Mary was a mortal human being, a sinner like all of us.
Bingo.
Speak directly to The Man.
No need to go through subordinates.
Mary was a human mother born in sin. That’s all nothing more. The one qualifying factor that she had that Jesus needed was the unbroken, unblemished line from David through his son Nathan. Whereas Joseph’s bloodline which was broken but his line carried the title of King through David.
I don’t know whether Mary was sinless or not, and I’m comfortable with not knowing. All I know is that God found her special, and so do I.
"Do whatever he tells you" she said (John 2:5). Mary calls us to obedience, and Our Lord has made her the vehicle to bring warring factions together in peace to Him. She did so in Mexico (as Our Lady of Guadalupe).
Throughout history, she has always pointed the way to her Son through obedience to Him.
Good news.
>”They all saw it (the apparition of Mary) as a great sign of consolation after the war with Israel (in 1967) that God had not forgotten the people of Egypt,” he said.<
What has not been mentioned is that the church in Zeitoun, Egypt has recently been bombed. I doubt that the Copts did this.
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>She is recognized as the purified woman chosen to be the mother of the promised Messiah.<
Yet, from the very beginning, Islam has persecuted the followers of the same Person that they recognize as the promised Messiah. Even today Christians do not enjoy religious freedom in muslim counties that Muslims do in the West. I think that Islam owes the West an explanation.
This is nothing new. Protestants and Evangelicals have always recognized the unique role of Mary, the mother of Jesus. We called her blessed, just as the scriptures do. She is an example of obedient faith and, like other heroes of the faith, such as the apostles and the martyrs, deserves our respect and a place of honor in our hearts and minds. Nevertheless, we do not venerate her or them. Veneration is reserved for God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, by the inner working of the Holy Spirit. And so, too, our prayers are directed to God the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, by the inner working of the Holy Spirit.
Not all apparitions have been solely to Catholics or even to Christians. One in Viet Nam from 1888 was seen only by the pagans besieging a badly outnumbered Christian group. They reoported the Lady as standing over the church in the town. Their artillery targeted the church but it and the lady were unscathed. When the defenders broke out at dawn in a hopeless attack the enemy soldiers saw the Lady ahead of them, panicked, and ran away. The Christians heard of it from the pagans.
Gee, it seems like it was only yesterday we Eastern Christians were saying “It looks like Marian devotion isn’t just for us anymore.” after the Latins discovered our traditions like the Feast of the Dormition. Of course, in the Orthodox Church 1500 years ago really is pretty much yesterday.
She is not our Saint or iconic statue, she cannot save us. We do not worship any icons, or should not. We do not worship the Jesus on the Cross statues either, our Jesus/Lord is no longer on the cross. We do not pray through Mary, nor need a priest to pray for us, we have a direct connection to God through his SON Jesus.
We don't have to bury a saint statue in our front yards to sell our houses either. ROFL yes, they do this.
Why do we call Mary the Theotokos ? The Mother of Our God ?
Because in her womb, from the moment of conception Diety and Flesh became one. It was not Flesh first and the later indwelt with Diety. Nor was it Diety first that later manifest as Flesh. It was both united together in her womb.
Thus she is and must be the Mother of God the Theotokos. To say otherwise is to deny the dual nature of Christ.
Why do we say that Salvation came to the world through Mary ?
Because it is true. It was through Mary, conceiving via the Holy Spirit, carrying the Christ in her womb, giving him birth and raising him that our Savior existed. While true that she was granted this gift by God, and was as a result more blessed than any other woman, she was likewise a participant and without her willing service the Christ did not walk the earth.