[what's up]

Yes, those all come from the one passage in Luke...chapter one.

Mary was blessed and favored...as was King David for example. But for some reason you and others believe that being blessed by God as described in one chapter of the Bible equates to being given god-like ability to provide mercy to sinners, or being a gate to God.

You people have created extra-biblical beliefs and doctrine largely based on only one chapter of the Bible. In doing so, you stray from the truth contained in the rest of the Bible.

[mlizzy]

I don't know that anyone could appreciate Mary without first knowing her or seeking her (or "needing" her), so there's not much further I could really say other than to try a Hail Mary every once in a while [remember it's from the Bible], if you're interested, and see if you are drawn closer to Christ.

Bobby Jindal, one of my favorite politicians, and a Catholic, and one of the brightest humans around, was involved in a "spiritual exorcism," as a college student, and this is what he had to say:

Strangely, I found myself repeating the Hail Mary until it became a chant. Being a recent convert to Catholicism, I had yet to accept the Catholic doc­trines concerning Mary and considered any form of Marian devotion to be idolatry. Though I had never before prayed a Hail Mary in my life, I suddenly found myself incapable of any other form of prayer. Somehow, Mary's intercessions allowed me to find peace during that long night; I knew that I had sur­vived the worst and that I would exit with my faith intact. It terrified me to recall how close I came to turning away from Christ out of fear. --Bobby Jindal