It makes perfect sense for God to purify the woman who was going to carry God in her body for nine months and then have (with St. Joseph) the raising and education of Him for all of His childhood. It is contrary to nothing in scripture, and indeed tallies with the angel Gabriel's salutation - "Hail, full of grace" (in the Greek, the verb form indicates a complete and perfect fullness) - with no room left for sin.
This does not mean that the Virgin Mary is divine or worthy of worship. The Church has always distinguished between worship, which is due to God alone, and the honor paid to saints, especially the Virgin Mary.
Prayers go up to Mary, to the Saints. I’m sure Jesus wonders why they aren’t directed to Him.
All have fallen short, even Mary. All praise is due Jesus, no other. Paul was a great Christian post-Damascus road. Yet, he’s not worthy of receiving prayer.
Only one name by which we may be saved - Jesus.
If this isn’t worshiping Mary I don’t know what is.
Prayer of Pope Pius XII
In Honor of the Immaculate Conception
http://catholicism.about.com/od/tothevirginmary/qt/Honor_Immacula.htm
Prayer of Pope Pius XII
Enraptured by the splendor of your heavenly beauty, and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into your arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary, confident of finding in your most loving heart appeasement of our ardent desires, and a safe harbor from the tempests which beset us on every side.
Though degraded by our faults and overwhelmed by infinite misery, we admire and praise the peerless richness of sublime gifts with which God has filled you, above every other mere creature, from the first moment of your conception until the day on which, after your assumption into heaven, He crowned you Queen of the Universe.
O crystal fountain of faith, bathe our minds with the eternal truths! O fragrant Lily of all holiness, captivate our hearts with your heavenly perfume! O Conqueress of evil and death, inspire in us a deep horror of sin, which makes the soul detestable to God and a slave of hell!
O well-beloved of God, hear the ardent cry which rises up from every heart. Bend tenderly over our aching wounds. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and oppressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten harshness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, protect the holy Church, make all men feel the attraction of Christian goodness. In your name, resounding harmoniously in heaven, may they recognize that they are brothers, and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth the sun of a universal and sincere peace.
Receive, O most sweet Mother, our humble supplications, and above all obtain for us that, one day, happy with you, we may repeat before your throne that hymn which today is sung on earth around your altars: You are all-beautiful, O Mary! You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honor of our people! Amen.
“O Conqueress of evil and death” So Mary conquered evil and death? Blasphemy, pure blasphemy.
“You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honor of our people!” Mary? Not Jesus? Another pure blasphemy.
Why?
Sin is not transmitted by physical contact.
There's not one shred of Scriptural support for Mary being sinless or ever virgin.
Saying that someone is full of grace does not mean they're sinless. The two terms are not used interchangeably in Scripture.
But that's right. What is written in the Bible is not important to Catholics. What is important is what some ecclesiastical committee decides by consensus and majority vote.
Yeah, that's the ticket. What a reliable way to determine truth.
In the Bible, God says that we are not to make images and bow down to them. The word in Hebrew is the same word used for *worship*.
In God's way of thinking, from HIS WORD, bowing down to an image and serving it is worship.
Do Catholics really have the hubris to redefine words which God has defined already?
It's bad enough that, control freaks that they are, they try to own every other word in the English language, but to redefine what God says, too? That's chutzpah.