And no one will challenge you on that. Mary shares in this work by leading people to her Son. You will notice in the icons of the Theotokos, that Mary always points to Jesus.
So why don't catholics and converrts go directly to Jesus? How does Mary fit into the mediatrix position?
One of the best examples of someone being drawn to Christ through Mary is Roy Schoeman. Raised a conservative Jew by devout parents who fled the Holocaust, his hometown rabbi was Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress. Mr. Schoeman attended MIT and Harvard Business School, graduating among the top students. He became tenured at Harvard.
During the Spring of 1987, he took a few days off and went to Cape Cod to commune with nature. It is there that his life changed forever. As he describes the experience:
"I was walking in the early morning, in the woods just back from the beach, when God intervened, dramatically and distinctly, into my life to pull me back and put me onto the right path. As I was walking, lost in my thoughts, I found myself in the immediate presence of God. It is as though I "fell into Heaven." Everything changed from one moment to the next, but in such a smooth and subtle way that I was not aware of any discontinuity. I felt myself in the immediate presence of God. I was aware of His infinite exaltedness, and of His infinite and personal love for me. I saw my life as though I was looking back on it after death, in His presence, and could see everything which I would be happy about and everything which I would wish I had done differently."
As a Jew, his reaction to this extraordinary grace is not surprising.
"I saw that the meaning and purpose of my life was to worship and serve my Lord and Master, in whose presence I found myself. I wanted to know His name, so that I could worship Him properly, so that I could follow "His" religion. I remember silently praying "Tell me your name. I don't mind if You're Apollo, and I have to become a Roman pagan. I don't mind if You're Krishna, and I have to become a Hindu. I don't mind if You're Buddha, and I have to become a Buddhist. As long as You're not Christ, and I have to become a Christian!"
Mr. Schoeman began praying every night before going to be to know the name of to his Lord, Master, the God he met on the beach that day. But God did not reveal His name.
Exactly one year later, though, after praying his prayer, Mr. Schoeman went to sleep and .... well, I'll let Mr. Schoeman tell you in his own words.
"A year to the day after the initial experience, I went to sleep after saying that prayer, and felt as though I was woken by a gentle hand on my shoulder, and escorted to a room where I was left alone with the most beautiful young woman I could imagine. I knew without being told that she was the Blessed Virgin Mary. I felt entirely awake (and my memory is as though I had been awake), although I was dreaming. I remember my first reaction, standing there awed by her presence and grandeur, was wishing I knew at least the Hail Mary so that I could honor her! She offered to answer any questions I had. I remember thinking about what to ask, asking the questions, and her answers. After speaking to me a while longer, the audience was ended. When I woke the next morning I was hopelessly in love with the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I knew that the God I had met on the beach was Christ, and, and that all I wanted was to be as much of, and as good a, Christian as possible."
This is the role of Mary, our mother. She leads us to her Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
You can read the entire text of Roy Schoeman's conversion story here.
Mr. Schoeman still works at Harvard and has written a book entitled "Salvation is from the Jews".