St. Michael the Archangel, protect us!
Posted on 07/04/2004 3:21:55 PM PDT by Lorianne
The whole world is asleep, and God, so full of goodness, so great, so worthy of all praise, no one is thinking of Him! See nature praises Him, and man....who ought to praise Him, sleeps! Let us go and wake up the universe.... and sing praises!
-- St. Mariam Baouardy
They're gonna become 'roasted' nuts if they're not careful.
Some people aren't satisfied with going to Hell, they have to be on the express bus.
Aren't you a pro-abortion feminist?
Any "Mary" indifferent to their violation of the First Commandment (Exodus 20:3) couldn't care much about the Sixth (Exodus 20:13).
For Catholics, there are different types of Marian prayer that reflect different intentions. Reciting the "Magnificat," for example, is a way to praise God as Mary did. By reciting the "Angelus," you commemorate an event in salvation history, one in which Mary had a major role. Such commemorations are also made by the entire Church in the liturgical cycle. At Christmas, for example, the faithful recall Mary's role in the birth of Christ.
Prayers invoking Mary's intercession for your own personal intentions are in a separate class, arousing controversy since the time of the Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The practice of invoking saintly people for their intercession before God in union with Jesus has roots in sacred Scripture. In this regard, Matthew 18:19-20 refers to saints on earth, and Revelation 18:20 refers to saints in heaven. In the early centuries of the Church, veneration and invocation was offered to those martyred for Christ. The practice derives from the doctrine that the saints are united with Jesus in one mystical body (Rm 12:5).
The practice of calling on Mary for aid also appears to be very old in the Catholic Church. An ancient testimony of confidence in Mary is the prayer Sub Tuum, which historians place in the third century:
We fly to your patronage,
O holy Mother of God;
despise not our petitions in our necessities,
but deliver us always from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.(Dictionary of Mary, p. 143)
This practice became an area of significant disagreement between Catholics and Protestants. After the crisis of the Reformation, the Catholic Council of Trent repeated traditional Christian teaching on the intercession of the saints, which applies preeminently to Mary:
The saints who reign together with Christ, offer up their prayers to God for men; ... it is good and useful to invoke them suppliantly and, in order to obtain favors from God through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who alone is our Redeemer and Saviour, to have recourse to their prayers, assistance and support.(Theotokos, p. 188)
The Synod of Jerusalem held by the Orthodox Church proclaimed a similar position about a century after Trent. Protestants counter that reliance on Mary and the saints detracts from reliance on Jesus Christ, who is our 'one mediator':
For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.
(1 Tm 2:2-5 - New American Bible)
A thorough examination of this topic by the Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue Commission may be found in The One Mediator, The Saints and Mary (Augsburg Press, 1992). An excellent contemporary Catholic reflection on the subject is found in chapter 3 of Pope John Paul II's 1987 encyclical, Mother of the Redeemer. A small subsection of paragraph 38 of that chapter is as follows:
The Church knows and teaches with Saint Paul that there is only one mediator: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all." (1 Tm 2:5-6).The maternal role of Mary toward people in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power [Vatican II Constitution on the Church, # 60]: it is mediation in Christ.
Catholics do not pray to Mary as if she were God. Prayer to Mary is memory of the great mysteries of our faith (Incarnation, Redemption through Christ in the rosary), praise to God for the wonderful things he has done in and through one of his creatures (Hail Mary) and intercession (second half of the Hail Mary). The latter is addressed to Mary not as to a vending machine but a support person helping us to discern the will of God in our lives. Mary is a volunteer, highly recommendable and recommended, but not a mandatory and inescapable passage.
Many Evangelicals think the word "pray" means "worship." So it makes sense that they think Catholics who "pray" to Mary actually "worship" her. Let's look up the word "pray" in the dictionary. Here is what Webster's says about the word pray:
(1) To utter petition to God ... (2) To make a fervent request: PLEAD (3) To beseech: implore (4) to make a devout or earnest request for.The first thing to notice is that the word "worship" is not included in the definition of "pray." It does not mean "worship."
The English language is often limited in that we often have to use the same word to say different things. There are several meanings of the word "pray." When Catholics pray to God they "utter a petition to God." When they pray to Mary and the Saints they are making a "devout or earnest request for" prayers from Mary or the saints. In mediaeval times when a royal court official was asking something of a person who outranked him, he would say "I pray thee your majesty." You have to say that in an English accent to get the full effect :-) The person was simply making a request in a polite manner.
Catholics think Mary is a prayer warrior. That's her job. We think she was given a full time 24/7 prayer ministry. She said "all generations will call me Blessed" and "my soul magnifies the Lord" (Luke 1:46). Catholics think this is significant.
Martin Luther said "The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart." (Sermon, September 1, 1522). There is a difference between veneration of Mary and worship of Jesus. John Pacheco says:
There is a great difference between veneration ("douleia" in Greek) and worship ("latreia"). The word "douleia" occurs 5 times in the Bible. (Rm 8:15, 21; Gal 4:24, 5:1; Heb 2:15) never does it refer to worship of God. The word "latreia" occurs 5 times but it always refers to God only. (Jn 16:2, Rm:9:4, 12:6, Heb 9:1,6) And there are plenty of Old Testament references that distinguish veneration from worship. "Then Moses went out to meet his father in law, and he bowed down and kissed him.." (Exo 18:7)...(also 1 Chron 29:20, 1 Sam 24:8)
Some say "Consecration" shows that Catholics worship Mary. The word “Consecrate” means to entrust. I entrust myself to my closest trusted friends but only one is my Savior.
Many non-Catholics have been trained from childhood to believe that one of the clear proofs of the falsity of Catholicism is to be found in the honor that is paid to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church, and in the innumerable trusting prayers that are offered to her by Catholics. At the same time it is true that many non-Catholics, when they learn what are the genuine foundations of Catholic devotion to Mary , are drawn by it so irresistibly that. ultimately they become Catholics. For the truth is very simple and clear, and is all contained in the following two truths.
1. Mary is the Mother of God. Catholics do not believe that God was bound by any compulsion to have a Mother; they believe that He chose to have a Mother and all that this implies. He chose to permit His human body to be formed in her womb.
He chose to permit her to bring Him forth as a tiny baby into the world. He chose to let her feed Him at her breast, carry Him in her arms, guard Him from danger, and teach Him as any child would be taught, to walk and speak and pray. He thereby chose to grant Mary a power over Him that only love can bestow. Catholics believe that in choosing a mother, the Son of God chose to grant her the power over His will that the love of a good mother always wields over a good son.
2. Mary is a mother to all men. Catholics believe that the Son of God chose to come into the world through a mother in order that that mother might accept as His brothers all the children of the sinful race of man. He set an example as to how she should be honored and loved. He prepared her for this motherhood of all by asking her to suffer every conceivable form of pain, thus teaching her sympathy for the sorrows of her children. Had she been His Mother alone, He would have spared her from pain, because He had the power to do so and because He loved her with an infinite love. He wrought His first public miracle at her request, and when He was dying He reminded her that she had been destined from the beginning to be a Mother to all. Catholics therefore believe that Mary will be as eager to help them, in troubles of soul and body, as every natural mother is eager to promote the welfare of her child.
The rosaries that Catholics recite are but the expression of their belief in these two truths. They know that if Mary speaks to her Divine Son in their behalf, there can be no doubt about their receiving an answer to their prayers.
A feminist praying for abortion is like the godless communists praying for atheism.
The words are superimposed over an image of the Virgin Mary. The back of the card says, "Dear Mary of Guadalupe, we thank you because your love is greater, because you listen to us without judging, because you know our heart and you respect the intimacy of our decisions."
Talk about an absolute heretical abuse of a religious symbol:
No, I'm a pro-LIFE feminist.
LOL, good line.
Now I understand the Irish expression "Jesus wept"!
Because she was.
My eyes fill with tears at the thought of what kind of PRAYER these "people" are trying to make to the HOLY MOTHER OF GOD !!
HOW DARE THEY !!! HOW DARE THEY MAKE SUCH A THING !!! it is unbelieveable to me and BREAKS MY HEART! LIFE IS PRECIOUS AND A GIFT FROM GOD..ask Our Lady to Stop the SIN the KILLING of the Helpless unborn....Thou Shalt Not Kill, is the Commandment and you write a "PRAYER " to ask Mary to Help you in supporting this WRONG!! Someone really needs to relook at the wounds of Jesus and go to confession...SO SAD< SO IMMENSELY SAD>>thank you SAlvation, for you lovely input...too...God Help Us all..no wonder we are getting quad hurricanes, volcano eruptions , floods !!!!
Our Mother Mary recoils.
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