Why are you Catholic?

Question

News Flash... God Doesn't Care If Your Catholic

I don't think that it's bad to be Catholic. In fact I'm sure there are some better Christians than I who are. But I sure don't see anything Christ-like in the Catholic church of today.

Where is the humility?
Why worship Mary?
Saints... Says who?

I find it all confusing.

Answer 1

+ Why I am Catholic? +

I was raised in a Catholic family and when I reached the age of deciding for myself what I believed, I looked at other religions but found that Catholicism answered all my questions.

+ Humility +

Although no Catholic is perfect, we strive for humility.

Humility is the virtue which acknowledges that all we have and all we accomplish is God's work not ours.

The opposite of humility is the sin of pride. Pride in yourself is undue self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God.

Pride in things like your religion, your heritage, your nation, and your children are just being thankful for gifts from God. These are not the sin of pride.

+ Saints +

The Bible calls Christians saints.

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints, you, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p5.htm#946

+ The Blessed Virgin Mary +

Catholics do not worship Mary. But 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 before that moment; the Lord is with her before 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.