How would you feel if someone told you that your mother?

Question

was nothing special, and that the only thing she did was give birth to you?

This is essentially what Bible Fundamentalists are saying to Jesus when they fail to acknowledge Mother Mary's unique role in Salvation history.

The Lord Jesus is greatly saddened by those who reject His Mother, whom He gave to the world as our spiritual mother from the Cross.

C.L., Oh, so, you are saying that Paul established the Early Church? I thought Jesus founded the Church? Mary is more alive than you or I. How sad that you insist on rejecting Jesus' mother, whom he gave to us from the Cross ("Behold your mother!").

LJ4Bama, Catholics do not worship Mary either. However, we accept Mary as our spiritual mother, as Jesus apparently desired, saying "Behold your mother!" from the Cross. We accept Mother Mary into our homes and hearts, as the disciple John did.

Simple Serenity, Catholics imitate Christ, who undoubtedly perfectly obeyed the commandment to honor one's mother. Catholics believe Jesus gave us His mother from the Cross. ("Behold your mother!")

Pastor Art, honoring Mary takes nothing away from praising and serving Jesus. Mary said that her soul magnifies the Lord, or brings Him closer, or makes Him clearer.

At Calvary, Jesus told the good thief crucified next to Him that he would join Him in Paradise… on that very day. If Jesus would take a crucified thief to heaven on the very day of death, He would certainly do the same for His mother. The God of the Catholic Church is the God of the living, not of the dead.

Whenever a Pope makes a dogmatic declaration, he is not inventing anything new, but is affirming that which the Church has always believed since the Apostolic Age.

Satan appeared as Mary to Bernadette? That’s a good one.

When I see Jesus in heaven, He will undoubtedly say… "ah yes, my mother told me all about you. Welcome home, brother!" Amen.

Answer 1

My reaction would be, "You don't know my mother." Those who deny the importance of the Mother of God do not know her.

Mary is the epitome of faith. She was highly favored of God, blessed among women, to be selected to give birth to the Son of God in his incarnation. When she was visited by the angel Gabriel to tell her the highly improbable story of her pregnancy with the Son of God, she answered, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Luke 1:46-55 records the Mary's song of praise to God.

Mary likely endured sidelong glances and open mockery from the faithless. She patiently accepted the terrible hardship of giving birth in the utter penury of a bed of straw in a stable. She and Joseph barely escaped a massacre in Bethlehem ordered by Herod, and had to escape into Egypt, a foreign country where they probably had no knowledge of the language, no kin, no friends, and no money.

But she also received the testimonies of faith from Elizabeth, the shepherds, the angels, the Magi, Simeon, and Anna. She kept their prophesies in her heart against the dark days to come. She witnessed the child Jesus growing in wisdom and stature, holding his own with the scholars in the Temple. She showed faith in Jesus at his first miracle, changing water into wine at Cana.

Mary humbled herself as a disciple of Jesus, sacrificing her maternal claims for the meekness of a disciple. She learned that "whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

As a disciple, Mary showed more courage than Peter, the leader of the Twelve. Only she and John stood at the foot of the cross as her son and our Lord was tortured to death in probably the cruelest execution in history.

Mary is the greatest of saints, the perfect exemplar of womanhood. Those who recognize that Jesus was the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, should be able to connect the dots and recognize that Mary, alone in history, is the Mother of God.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 2

Marian devotion is important to the Catholic, Anglican (particularly the High Church branch), and Orthodox traditions; but most Protestants reject it as improper.

Protestants argue that Marian devotion is akin to worship, but we are to worship God (the Holy Trinity) alone, and not Mary or the Saints. Catholics and Orthodox note that this is not worship but merely veneration; however, Protestants do not understand that argument. Protestants are of the opinion that Marian devotion, even if not worship, distracts from attention on God, and devotion to Mary is likely to give rise to tendencies to equate Mary with God. Catholics however would argue that is the wish of Jesus that we should venerate Mary because according to the New Testament she magnifies the Lord, and magnification of her magnifies God. Protestants also feel that many of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions about Mary are not found in the Bible, and therefore should be rejected. Catholics argue that Marian doctrine is implicit in the Bible.

The early reformers however, believed that Mary should be held in highest reverence, and even advocated the use of the Ave Maria through “and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus” as a sign of reverence for and devotion to the Virgin.

Moreover both Luther and Calvin believed the doctrine, now controversial among Protestants, of Mary's perpetual virginity. This belief is even attested to in the Augsburg Confession, one of the foundations of Lutheranism.

Answer 3

I think non-Catholics have a difficult time understanding the difference between worship and honor. Any Catholic you ask will tell you that they don't worship Mary. The Pope, himself, will tell you that he does not worship Mary, and that nobody should worship Mary. Any approved Catholic publication on the subject will tell you that Catholicism does not support the worship of Mary, and that worship is due only to God. However, they aren't getting their information about Catholicism from anyone in the Catholic Church, so it's understandable (but not excusable) that they believe a falsehood.

The best way I can describe it to someone on the outside looking in is that every day is Mothers' Day in the Catholic Church. We always pay particular attention to our spiritual mother and treat her well by having conversations with her and by giving her the respect and deference which she is due.

Make no mistake, Mary *is* our mother, by Christ's decree as he hung on the Cross. In giving her into the care of one of His disciples, He entrusted her to all of us who are His followers. In return, she keeps us in her care, even as our earthly mothers do. And when we have a particular need or pain or joy in our lives, we can go to her and tell her all about it, even as we lay the same cares before God. If we ask it of her, she will add her voice to ours.

Another thing I think non-Catholics don't understand is our concept of the afterlife. When God promises us eternal *life*, we take Him at His word. We expect to have eternal life, not eternal suspended animation in an isolation room. We believe that those who are in Heaven are aware of and take an interest in what happens on Earth. Jesus told the Apostles that they would have high positions in Heaven, each overseeing a tribe of Israel, for example. We believe that Mary and the Saints can hear us and will pray for us to God if we ask it of them.

We honor Mary because it is right that we do so. If an Archangel of Heaven greeted her "Hail, full of Grace," then who are we to disrespect her?

Answer 4

If Jesus is our brother then Mary is our mother.

if Jesus is King of heaven and of all believers then Mary is Queen Mother of heaven and of all believers

The catholic Church ,especially in the catechism of the catholic Church and Vatican II, teaches that Jesus,alone true God and true Man, is the One Mediator and the redeemer

Answer 5

Thank you for your post.

It seems no matter how many times we Catholics say "we do not worship Mary" the posts come back saying we do. How can a person tell another who or what they worship?

I know I do not worship Mary. I have the intelligence and understanding to relate to her very special and purposeful meaning to salvation history. Her "yes" to God was no small thing...it was the word that brought salvation into this world. Her own words "My soul magnifies the Lord." Magnification brings things closer, makes them larger and clearer...this is what she does for us. She brings God closer, bigger and clearer for us. She is the co-redemptrix because her cooperation in salvation was part of the ultimate plan for salvation. She was not just some woman who happened by, but THE woman chosen by God to give flesh to his son.

Mary has never and would never want to be worshiped. She only wants us to find salvation through the sacrifice of her son. Her love for God and for her son....for the human and the divine...is her love for us. Her love is an example of how we should love and follow Christ...follow him to the cross as she did.

To downplay Mary shows a great deal of ignorance. She is us...she is our connection to Christ in the flesh. It was her flesh and God's divine nature that brought our Savior into the world. These fundamentalists get so caught up in the "it doesn't say that and it doesn't say this" of the printed word that they have no perspective for the spiritual.

"Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." 2 Corinthians 3:6

Answer 6

Amen.

People need to stop cherry-picking the Bible.
While it is made up of parts/letters/books/etc, there is an overall message.

Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, Mary is the New Eve.

Answer 7

All this attention on Mary takes attention away from Jesus.

I'm quite sure, from studying the Bible, that when we get to heaven Mary will be quite surprized to learn that anyone prayed to her.

For she cannot hear a single one of your prayers from the time she died until the present.

And yes Mary died according to Hebrews chapter nine and verse 27.

Jesus asked John, His disciple to take of his mother.

The idea that Mary is Mother of the Church was declared by Pope Paul VI in 1965.

That is a 42 year new doctrine from the church which never changes.

In 1950 Pope Pius XII declared that Mary was assummed into heaven.

That's a 57 year new doctrine.

All the doctrines and dogma's which have come from the Catholic Church since Satan appeared as Mary to Bernadette have served to take people's attention away from the Lord Jesus, Who alone died once and for all for our sins.

One day perhaps you'll meet Mary in heaven and if you do I'll bet she'll be surprised to hear you prayed to her and then she will say, "Why didn't you listen to my son Who told you to pray to His Father?"

Remember the last quote from Mary as recorded in the Bible is this:

John 2:5 (NIV)

5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Why don't Catholics do what Mary told you?

Pastor Art

Answer 8

Mary herself said at the beginning of St. Luke's gospel (1:48), when she prophesied under the Holy Spirit, "Behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed." That is a prophecy that has come true in the course of Christian history, and it is the basis of Marian devotion, for that is what we are doing when we honor and glorify Mary: we are calling her blessed on account of all the marvelous things God has done for her and all the glorious graces he has given her.



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.



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.


I don't know why the heck we'd lie about not worshipping Mary as some sort of divine being if we actually did. They 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?


Trust me; if we thought Mary is a godess, we'd let them 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.

Answer 9

At least Im not a muslim, they bow to a prophet who had sex with 9 year old gilrs and they let their men have sex with preteen boys in afghanistan. Jesus didn't found the Catholic church, do you have any idea what your talking about. The Catholic church began after he died. you so estupid, I am embarrased that you speaky english.

Answer 10

When was the last time u saw a lion give birth 2 a bumblebee? NEVER. A woman can't give birth 2 a God, FACT.