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"Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds." The fact that MY waistline isn't what it ought to be is no argument against eating. If there is a proper level of Marian devotion we sinners will deviate from it either in the direction of excess or of deficiency. And while either deviation is sad, to those who have little devotion, even normative devotion will seem excessive.

I get that. If my first hearing of the Salve Regina had NOT been among good and holy Trappists, my then protestant hair would have curled. "Our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope"? Are you kidding me? Jesus is THE LIFE, not his mother. But seeing these guys and having conversed with some of them and at length with the nun who I had come to visit, I had no question about their continuous self-offering to Jesus and I saw that even such apparently excessive language could only be understood properly in the context of the overarching commitment. (And it didn't hurt that it was a completly and ravishingly lovely song.)

But, yeah, some Calflicks have made like a sheep and gone astray.

But, consider, if you will, the privilege of being the God-bearer. I was the, ahem, primary care-giver of my one and only kid, and the eager self-sacrifice that involved, the alertness, the solicitude, the attentive awareness for nearly every waking minute, that was what parenthood in the early years meant to me. And that's what, in my rare moments of sanity, I wish for in my relationship with Jesus.

And, being of the guy persuasion as I am, I have no clue what it would be to be attentive to the Lord within me, as she must have been.

My point is that whatever else we might want to say about the God-bearer, she, as it were naturally, had the life of prayer that we pray to be granted, that we long to experience. Since it seems inevitable that, one way or another our hearts will be broken and pierced as hers was, can't you understand at least the impulse to look not only to our Lord but to His mother for some, ah, solace and guidance as we blunder through our lives? Yes, Jesus is THE paradigm, but at another level, His Mother is also someone whom I, what shall I say, admire deeply.

Yes, Jesus is THE paradigm, but at another level, His Mother is also someone whom I, what shall I say, admire deeply.

She was a very admirable and the world is indebted to her great faith and for bearing and raising our Savior and supporting Him throughout His life. That said, I have gone and visited many Catholic Churches and there are many where a big statue of Mary is on the alter and trying to find any hint of Jesus is like trying to find Waldo. To me, Mary was very humble and faithful servant and would quite possibly be offended by that much attention.