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To: annalex
Luke explains that Mary gave birth to Christ and brought salvation to men.

No, Luke shows that Mary gave birth to the Messiah and it was He who brought salvation to men.

Christ rebuked a woman who tried to elevate Mary and redirected the woman to the word of God (Lk.11:27-28) 27 And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. 28 But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it. What this says is that Mary is to be venerated along with other saints not for the physical work of childbearing but for the word that she heard and the Word that she kept in her womb.

Now, how can anyone 'keep the Word' as Mary carried Christ in her womb?

Read what the verse says, not what you want it to say.

Christ is clearly turning people away from venerating His mother to what they need to do, hear and obey His words.

Christ never even calls Mary 'mother' in the Gospels, but always addresses her as 'woman'.

12,011 posted on 03/26/2007 3:58:47 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (For what saith the scripture? (Rom.4:3))
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To: fortheDeclaration; Forest Keeper
Mary gave birth to the Messiah and it was He who brought salvation to men

This is, of course, also true, this is why Mary is co-redeemer but not a redeemer. At least this is what my Church teaches.

how can anyone 'keep the Word' as Mary carried Christ in her womb?

We can be likewise faithful to Christ and place ourselves at the foot of the Cross with St. John and Mary the Mother of God. We can let our soul magnify the Lord and let our spirit rejoice in God our Saviour. We can, in short, pray to her often, and ask for guidance.

Christ is clearly turning people away from venerating His mother

The slight rebuke you detect in Jesus's voice is directed at those who might venerate Mary as purely a vessel, a breeding apparatus for God. This is, of course, a defect of Protestant, not Catholic, mariology. Still, veneration He approves, but He directs it at the true essence of Mary as the first and most faithful disciple, one without sin.

addresses her as 'woman'.

He does, doesn't He? This echoes "the woman" whose seed will crush the Serpent (Genesis 3:15). It certainly has no connotation of disrespect, as historical scholarship showed, -- Forest Keeper made a post recently about this.

12,083 posted on 03/26/2007 7:10:46 PM PDT by annalex
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