, fasting and offering every ache and pain up to Him.  That doesn't sound appealing to anyone!

Houselander goes on to present the two main obstacles to loving Our Lady: her virginity and lack of "human-ness".  Speaking to the virginity, she notes that "In many minds virginity is associated only with negative qualities, with impotence- impotence of body and mind, emotional and spiritual impotence" (The Reed of God, pg. 16).  The world certainly presents virginity as a loveless and joyless life- how are we to relate to that, much less love someone who represents that?  Furthermore, there is a lack of "human-ness" with Mary that doesn't exist with other saints, namely we know nothing of her personality.  In fact, we know so little of her life at all that we have no clear picture of her in minds, much less hearts. 

BUT!

And let us sign in relief, for there is a BUT!

But, "She is not only human; she is humanity.  The one thing that she did and does is the one thing that we all have to do, namely, to bear Christ into the world" (The Reed of God, pg. 18). 

The little bit that we know about Mary is all that we NEED to know about Mary!   She loved the Lord so completely and opened herself up to him so totally that she literally conceived Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit and brought Him into the world. 

Our crowning joy is that she did this as a lay person and through the ordinary daily life that we all live; through natural love made supernatural, as the water at Cana was, at her request, turned into wine.  (The Reed of God, pg. 18). 

And so we catch a glimpse of why Mary is worth knowing.  Because to imitate Mary is to open ourselves up totally and completely to the Lord so that we, too, can bear Christ forth to the world and through ordinary daily life, Know and Love our Savior.

***IMPORTANT TIP!!!*** 

When you leave a comment, click the box that says "notify me when others leave comments" or something like that! That way you'll get to read everyone's introduction. 

And for my non-blogging friends:

1. Underneath this post you'll see the word "comments" with a number next to it.  Click that.
2. It will take you to a new screen that has a large box where you can enter text.  Go ahead and type your comment. 
3. Under that, you'll see a few options to choose your identity.  You CAN click "anonymous" and just enter your name with your comment so we know who you are.  (Just first name.)  OR...
4. I HIGHLY recommend that you create a google account, which you can do right there.  It's free, safe, and will make future comments much easier.  Here's how you do that.
5. Click "create an account" which is under the text boxes for name and password.  It will take you to a new screen with a little info to complete.  You DO NOT have to create a new email address.  (In fact you can't from that screen.)  You can use your normal yahoo or aol (for example) email. 
6. Leave your comment!  Don't forget to click the "get email notifications for further comments" (or something like that).  This way you will receive an email when other people leave a comment.  This will help you follow the discussion with ease!

I'm excited, ladies!