Actual words of Our Lord and Blessed Mother to St. Bridget of Sweden, giving intimate details of their lives on earth, including the hidden life of Our Lord and Our Lady in Nazareth, plus the early life of Our Lady and the birth of Our Lord. Includes the famous 15 Prayers of St. Bridget. First published in 1492. Breathes the spirit of holiness and faith. Excellent on the Passion. A classic of the Church, a perennial bestseller and a real treasure!
Evidence that women *did* have the power to teach and instruct in the religious world, and even to speak to powerful male authorities (Bridget told the Pope to get his crap together and stop being attached to worldly comfort and listening to the temptation of the devil). However, all of this had to be done in the right contexts - and people probably allowed Bridget to teach more because she was such a well-loved person on the whole. Her parables are imaginative (never going to forget the soul of man being a frog), her descriptions of the life of Mary and the crucifixion especially are so vividly rendered and visual, and I loved her creativity in finding ways to teach *within the context* of her personal visions and experiences so as not to be outed for being a female preacher.
Also, the dream-vision is a dope genre and we should bring it back.
Living in 1300s Sweden, St. Bridget was daughter of a governor who married a noble. She had visions of Christ throughout her life, writing them down in revelations which would later become this book. The book focuses much on Mary's thoughts, as her son grew and was persecuted, focusing especially on his passion and death. For those Catholics and Christians out there, this is an exceptional, small book!
----------------------------------------- 2nd Read: Holy week meditation material. I was actually ever so slighlty let down by this one (in comparison to Ven. Mary of Agreda for example). Maybe partially due to the abridged nature of this tiny little booklet. Maybe reading a longer version of St. Bridget's revelations would be the ticket. Not sure... ----------------------------------------- 1st Read: I think these excerpts from St. Bridget's revelations are too short to be worthwhile. I'd say skip this one and go find a longer version.
Wonderful! Beautiful reflections on the passion and death of Christ. Would be an excellent read for Lent, Holy Week, or the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows