What is the Catholic relationship with Mary?

Question

Orthodox Catholics simply do not worship Mary as God -- and it gets a little tiring being accused of worshipping Mary as God when you don't.
It amounts to being called a liar and is quite rude.
We Catholics would be the ones to know Whom we consider God and whom we don't.
I love my biological Mother, too, but don't mistake her for the Lord!
I honor her, keep in touch with her, look after her, celebrate her special days, would get mad if someone were to insult her -- and I do the same for Jesus's Mother.
My love for my Mother doesn't mean I don't love my Father, too.

It just strikes me as evil, this not uncommon attempt to diminish Mary's status and the unceasing accusations against Catholics of trying to raise her status to that of God's. There's something very sinister and ugly in it, and I find it offensive.
We Catholics take great care in pointing out that "worship" in the sense of latria is GOD'S alone -- even to the point of having separate terms for the honor and adoration due to God as opposed to the honor and veneration of the Saints -- including His greatest Saint, Mary.
They are:


latria: the honor due to God alone
dulia: the honor due to human creatures worthy of respect
hyperdulia: the honor due to Mary as God's greatest creation and our Queen Mother



When we love Christ, does that prevent us from loving each other? No! Love is infinite because God, Who is Love, is infinite! We can love and adore Jesus, love and venerate Mary, love the other Saints, and love each other without depriving anyone (or Anyone) of anything.
How many children can you have without running out of love? How many friends?
What we "spend" in love is replaced many times over; love for Christ can only bring the fruits of more love to give.

To love Mary takes nothing at all from Christ, but honors our Blessed Lord by Whose grace she is who she is: His greatest creation, the greatest of Saints, the Queen of Heaven, the Immaculate Conception, the spotless Virgin, the Ark of the Covenant, the New Eve, the mother of God, and the mother of Israel -- our mother who wants nothing more for us than to pray for us and show us her Son.


...And ask yourself why the heck we'd lie about not worshipping Mary as some sort of divine being if we actually did. Do you think we are ashamed? Afraid of what you might think? Do you think that we actually do worship Mary but don't tell converts until some secret ceremony held after they've been in the Church a few years and can be trusted?
I mean, really! Satanists have no qualms telling people they worship Satan, pagans have no problem informing the world that they worship the earth, Hindus are not uneager to reveal that they chant to Krishna -- but Catholics are "afraid" to "admit" whom they consider God?
Please! We are not afraid to tell you we believe in Purgatory, indulgences, the Communion of Saints, the efficacy of piously using sacramentals, the true grace of the Sacraments, the infallibility of the Pope when he uses his Extraordinary or Universal Magisterium, etc.
Trust me; if we thought Mary is a godess, we'd let you know.

As the obedient, infinitely holy Son of God, the Lord Jesus was a very firm believer in the commandment to honor one's father and mother. Now, what most people don't know about that commandment is that in Hebrew it literally reads, "Glorify your father and mother."We are to bring glory to our parents, and that includes not only our earthly, physical mother but our heavenly, spiritual mother as well. We are to imitate Christ, and just as he brought glory to his mother, we are to bring glory to her as well.

St. Luke's gospel (1:48) - "Behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed."


Her soul magnifies the Lord (Luke 1:46-55)!

Answer 1

Very well stated and with the use of theological terms as well. I am impressed and I wish you to know that the facts are this, no matter how many times we Catholics try to make others understand the truth of our Faith, unless the person is open and by this I mean truly open, heart, soul and mind, they aren't going to capture the beauty of what you wrote.
This day and age people spend to much time trying to put others down, and the sad part is that this is only getting worse.
But as you have shown, be strong in your faith, continue to love for it is the truth to state it is infinite and above all continue to grow on the strong foundation you have in your Church.
God bless and keep you always.

Answer 2

The Orthodox church seems 'confused' at times ... like switching back and forth between the Alexandrian and Jerusalem cannons ... As for THEIR relationship to the Virgin Mary ... Greek iconography of the Virgin and saints came down to us from THEM! Go figure!

FOr us Catholics, it's almost like a whole 'package', if you will. We have a deep respect for the Virgin Mary, the holy martyrs and saints, because, simply put, we have a deep respect for OBEDIENCE, in all it's manifestations!

Our standard for 'good behavior' is the person who does what he/she understands to be God's will, and Jesus Christ so identified his 'relatives' that way: he who does the will of the Father!

We understand the Virgin Mary stands out this way, because she did the Will of the Father, in His plan for salvation! The saints and martyrs pretty much did just that: they understood the Will of the Father to mean suffering hardships to spread the faith, keep the faith, possibly to the point of death.

We might ask the question: was there no other way? WHether there is or isn't, the point is clear: those people did what they understood the Father wanted them to do. For that, they deserve respect as exemplary Christians, and for Catholics, we believe they are alive in heaven, and we could ask for their help in praying for our needs here on earth, just as we ask friends and church-members to pray for us.

Answer 3

Wow!! Beautifully said, Isabella. I really pray that this will help clear up some of the false accusations of the Catholic faith. It seems people are literally stuck on this made up belief, and refuse to see past it and discover what Catholicism is truly about.

I always tell people, have you never asked your earthly mother to pray for you? I know most Christians have asked their friends, parents, pastor etc to pray for them, so why not ask your Heavenly mother to pray for you as well? Also, I ask-- If you are going to talk to your father, would you just ignore your mother if she was standing right there? Chances are no, so why should we ignore our heavenly mother.

Note--these are the words of the Hail Mary, to those who are under the impression that we worship the Virgin Mary....

Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou amongst women
And Blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
PRAY FOR US SINNERS
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Was I worshipping the Blessed Mother? No.
Putting her before God? No.
Did I say something false? No.


I honored her, for she is the Blessed Mother of our Lord and I asked her to pray for us, TO our Lord, Jesus Christ. After all, she was the FIRST FOLLOWER of Christ when she accepted God's will to bear the son of God.


I really loved your answer. It is so sad to see such a beautiful thing, namely, the devotion to our Blessed Mother, be the cause of such hatred, accusations and lies.

Answer 4

I think an even better question is what is Mary's relationship with all Christians? She is our spiritual mother, whom Jesus gave to us from the Cross. "Behold your mother."

Why is it that in biographies of historical figures the author always examines the subject's family, particularly the father and mother? Why? Because by knowing the mother, one gets a better idea of who the child is. If it is true for an earthly figure, how much more true must it be for Jesus?

Know Mary, Know Jesus.

No Mary, No Jesus.

Where Mary is excluded, there are no valid Sacraments.

Answer 5

Mary is our Mother. Most people have a relationship with their mother. Oh, and by the way, Catholics do not worship Mary.

Answer 6

Isabella......Nicely done !

C.S. Lewis said that no subject in our faith needs to be approached more delicately than this, and one of the reasons he cited was that Catholics have a natural affection for Mary, and when Mary is attacked Lewis says that Catholics respond with that "chivalrous sensibility that a man feels when the honor of his mother or his beloved is at stake."

Lewis says that Catholics feel this way about Mary "very naturally," but there is one person who feels that way about Mary even more naturally than we do: her literal Son according to the flesh -- Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

For some reason people cannot relate to the fact that Marys genealogy had a lot to do with the fact that she was chosen to carry the blessed child. that's why god put all of that beget in the old testament. Allot of women are in the bible . For century's the bible has been used to degrade and humiliate women. God made EVE from ADAMS rib to be beside him. I think that men who need to put woman in a animals position are mentally ill and need extensive psychiatric help. Catholic or protestant we are all gods children.

Answer 8

Nice post Isabella but it is not this simple,you see the Catholic church has been persecuted since it`s inception and like a fortress has had to keep all enemies at bay, and it has had so many it is hard to count them, but there is an explanation for this ongoing persecution and it is this; Jesus said to St.Peter after He gave him the keys of the Kingdom,`` This is My church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it``
Now by this we can see that Hell would throw it`s full weight against the church to try and destroy it but will never succeed.
All attacks against the Catholic church are fomented by the devil and those who persecute the church are blind fools.
`Father forgive them for they know not what they do` the very words of the crucified Savior from the cross.

Answer 9

Nicely done, Isabella. I can't think of a single thing to add. Except to pray that some who really need to understand this, will.

The only way to counter the lies and misconceptions about what Catholics do is ... to keep telling them the truth.

Answer 10

Below is a website about the Blessed Virgin Mary:


http://www.marypages.com/