Posted on 12/08/2012 2:24:39 PM PST by NYer
Do Catholics worship Mary? This question is as old as the Protestant Reformation itself, and it rests, like other disputed doctrinal points, on a false premise that has been turned into a wedge: the veneration of Mary detracts from the worship of Christ.
This seeming opposition between Mary and Christ is symptomatic of the Protestant tendency, begun by Luther, to view the entirety of Christian life through a dialectical lens – a lens of conflict and division. With the Reformation the integrity of Christianity is broken and its formerly coherent elements are now set in opposition. The Gospel versus the Law. Faith versus Works. Scripture versus Tradition. Authority versus Individuality. Faith versus Reason. Christ versus Mary.
The Catholic tradition rightly sees the mutual complementarity of these elements of the faith, as they all contribute to our ultimate end – living with God now and in eternity. To choose any one of these is to choose them all.
By contrast, to assert that Catholics worship Mary along with or in place of Christ, or that praying to Mary somehow impedes Christ’s role as “the one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim 2:5) is to create a false dichotomy between the Word made flesh and the woman who gave the Word his flesh. No such opposition exists. The one Mediator entrusted his mediation to the will and womb of Mary. She does not impede his mediation – she helps to make it possible.
Within this context we see the ancillary role that the ancilla Domini plays in her divine Son’s mission. Mary’s is not a surrogate womb rented and then forgotten in God’s plan. She is physically connected to Christ and his life, and because of this she is even more deeply connected to him in the order of grace. She is, in fact, “full of grace,” as only one who is redeemed by Christ could be.
The feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception celebrates the very first act of salvation by Christ in the world. Redemption is made possible for all by his precious blood shed on the cross. Yet Mary’s role in the Savior’s life and mission is so critical and so unique that God saw it necessary to wash her in the blood of the Lamb in advance, at the first moment of her conception.
This reality could not be more Biblical: the angel greets Mary as “full of grace” (Luke 1:28), which is literally rendered as “already graced” (kecharitōmenē). Following Mary, the Church has “pondered what sort of greeting this might be” for centuries. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception, ultimately defined in 1854, is nothing other than a rational expression of the angel’s greeting contained in Scripture: Mary is “already graced” with Christ’s redemption at the very moment of her creation.
Because God called Mary to the unique vocation of serving as the Mother of God, it is not just her soul that is graced, as is the case for us when we receive the sacraments. Mary’s entire being, body and soul, is full of grace so that she may be a worthy ark for the New Covenant. And just as the ark of the old covenant was adorned with gold to be a worthy house for God’s word, Mary is conceived without original sin to be the living and holy house for God’s Word.
Thus Mary is not only conceived immaculately, that is, without stain of sin. She also is the Immaculate Conception. Her entire being was specifically created by God with unique privilege so that she could fulfill her role in God’s plan of salvation. “Free from sin,” both original and personal, is the necessary consequence of being “full of grace.”
Protestants claim that veneration of Mary as it is practiced by Catholics is not biblical. St. Paul encouraged the Corinthians to “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). Paul is not holding himself up as the end goal, but as a means to Christ, the true end. And if a person is imitated, he is simultaneously venerated.
If we should imitate Paul, how much more should we imitate Mary, who fulfilled God’s will to the greatest degree a human being could. Throughout her life she humbled herself so that God could be exalted, and because of this, Christ has fulfilled his promise by exalting his lowly mother to the seat closest to him in God’s kingdom.
Mary is the model of humility, charity, and openness to the will of God. She allows a sword to pierce her heart for the sake of the world’s salvation. She shows us the greatness to which we are called: a life free from sin and filled with God’s grace that leads to union with God in Heaven. She is the model disciple, and therefore worthy of imitation and veneration, not as an end in herself, but as the means to the very purpose of her – and our – existence: Christ himself.
God’s lowly handmaiden would not want it any other way.
Jesus taught His message with Words. Ever hear of walk the talk?
Now who would want to keep God's Word silent, anyway?
So; YOU are going to judge by outward appearances; eh?
In direct CONFLICT with Scripure.
interesting...
This is EXACTLY the kind of thing I was referring to when I posted about self declared experts in Catholic teaching not knowing what they don't know. If you read all of Gaudium et Specs and the related writings you will find that cardinal Ratzinger was not referring to a conscience that is of itself a source of moral teaching, but rather a properly formed conscience.
Pope Benedict XVI in specific and the Church have spoken and written extensively on the responsibility of the individual to properly for their conscience and the Church's obligation to facilitate the formation of both faith and conscience.
Here is one of the more enlightening sections from Gaudium et Specs on conscience:
"16. In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.(9) Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.(10) In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.(11) In fidelity to conscience, Christians are joined with the rest of men in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals from social relationships. Hence the more right conscience holds sway, the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality. Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said for a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or for a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin."
I encourage you to take the opportunity of a New Year to pursue the whole truth. Peace be with you
Seek Me, and you will find Me.
Jeremiah 29:13
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CATECHSM/MOSTCAT.htm
God knows people's heart and circumstances and with Him all things are possible.
"We can see this from what St. Paul tells us in Romans 2. 14-16. There Paul says that Spirit of God, who is of course the same as the Spirit of Christ, writes His law in the hearts of all. Those who accept that law, may not know that what they are accepting is the Spirit of Christ. Still, they really accept that Spirit of Christ, if they do what He tells them in their hearts to do. So they have what we could all an implicit faith. So, because they accept the Spirit of Christ — without knowing that that is what they are doing — they can even be called Christians. For St. Justin the Martyr, around 150 A.D., in his First Apology (46) said that many in the past who even might have seemed to be atheists, were really Christians, because they followed the Divine Word. That is what we have just described. St. Augustine wrote about this, in his Retractations (1. 13. 3) where he answered the pagan Celsus. Celsus said it seemed as though God took no care of people in past times. St. Augustine said: "This very thing which is now called the Christian religion existed before. It was not absent from the beginning of the human race, until Christ Himself came in the flesh, and then the true religion, that already existed, began to be called Christian." Scientists don't agree on how old the human race is. But in 1983 Allan Wilson of the University of California, Berkeley, wrote that all the human there are today descended from one mother, who lived 350,000 years ago (Science News, August 13, 1983). Many scientists today think Wilson is right, but they now say the mother lived 200,000 years ago (Newsweek, Jan 11, 1988).
Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind once said about Jesus, "Yes, I know Him, I just didn't know His name". She is an example of someone who never was able to learn about Jesus previously, but it seems had Him in her heart. She is likely to have been saved. Only God truly kows.
The same applies to everyone. Many people have emotional handicaps that we can't see, but still limit them. Only God understands those things fully and can judge a person's heart.
Your very own words, slipping off of your very own fingers, onto your very own keyboard, has shown quite a different picture.
But; I'll give you this; you do NOT see your own illogic behind it all.
People would MUCH rather be PRAISED into Hell; than REBUKED into Heaven.
Well; ain't THAT special!!!
Now THERE is a complete waste of man-hours!
DAMN that John!!!
John 3:18
The Church is going to continue to choose its as its saints those who are examples of exceptional degrees of holiness, sanctity, and virtue based on the outward appearances of the Gifts and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you
Why do you care?
Gonna look something up about it and make a JUDGEMENT?
Haven't you Catholics in this thread complained about folks who were RAISED in the RCC and are now out if it; don't you claim that they can't POSSIBLY now KNOW anything about it's teachings?
Even when they are POSTED for the world to see?
And yet YOU want to know 'what church do you belong to'?
(Are there any PRE Logic 101 courses available on line???)
But; no one has.
Unless...
You equate your CHURCH with GOD.
But, posting FACTS put forward from your GOD church, does NOT equate to slander.
It give a context to the statements and assertions made and permits a more direct and cogent response. Absent that we might be left to answer in kind with flippant, condescending and decidedly not funny errors and quips.
Peace be with you
Sure. Everything said about Catholics or by Catholics or the Catholic church needs to be *properly interpreted*. Nothing can ever be taken at face value. It never means what it says, it always means what the Catholic church says it means.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that I have ever read or seen posted about Catholicism by non-Catholics has ever been exempted from that charge, that it is not properly *interpreted*.
And of course, only the Catholic church is capable of interpreting it properly, although, honestly I can’t see how someone could place their trust in the accuracy interpretation by someone who couldn’t even state something clearly enough in the first place so that it didn’t NEED an interpretation.
So tell me, how do we interpret the interpretation and make sure that the interpretation of the interpretation is correct? Does someone then need to interpret that as well?
And so it goes.
Turtles all the way down.
I'm sure they are. Doesn't mean they're saved though.
Yeah...
Turn the other cheek!
Scripture already posted to that effect.
No response. It appears to have fallen on deaf ears.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.