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"She isn't the focus of Palm Sunday. The Passion is. One of them will be read tomorrow in every Catholic church. It just so happens that today is the Feast of St. Joseph. Pure coincidence. Mary is never exactly the focus of anything. We ask her, as the Mother of Our Lord, to pray for us in her son's name. We ask all those who have passed before us and are with God to pray for us. Mary just happens to be very special as she was the vessel through which Our Lord was succored."

The Feast of Joseph is a made up holiday honoring the wrong person. It is Christ that you should always be focused on not honoring other dead sinners.

Mary is another sinner like you and I. If it matters, the Bible makes this clear. First, David declared for ALL human beings , Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me Psalm 51:5.

Second, Pail affirmed that EVERY human born of natural parents since Adam's time sinned in Adam, for "through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to ALL man, because ALL sinned, Romans 5:12.

Here's the whole passage that I am referring to in Romans:

[11] And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

[12] Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

[13] (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

[14] Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

[15] But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

[16] And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

[17] For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

[18] Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

[19] For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

[20] Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

[21] That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is very, very clear that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that INCLUDES Mary! Mary is part of ALL! She is NOT without sin.

Romans 3:23

Rom.3

[23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

There are other verses that state the same. The Bible is VERY clear on this.

Third, there is absolutely no trace anywhere in the Bible that Mary was an exception to the rule and not included in "all". In Christ's case, however it points out repeatedly that He was human, yet without sin as indicated here:

2 Cor. 5:21

[21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

And here:

Hebrews 4:15

[15] For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

And here:

1 Peter 3:18

[18] For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

And I'll end with this one even though there are other verses that state the same.

Finally, Mary proclaimed her own sinfulness when she confessed, "my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior"

Luke 1:46

[46] And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

[47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.

It really doesn't get any clearer. I would strongly suggest you take the Word of God over the word of fallible man.

Mary confessed she is a sinner like you and I in the verse I referenced - she needed Jesus as her Savior also. She is not sinless and just another human being. The Bible commands us to "Worship the Lord your God, and Him ONLY shall you serve" in Matthew 4:10:

[10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

The angel from God did NOT confirm that Mary was blessed OVER ALL WOMEN but blessed AMONG WOMEN - big difference - ah the devil is in the details. He declared:

Luke 1:28

[28] And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

The cult of Mariolatry grew in the Roman Catholic Church beginning in the Middle Ages, adding to her titles as a "Coredemtrix" and "Queen of Heaven". This is a pagan influence on Christianity patterned after the old Babylonian goddess called by this very name - "the queen of heaven" in Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 7:18

[18] The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Jeremiah 44:17-19

[17] But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.

[18] But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.

[19] And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?

and verse 25

[25] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven,

Read through this book and see how this angered God.

Lastly but not exhaustive of your beliefs is the issue of praying TO Mary. Again the Bible clearly states something contrary to what you chose to believe. Again, you must decide, if you take the Word of God to heart or the word of fallible man.

1 Timothy 2:5 asserts:

[5] For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

So the MEDIATOR is Jesus Christ but who is the INTERCESSOR? Mary? Another dead "saint"?

Let's see what the Bible, God's Word says.

In Romans 8:26-27 we find God's answer to the question:

[26] Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

[27] And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

So, Christ is the MEDIATOR and the Holy Spirit is the INTERCESSOR for us. Christ ALONE died for our sins, not Mary or Joseph etc..

Heb.1
[1] God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

[2] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

The death of Christ made reconciliation possible as stated in 2 Cor. 5:19-21

[19] To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

[20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

[21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The Holy Spirit did NOT die for our sins. It was Christ. Christ prays to the Father on our behalf. Having been on this earth He is sympathetic to our daily temptations. The INTERCESSION of the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is not in heaven, as Christ's work is according to 1 John 2:1-2

1 John.2:1-2

[1] My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

[2] And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Rather the Holy Spirit or if you prefer to call Him the Holy Ghost, is INDWELLING within believers. The INDWELLING Spirit pleads in us TO the Father on the grounds of the MEDIATING work of Jesus Christ. THIS is what the Bible states.

No where, I repeat, NO WHERE does the bible state ANYONE else intercedes for us - not Mary, not Joseph nor any other mere fallible dead mortal does this for us. It is sooo clear, when the Bible is relied upon. Again, the choice is yours. If you wish to rely on man's word that CONTRADICTS what God clearly states in the Bible, that is a choice you can make however it is a most unwise one and it is not a "difference in interpretation".

There is more I can say on this FROM THE BIBLE but this should suffice. What else I would add is just a rehash with other verses to state the same. If you don't accept this, you won't accept more of the same so there is no point in me responding further.