Posted on 09/03/2014 6:36:07 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
A little six-year-old Protestant boy had often heard his Catholic companions reciting the prayer “Hail Mary.” He liked it so much that he copied it, memorized it and would recite it every day. “Look, Mommy, what a beautiful prayer,” he said to his mother one day.
“Never again say it,” answered the mother. “It is a superstitious prayer of Catholics who adore idols and think Mary a goddess. After all, she is a woman like any other. Come on, take this Bible and read it. It contains everything that we are bound to do and have to do.” From that day on the little boy discontinued his daily “Hail Mary” and gave himself more time to reading the Bible instead. One day, while reading the Gospel, he came across the passage about the Annunciation of the Angel to Our Lady. Full of joy, the little boy ran to his mother and said: “Mommy, I have found the ‘Hail Mary’ in the Bible which says: ‘Hail full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women.’ Why do you call it a superstitious prayer?”
On another occasion he found that beautiful Salutation of St. Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary and the wonderful canticle MAGNIFICAT in which Mary foretold that “the generations would call her blessed.” He said no more about it to his mother but started to recite the “Hail Mary” every day as before. He felt pleasure in addressing those charming words to the Mother of Jesus, our Savior.
When he was fourteen, he one day heard a discussion on Our Lady among the members of his family. Every one said that Mary was a common woman like any other woman. The boy, after listening to their erroneous reasoning could not bear it any longer, and full of indignation, he interrupted them, saying:
“Mary is not like any other children of Adam, stained with sin. No! The Angel called her FULL OF GRACE AND BLESSED AMONGST WOMEN. Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ and consequently Mother of God. There is no higher dignity to which a creature can be raised. The Gospel says that the generations will proclaim her blessed and you are trying to despise her and look down on her. Your spirit is not the spirit of the Gospel or of the Bible which you proclaim to be the foundation of the Christian religion.”
So deep was the impression which the boy’s talk had made that his mother many times cried out sorrowfully: “Oh my God! I fear that this son of mine will one day join the Catholic religion, the religion of Popes!” And indeed, not very long afterwards, having made a serious study of both Protestantism and Catholicism, the boy found the latter to be the only true religion and embraced it and became one of its most ardent apostles.
Some time after his conversion, he met his married sister who rebuked him and said indignantly: “You little know how much I love my children. Should any one of them desire to become a Catholic, I would sooner pierce his heart with a dagger than allow him to embrace the religion of the Popes!”
Her anger and temper were as furious as those of St. Paul before his conversion. However, she would change her ways, just as St. Paul did on his way to Damascus. It so happened that one of her sons fell dangerously ill and the doctors gave up hope of recovery. Her brother then approached her and spoke to her affectionately, saying: “My dear sister, you naturally wish to have your child cured. Very well, then, do what I ask you to do. Follow me, let us pray one ‘Hail Mary’ and promise God that, if your son recovers his health, you would seriously study the Catholic doctrine, and should you come to the conclusion that Catholicism is the only true religion, you would embrace it no matter what the sacrifices may be.”
His sister was somewhat reluctant at the beginning, but as she wished for her son’s recovery, she accepted her brother’s proposal and recited the “Hail Mary” together with him. The next day her son was completely cured. The mother fulfilled her promise and she studied the Catholic doctrine. After long preparation she received Baptism together with her whole family, thanking her brother for being an apostle to her.
The story was related during a sermon given by the Rev. Fr. Tuckwell. “Brethren,” he went on and said, “the boy who became a Catholic and converted his sister to Catholicism dedicated his whole life to the service of God. He is the priest who is speaking to you now! What I am I owe to Our Lady. You, too, my dear brethren, be entirely dedicated also to Our Lady and never let a day pass without saying the beautiful prayer, ‘Hail Mary’, and your Rosary. Ask her to enlighten the minds of Protestants who are separated from the true Church of Christ founded on the Rock (Peter) and ‘against whom the gates of hell shall never prevail.’”
I have looked at the website. And the dance done to "not worship" Mary is a sad one.
If you have a statue in your church and you light candles around it, kneel before it, offer prayers to it....then you might be worshipping what the statue represents.
In this case, Mary.
Right there you've shown your off the path Jesus intended....”There is ONLY ONE Intercessor between God and man and that is Jesus Christ”.
Mary can't hear you...she is no longer on earth nor can she be an intercessor in Heaven...that is reserved completely for Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately if the enemy of men’s souls can trick people ‘to believe the lie” that idols and departed people are who to pray to and worship...then he’s won them away from the Savior into pagan worship.
Great quote.
If you want to ‘Honor” the departed you don’t bow before their image of clay or stone or wood...nor pray to them as if they can answer you, nor do you carry them around like a doll on liters.
We’ll pick our own Bibles, thank you.
Actually the Jerusalem Bible is universally used throughout the world excerpt in the U. S.
...”grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her (mary)”......
That is a lie and comes from the Father of Lies...Only Jesus can forgive sins...he’s the one who paid the price...
God bless you. Wonderful testimony.
The angel Gabriel said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). The phrase “full of grace
I do not know why a believer would be required to imitate the angel who called to Mary, Hail Mary: which seems to me to be a form of greeting, I could just as easy say Hi or Hello.
And the argument I make is that Jesus was the blessing that Mary received, she did not bare Jesus because she was blessed but was blessed in baring Jesus.
I also believe Mary was an innocent child and I believe she stayed as innocent as any human being can the rest of her life and that Jesus was her only Child.
This starts talking about Elizabeth:
RSV
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”
Thank you for the pictures. They portray people asking Mary to pray for them. They are not praying to the statues.
If Mary had to be sinless so Jesus "could have a holy abode," then Mary's mother had to be sinless for the same reason. If Mary didn't have a holy abode she would have been stained by her mothers sin. And her grandmother, and great-grandmother ... and so on and so forth ...
By induction, Eve was sinless ...
Any fifth grade math student sees the contradiction ...
Yes I honor her, but wouldn’t pray to her. Jesus never prayed to Mary. if The Lord and our God never did, then why should I?
I am fine with what you say. I do think that it makes a beautiful Scriptural-based prayer though. Whenever I say the Hail Mary prayer, it reminds me of the great Salvation Plan of God that we are so blessed with. It reminds me of the old Eve, who sinned and the New Eve, who was obedient. What a fantastic God we have!
Building a denomination on any man, is very dangerous. You build a Church on Jesus Christ, the Living Word and Eternal Rock, and it will stand forever.
(Matthew 7:24-29, John 1, 1 Corinthians 3:1-11, 1 Peter 2:1-6, Hebrews 4:12)
A child of God, a Believer who is led by the Spirit, has 7/24/365 access to their Heavenly Father. The faith of one righteous Believer can move mountains. Our Heavenly Father is more than capable of, and very eager to, fellowship with every one of His kids. He is not an absentee father, or a deadbeat dad. Nor does he need someone to beg or nag Him for an answer. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. God has no grandkids or redheaded stepchildren. His love for His family is infinitely beyond what anyone could ever imagine. To Believers, He is not just God, but Abba, our Father. Believers are part of the family - not slaves, not servants, not even friends, but children of God!!
(Mark 11:22-24, Romans 8:11-17, Ephesians 3, Hebrews 4:14-16, 11:6, James 5:15-18, 1 John 1, 1 John 3:1-2)
Jesus said if a man loves me he will keep my word, My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. And he promised the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to be in Believers. (John 14:19-27) What more could Mary, or anyone dead in Christ offer a Believer? They have no body on Earth and therefore no authority here. Do you think so little of your own faith, and God’s Love and faithfulness to His Word, that you must turn to pagan practices of communicating with departed spirits?
A Believer is part of the Body of Christ, with Jesus as the Head, a joint heir with Jesus, a citizen of Heaven, raised up with Christ and seated with him in the Heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. God promises to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. Believers are redeemed from the curse and enjoy the Blessing of Abraham. How much more Blessed can you possibly be?
(2 Corinthians 9:8, Galatians 3, Colossians 1:18, Philippians 3:20)
Study the New Testament letters written to the Church, especially the Pauline Epistles, and see who, what, and where you are in Christ. Its not just Good News, its AWESOME NEWS. The Truth will free you from religious bondage so you may fully enjoy God’s Grace and be confident in His Love.
And from Douay Rheims
[26] And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, [27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’ s name was Mary. [28] And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
That means without sin.
Only in RC mythology ...
A casual stroll through a Greek Lexicon refutes this handily.
With God, all things are possible.
Nope, just large fingers on this small phone because my computer died.
Stringing random quotes from the Bible is not wise ...
"Judas hung himself"
"Go and do likewise"
"What you do do quickly"
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