Ping
Yeshua is my Savior. No body else.
Not for this One.
Mary, the mother of Jesus?
Isn’t she dead?
Fascinating.
Gnostic, confused about time, mistaken about intercession.
What, is there a bureaucracy in heaven too? God can’t take the time because he is so busy with this whole universe thing, so Jesus is in charge of the Humans division of the Earth department. If he’s too busy to hear you, try Mary. Of course, you might need to check in with St. Jude, or maybe St. Christopher if you are traveling, or St. Francis if you are having trouble with some animals. If you want to visit heaven you have to check in with St. Peter. For the smaller stuff, you can go down to the church and light a candle, not as effective as a bribe, but a lot like filling out a form.
If Mary is no closer to God than any other person...
then Jesus isn’t God.
That is really not a very Christian position.
Then Paul was wrong to ask people to pray for him (Eph 6:19, Rom 15:13, etc.). If Mary can't intercede for me, then neither can Paul's readers intercede for him.
NO
Mary can’t intercede for Christians.
Christians are aware that the only Mediator between God and man is Christ Jesus. Very clear in the Bible.
Any sect that believes that Mary, or any other dead person, can intercede is a cult.
And what’s this “Catholic bashing” some FReepers are whining about? If people don’t want to be challenged in healthy religious debate on this site, they should steer clear of religious postings. (Isn’t there a specific forum here for religion? I’m not sure.) A Christian won’t convert to Catholicism just because an R.C. zealot throws out a bizarre post now and again. It’s ridiculous.
I guess you do not believe in miracles? I find it hard to believe though, since most of the Protestants I have known have more than their share of apocryphal stories of the power of prayer. It is extra-biblical, but it sure does help to have either seen or heard reliably of some powerful miracle. Now, I have many more stories to fall back on than most of you that help underpin my faith. Yes, yes bible alone, right? But miracles and hearings sure help. Well, folks, praying to Mary is powerful! So you go ahead and shoot it down on the basis of some claptrap analysis.
I will be content in what works!!
Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us!
The statement contradicts itself. Scripture or this author, which is it? How does one decide?
. The Annunciation is the moment when our Lady is given to know the vocation which God planned for her from eternity. When the archangel sets her mind at ease by saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary,” he is helping her to overcome that initial fear which a person normally experiences when God gives him or her a special calling. The fact that Mary felt this fear does not imply the least trace of imperfection in her: hers is a perfectly natural reaction in the face of the super- natural. Imperfection would arise if one did not overcome this fear or rejected the advice of those in a position to help — as St. Gabriel helped Mary.
31-33. The archangel Gabriel tells the Blessed Virgin Mary that she is to be the Mother of God by reminding her of the words of Isaiah which announced that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, a prophecy which will find its fulfillment in Mary (cf. Matthew 1:22-23; Isaiah 7:14). He reveals that the Child will be “great”: His greatness comes from His being God, a greatness He does not lose when He takes on the lowliness of human nature. He also reveals that Jesus will be the king of the Davidic dynasty sent by God in keeping with His promise of salvation; that His Kingdom will last forever, for His humanity will remain forever joined to His divinity; that “He will be called Son of the Most High”, that is that He really will be the Son of the Most High and will be publicly recognized as such, that is, the Child will be the Son of God.
God chose to be born of a virgin; centuries earlier He disclosed this through the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22-23). God, “before all ages made choice of, and set in her proper place, a mother for His only-begotten Son from whom He, after being made flesh, should be born in the blessed fullness of time: and He continued His persevering regard for her in preference to all other crea- tures, to such a degree that for her alone He had singular regard” (Pius IX, “Inef- fabilis Deus,” 2). This privilege granted to our Lady of being a virgin and a mother at the same time is a unique gift of God. This was the work of the Holy Spirit “who at the conception and the birth of the Son so favored the Virgin Mother as to impart fruitfulness to her while preserving inviolate her perpetual virginity” (”St. Pius V Catechism,” I, 4, 8). Paul VI reminds us of this truth of faith: “We believe that the Blessed Mary, who ever enjoys the dignity of virginity, was the Mother of the incarnate Word, of our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (”Creed of the People of God”, 14).
Mary’s resolution to remain a virgin was certainly something very unusual, not in line with the practice of righteous people under the Old Covenant, for, as St. Au- gustine explains, “particularly attentive to the propagation and growth of the peo- ple of God, through whom the Prince and Savior of the world might be prophesied and be born, the saints were obliged to make use of the good of matrimony” (”De Bono Matrimonii”, 9, 9). However, in the Old Testament, there were some who, in keeping with God’s plan, did remain celibate — for example, Jeremiah, Elijah, Eli- seus and John the Baptist. The Blessed Virgin, who received a very special inspi- ration of the Holy Spirit to practise virginity, is a first-fruit of the New Testament, which will establish the excellence of virginity over marriage while not taking from the holiness of the married state, which it raises to the level of a sacrament (cf. “Gaudium Et Spes”, 48).
35. The “shadow” is a symbol of the presence of God. When Israel was journeying through the wilderness, the glory of God filled the Tabernacle and a cloud co- vered the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 40:34-36). And when God gave Moses the tablets of the Law, a cloud covered Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:15-16); and also, at the Transfiguration of Jesus the voice of God the Father was heard coming out of a cloud (Luke 9:35).
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States.