Throughout the history of the Bible, incredible women have played a part in the story of salvation. Steeped in Scripture, the Blessed Mother would have known and pondered the stories of these women. She might even have recognized pieces of her own story in theirs.
Whispers of Mary invites Catholics to explore Marian typology through the lives of women like Eve, Esther, and Judith. With thought-provoking commentary and hundreds of Scripture verses, Whispers of Mary deepens readers' appreciation for the story of salvation by revealing how even in the Old Testament, the lives of heroic women pointed toward Mary, and through Mary, to God.
This was a really good look at the precursors to Mary in Scripture. The 12 women highlighted were familiar to me but the author almost always found something new to consider, quite often because of a close reading of text I just hadn't noticed. I especially appreciated the way thar Somers gave context for each woman's place in salvation history. I also really enjoyed the last chapter about Mary which considered how she might have been influenced by her own scripture knowledge showing echoes of their stories in her own life. That hadn't occurred to me before.
I didn't always agree with Somers's points, for example the absolutism of "never tell a lie" brought up when looking at Judith but there weren't a lot of those moments. To be fair, it did spark a household discussion of the topic ranging from St. Augustine to Corrie ten Boom's experiences in The Hiding Place. So, that in itself had value.
I also never use discussion questions but did note that these seemed more salient than most. None of them were interesting to me but I think a lot of women would find them fruitful.
Recommended.
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