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.
And the low morals of so many of your popes and priests bear out what a disaster Catholicism has been for the countries in which it is the dominant religion.
And we're still seeing the fruit of that today.
CB:Wait! What??? I thought Catholics didn’t pray to Mary. Now you say they do? I’m going to copy that post and save it!!
Don't forget that that is also a tacit admission that Catholics believe in election.
Correct, yet somehow this is ignored in the place of those who have not suffered like the Early Church did while they sit in comfort and create modern theology from mistranslated Bible's.
It tears at my heart sometimes when I read what some people say against Our Blessed Mother, yet I know She is loving them beyond their understanding
A day without Jesus and Mary in my life would be a day without oxygen.
From Saint Jerome..
“Even while living in the world, the heart of Mary was so filled with motherly tenderness and compassion for men that no-one ever suffered so much for their own pains, as Mary suffered for the pains of her children.” -Saint Jerome
“If we still seek medical care despite bad doctors, if we still seek to learn despite bad teachers, if we still shop despite rude clerks, we should still belong to the Church despite the bad members of the Church. After all, if the Church were to admit to her ranks only perfect and sinless members, we ourselves would not be allowed to join. The Church is a hospital for sinners, people just like us and even worse, with faults and foibles, who are called, with the help of God, to love God and neighbor better.” — Dr. Christopher Kaczor, Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount
That is very kind ,dear friend , but I'm just a simple man and a sinner.
The use of “day” and “night” is metaphorical in relation to the Immaculate Conception being the dawn of our new day in Christ.
I am well aware that God created day and night.
A novice with truth says: "I shall HEAR and OBEY God's Word alone". Then the novice is no longer a novice.
Bad teachings produce bad members. The fish stinks from the head down.
Please refrain from the insults. You have already had one post removed today for this exact phraseology. I would hate to see you zotted.
Peace be with you.
So he was devoted.
Good for him; but I'm afraid that MARY can't do a single thing for me.
Nor would I want her to try.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
Jesus is referring to the Hebrew Bible, called the Tanakh. According to the Talmud (a commentary of the Tanakh) much of the contents of the Tanakh were compiled by the "Men of the Great Assembly" by 450 BCE, and have since remained unchanged. Modern scholars believe that the process of canonization of the Tanakh became finalized between 200 BCE and 200 CE. So, yes, Jesus meant the Divinely-inspired writings of the Old Testament (the name Christians call the Tanakh). But, Elsie, also quoted the writers of the New Testament books and they were ALSO called "Scripture" - as in Divinely inspired writings. These writings were accepted AS from God long before the church decided to make a canon "official" and call it the "Bible".
So God's Word is an insult? That doesn't end well.
IT is known thin skinned can't handle Truth. Making a post disappear is too funny as it keeps some warm and fuzzy and it's futile because it doesn't change the TRUTH.
I would hate to see you zotted.
And I don't believe that. NO PC here, keep it honest!
God's Word is THE FINAL AUTHORITY. And nothing anyone can do about it - although some with be gnashing their teeth as It is Written.
Thanks for doing some more research on this. For those who actually care about the truth and not just trying to fling mud hoping to smear everyone with it with which they don't agree, it is interesting to note that Luther did NOT even know Katherina when she and her fellow nuns were freed from the convent they no longer wanted to stay at. He didn't actually meet her until TWO YEARS after that happened. So, I guess we can expect certain people to apologize for having accused them both of "sneaking around to get it on". We know that is a false accusation now and, hopefully, we won't hear it repeated again the next time Martin Luther's name is brought up. Hope springs eternal, right?
Did you place yourself in ROME'S seat? Such teachings come through hypocritical liars.......... 1 Tim 4:2
Know your place and refrain from being out of line.
Thanks. I missed Daniel’s post.
And I add my thanks to Daniel for his always excellent research and his commitment to TRUTH.
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