Posted on 01/01/2013 12:39:19 PM PST by Salvation
In doing so, please avoid leftist tactics. Protestants are not "Mariaphobic." Nor do they "fear" Mary. Yours are lazy, small-minded arguments.
Agreed. "Mariaphobic" is an irrational pejorative, in the same way that "homophobic" is.
I feel badly for Protestants who reject Mary's generously-offered graces. Like rejecting a cup of cold, clear water when you are dying of thirst. And they reject it militantly, not out of ignorance.
One might suspect Mr. Shea has spent some time on FR.
</rolls-eyes>
It’s all about Jesus
Protestants believe that Mary was a sinner in need of salvation through the grace of God the son—just like everyone else. how does that make them “Mariaphobic”?
Trying to read my mind, eh?
I see a lot of dissing of Mary from non-Catholics on FR.
Perhaps you don’t see them.
Anyway — you can’t read my mind. (And besides that — it’s against the rule on the Religion Forum.)
“Mary’s generously-offered graces.”
What’s the chapter and verse on MARY’s generously offered graces? Doesn’t exist. God’s grace is the only grace — unless you’ve been smokin’ the sofa or something.
LOL! That was my thought precisely when I first saw the article.
The funny thing is that Martin Luther treats Mary with almost Catholic respect, all through his writings. About the only exception is that he denies her the title, Queen of Heaven, because that is the name that was given to the Goddess Ishtar, condemned in the Old Testament.
John Milton, a convinced Puritan, also speaks highly of Mary in his early poems, in Paradise Lost, and most notably in Paradise Regained, his last poem.
The Protestant refusal to treat Mary with respect, and pretty much to ignore her, was a fairly late development, not yet present in the early Reformation. And, of course, it goes against several passages in the Bible, for instance, “All generations shall call me blessed.”
Christ was true man and true God.
Would you have Jesus if it had not been for the Blessed Virgin Mary’s “YES” to the Archangel Gabriel?
From Luke: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done according to thy word.”
“And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
Besides, all grace through Mary originates with God.
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.
Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.
(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)
I have never met a protestant who is fearful of Mary. the whole premise of the article framed this way shows the bias.
There are large differences in dogma in terms of how protestants and catholics view Mary. Because we don’t look at Mary the same - we consider her a great and special person, but not a sinless person or that she was assumed bodily to heaven, that protestants must “fear” her? Nope.
We relate to Mary far more closely than the catholics do as far as I am concerned. And this from a person who’s been in both “camps”.
Catholic and Orthodox Ping!
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.
Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.
Amen.
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.
(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)
...And for the record, MY God is not the slacker that needs to be nagged by his mother to get his work done as Catholics insinuate.
I feel badly for Protestants who reject Mary’s generously-offered graces.
And where in the Bible is there any record of Mary offering anything to me?
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