Why is the Virgin Mary so important to Catholics?

Question

I mean no offense. I just don't understand why she is so important. Yes she was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, and yes being chosen as Jesus' mother was a position of great honor... but Joseph and Mary later had more children, so obviously she didn't stay a virgin. And I've seen nothing in the Bible that says she's more important than any other person.

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure the Bible never says Mary was sinless. In fact, when a woman started praising Mary, Jesus stopped her and told her it was wrong. Jesus is the only way to God, and Mary is simply a very important person. According to the Bible anyway.

Answer 2

Theres are few reasons why:

1) Jesus' flesh body came from Mary's flesh body. The two have that in common. Neither one would be allowed to see corruption.
2) Anyone who spent nearly 33 straight years in the presence of God would become sanctified in ways we can't possibly imagine.
3) Jesus honors his mother Mary, just as his own commandments require. The church Jesus established does the same.
4) At baptism, Jesus becomes our brother by adoption. His mother becomes our mother by adoption, as well. See number 3 above.
5) Mary was totally dedicated to God and had no other children. People conveniently choose to misinterpret scripture on this matter, while the Catholic church has always known and taught the truth.
6) Mary was Jesus' first and most constant disciple.
7) Anyone who wants to understand exactly how God plans to reward his faithful, needs only to understand how he has already rewarded the Blessed Virgin Mary.
8) St. John, in particular, knew more about Mary and Jesus than any other living person at the time. Much of what he knew first hand, was passed down to us in the church's Tradition, providing a wealth of information that was never written down in any book, but is of truly apostolic origin.
9) The Bible is not the only, or even the primary faith authority. Jesus founded a church, not a Bible. He gave authority to his church, not the Bible. The church testifies to the sacred truth of scripture. It's not the other way around.

You don't understand why she's so important because you were taught otherwise, and you've never learned the whole truth.

Jesus deserves all the credit for creating his mother, so Mary can never take anything away from her son.

Late and false faith traditions, which are essentially anti-Catholic in nature, are responsible for this gross misunderstanding of Mary, God's most perfect non-divine human being.

Answer 3

Mel gave a good answer, I was raised catholic and am no longer Catholic and was always likewise puzzled by this whole Mary thing. I believe that this along with many other things, is solely the invention of "Catholicism" at large, more of the guilt based religious leash, used to keep the humble sheep in the flock. If you've read the bible, and it sounds like you have done some reading, you will obviously see there is no specific mention of "Mary worship" or of a "trinity" it's all in someones interpretation. It's what's on the agenda of the people pushing the envelope, if you will.

Answer 4

I know the bible doesn't say she's important than any other person. But she is whether we Christians believe it or not, she is the mother of God/Jesus, we have to make her important than any other biblical person except Jesus. You Protestants call yourselves that you are not perfect and you
sin, then why are you judging Mary, you're not perfect to do that. She is very important because she's Jesus' mother, if someone tells me to be friends then if he meets my mother and says that she's not important, I'll be angry. And Jesus did not have brothers and sisters, that's not literal in the bible, it also means step-brother or cousin, Joseph had a wife before Mary then she had children before she died, then Joseph engaged Mary and Jesus was born, the brothers of Jesus are the sons of Joseph's previous wife. NO offense, you Protestants are not PERFECT, but you teach well about Jesus, but I don't know why you hate his mother a lot, unfortunately you're not going to heaven, because you are all rejecting his mother.

Answer 5

She is our Mother. Didn't the Lord from the cross give her to us.? Joseph and Mary did not have more children. She is the new Arc of the Covenant. Do you know what happened to those who touched the Arc of the Covenant in the Old Testament days? They died. Read the book of Esther she pre-figured the Virgin Mary. She was given to the eunuchs of the King for care. Joseph most likely had children from an earlier marriage or they were cousins and such they were talking about because they had no word for cousin in Aramaic language so all close kin were called brothers or sisters. If there were brothers or sisters why did Jesus give Mary to John to care for. Do you think all the other Apostles made fun of John and said he was stupid for revering Jesus' mother. On the contrary they visited her all the time. Remember he got his genetic make up from her and they probably looked quite a bit alike. She would have reminded them of Jesus every time they looked at her.

Answer 6

According to Catholics, Mary is a perpetual virgin and did not have other children.

And, she was resurrected in the flesh and lives in heaven with Jesus as his consort.

The only difference between the Catholic version of Mary & Jesus is gender.

Answer 7

Mary is important to Catholics because she was a human like one of us, but she fully cooperated with God's will in her life. It was her cooperation with God's will that made it possible for Jesus to be born and for us to gain eternal life. This makes her more important than another other person, except for Jesus.

e alll know that Jesus was compassionate and loving. Who raised Him to be that way? His mother.

Catholics do not put Mary on the same level as Jesus or the Father, but we do have a great love for her. When he was on the cross, Jesus turned to teh disciple he loved and referring to Mary, He said, "Behold your mother". We are all disciples that Jesus loves, and we see Mary as our mother.

Answer 8

The whole point of honoring the Virgin Birth is that it would have to be miraculous, not because her hymen was intact... Course, it kinda blows the whole 'descended from David' thing, cause it's Joseph who descended from David.

Mary is so important in Catholic Countries because when the christian fascists came through and forced their religion on the known world, they converted many pagan practices into christian practices, in order to get people to go along. (small example, our christmas tree is pagan.) Goddess worship, of course, is huge, and Mary took the place of the Goddess.

There's an 'easter' story from pagan europe about a goddess who descended into hell for three days and rose again from the dead. Where have I heard that before?????

Remember, the texts of the bible currently used were chosen by people to advance their ideas and values. Miriam, Moses sister, was written out, Mary Magdalene's gospel was left out, references to Christ marrying Mary were left out, etc etc etc.

Answer 9

She was only a woman. She needed the Holy Ghost like everyone else. She had to give a sin offering at the temple, like everyone else. If you look at scripture, Jesus always called her "woman". She was the mother of the man, but that is all. She found favor with God, but there have been others who have also done that, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Paul, etc...

Answer 10

There is nothing in the Bible that says Mary was of any more importance than giving birth to Jesus. People think that Mary can intercede for them and their prayers to Jesus.