Question for catholics - Why do you believe Mary had some kind of divine nature?

Question

The question is, why do Catholics think that they should pray to Mary, or that Mary was without sin, or that she was just somehow a heavenly woman? (as opposed to an earthly woman)

John 2:3-4
When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."

If mary was divine in a similar manner as Jesus was, why did she need to come to Him?
Also, Jesus would not call His Father in Heaven 'man', so if Mary was a heavenly mother, why did He call her 'woman'?


Luke 1:34
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

There are many verses I could have picked from this chapter, including the fact that the angel's message troubled her. But this question from mary illustrates that she really had no clue what was going on - she was just plain and simple human like you and me. Maybe favoured by God like Moses or Abrahame, etc, etc, but no more 'divine' or 'heavenly'

There are so many other parts in the NT that show that Mary was just as clueless as any other human around Him. But there the other brightly glaring facts too.
A. She did not heal, raise the dead or perform miracles.
B. She was cared for by John as asked by Jesus, yet John did not include anything about Mary in his writings? An oversight perhaps?
C. Why is she not stated by any of the apostles as being somehow divine? Some kind of little oversight?
D. There is much, much more, but this is already too long - finally though..

In Acts 1:12-14 it states who was in the upper room at the mount of Olives, and it includes Mary. They are together in prayer waiting for the day of Penticost.
Why would Mary be there to receive the Holy Spirity if she was already perfect or somehow divine?

It just doesn't fit in to the granduer that Catholics give to Mary

Answer 1

All human beings have a divine nature.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is important to Catholics because the Bible says she is important to God.

+ Mary is the handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38), a servant of God just like us.

+ Mary is the first Christian. All other Christians follow her on the road of faith. She is the model for all of us because she actively cooperated with the Will of God by saying "Yes" to God in the plan of salvation.

+ Mary is the model of faith. Mary's faith never wavered throughout Jesus' life, even while watching him die on the cross when most of the Apostles ran away.

+ Mary is full of grace. The angel Gabriel called her, "Full of grace" and said, "The Lord is with you." She is full of grace at that moment; the Lord is with her at that moment, before she says "yes" to the angel's question. Catholics believe the state of grace was with her since her Immaculate Conception. God prepared her for her later role as the mother of Jesus.

+ Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, of God the Son.

+ Mary is a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, a tabernacle. The angel Gabriel says to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow." (Luke 1:35)

+ God praised Mary through His messenger, the angel Gabriel, "Rejoice, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you." If God and his angels praise Mary, shouldn't we?

+ Jesus honored Mary. Jesus kept the Commandments and did not sin. Jesus fulfilled the Commandment to honor both his father and his mother. WWJD? What would Jesus do? Jesus would and did honor Mary, his mother.

+ The Holy Spirit inspired praises of Mary. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women," and "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." (Luke 1:41-45)

+ The Scriptures tell of Mary's place with Jesus. Mary gives birth to Jesus, presents him to the shepherds, to the wise men, to God in the Temple. She lived with him for many years in Nazareth, intercedes with Jesus in Cana, suffers with him at the foot of the Cross, and prays to him with the apostles in the Upper Room.

+ Mary was a prophet. "Behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me." (Luke 48-49) As Christians who believe the Bible, we must call Mary "blessed."

+ Mary is our Mother too. While he was on the Cross, Jesus said to his beloved disciple (who represents all Christians), "this is your mother." (John 19:27)

The Blessed Virgin Mary is not a goddess but the blessed daughter of God the Father, mother of God the Son, and dwelling place of God the Holy Spirit.

The Hail Mary prayer simply recites Bible passages (the Word of God) and asks Mary to pray for us:

Hail Mary Full of grace, the Lord is with you. (These are the words the angel Gabriel said to Mary, a Bible quote.)

Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. (This is Mary's cousin Elizabeth's greeting, another bible quote.)

Holy Mary, (The angel Gabriel said she was full of grace and Elizabeth said she was blessed.)

Mother of God, (the Bible says Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, God the Son)

Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. (A simple request to pray for us.)

Amen.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

First it was common to address women in the manner that you describe. Big deal.

Second, what was it that Jesus said on the Cross? Oh, Yeah, "Behold your MOTHER"

Lastly, the Archangel Gabriel, a messenger of God, went to Mary and said "Hail, Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you."

If Gabriel delivered a message from God like that, she will hold special meaning to me.

Mary is not Divine. She is an intercessor, a mediator, someone to pray with, someone to pray for me ("pray for me, a sinner, now and at the hour of my death").

She is the Mother of God on earth, Jesus. That holds some significance as well.

Answer 3

Mary was only human but she was truly blessed by God when He chose her to be the mother of His only begotten Son.

The Catholics believe that Mary was something special because of a woman called Saint Bernadette and her supposed vision in a field while studying her catachism.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=147

If it wasn't for her Mary would still be just Mary. I mean, let's remember that Mary knew the truth about Jesus (the fact that she became pregnant while a virgin) and when He started teaching she and her sons by Joseph still showed up at the house and wanted to take Him away because He was crazy.

Could she really have forgotten so much in 33 years?

Answer 4

I'm not Catholic, but Eastern Orthodox yet I feel impelled to answer:

Mary is not divine, in her essence. she is a uniquely chosen, and blessed and exalted human being, out of all creation, she is the highest individual ever born - due to her dignity of bearing the Incarnation of God's only-begotten Son within her and of giving to Him His human flesh and nature.

Orthodox believe as article of faith that she died, and was assumed body and soul into heaven, uncorrupted, there in heaven - she reigns as the Queen of all heaven and the Bride of the Holy Spirit. She is the Mistress of the angels and the heavenly Mother of all Christians who bear the name of her Son.

Prophet King David was granted by God to behold her in a vision of the future. King David says:

" On the right hand of the Lord - there stood the queen -
And she was arrayed in apparel - embroidered with solid gold."

After the Annunciation: Mary declares: "henceforth all generations of men shall call me blessed."

Mary is the pre-eminent human ever born and now reigns in her heavenly glory and uncorrupted nature as the Queen of heaven.

This is what Orthodox believe. As well as Catholics.

We can never honor Mary enough for who and what she is.

the Scriptures speak of her as " the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet"

I could find many other scriptural verses in her favor - but It's late and I ask God to open your Protestant limited insight and reveal her glory to you.

Answer 5

You are right of course. Mary and Jesus, and many many saints were mere human beings, and therefore imperfect.
I am catholic, and I consider Mary to be the spiritual symbol of motherhood.
I call her mother.
When I pray to Mary it is to the compassion of mother who'se womb has known birth that I emplore to carry my prayers and to intercede on my behalf with her son and the almighty father.
The womb is The House of Man.

Answer 6

We don't. She is human but the most perfect and beautiful of God's creation. She was the only one who was suitable to carry God in her womb (this was God's choice to become a human and to choose Mary out of all women in history to be His human Mother).

Why does it bother some Protestants so much to think that God could favor someone else more than them? It's because of the sin of Pride.

Answer 7

Well, there is that whole giving birth to the son of God thing. But I guess that's pretty common.

Answer 8

In iconography, she is always portrayed wearing red (humanity), cloaked in blue (divine), whereas Christ in iconography is wearing blue (divine) cloaked in red (humanity). I think the analogy is apt.

Answer 9

she was a sl*t. tut tut, she wasn't suppose to do it right away but she couldn't wait. Virgin translated from hebrew just means young woman. They were suppose to wait a certain amount of time when they married but didnt. So St. Michael the arch bishop came and allowed them to have the babay, because it would be the first born.