Brian Kennelly > Quotes

“Let us note that the tree in itself was a good thing, for all that God had made was good (see Gn 1:31). The sin came in Eve’s choosing this good at the expense of a greater one—obeying God’s command.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“the reason for the rebellion of Lucifer and his angels: that God revealed his plan for the Incarnation to them, and they in turn refused to worship the incarnate Son, Christ Jesus. Not only this, they refused to venerate the Woman who would give the Word flesh, the Woman who would become their Queen.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“And so it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by Mary’s obedience,” said St. Irenaeus. “For what the virgin bound fast by her refusal to believe, the Virgin Mary unbound by her belief” (Against Heresies III, 22, 34).”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“This consecration of abandonment is the best way for Mary to strengthen herself in God against the attacks of the devil. For in abandoning herself to the Father’s mercy, she hides in this mercy and escapes the devil’s notice. She flees into the desert. Satan knows nothing about Mary’s first gesture. This is the first way Mary crushes Satan’s head!”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“Just as sorrow in our own lives causes us to withdraw from everyday life and seek comfort in Christ, she too finds an occasion of fear and sorrow to be an opportunity to deepen her bond with him. A pattern is developing as the sorrow fortifies the union.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“This is why the protoevangelium can be viewed as a battle cry, a proclamation of war between the wicked and the good, and it is our Queen who leads us in this battle. If we have any doubt about God’s desire to make Mary a central figure in the battle, we must ask why he chose to mention her at this most pivotal moment in history. He could have made the battle solely between Jesus and the devil. Yet God explicitly introduced “the woman” to this battle and placed her at enmity with the prince of evil. Note,”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“Fulton Sheen, in The World’s First Love, remarked that Christ “begins detaching himself from his mother, seemingly alienating his affections with growing unconcern—only to reveal at the very end that what he was doing was introducing her through sorrow to a new and deeper dimension of love.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“The dark night of the soul is a term that has come to describe a prolonged absence of light and hope, an extended melancholy over the apparent departure of God from one’s life. Though the soul is progressing along a spiritual path that leads to its true home, the journey itself is agonizing. There are periods of profound and intense doubt as the soul falls into a kind of spiritual depression.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“He came to save sinners, to heal the sick, to preach the good news to the poor, and to live a common life hidden from his people for thirty years. He did not come to entertain kings and be served in palace dining halls.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“If the devil did not see Mary, it was because her humility shielded her from his eyes. He knew the Woman’s place in creation as Mother of God; he knew the throne she would sit on; he had desired it for himself.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“Of all rulers who have been thrown from their thrones, none was mightier, or fell more spectacularly, than Lucifer. Conversely, no creature has been raised higher than Mary. Both Lucifer and Mary show in their own sphere the truth of Christ’s statement, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Mt 23:12).”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls

“Only free creatures can truly love; a compulsory love is no love at all.”
― Brian Kennelly, Queen of Heaven: Mary's Battle for Souls