Just to illustrate the difference: until the 20th century, the Anglican and Methodist marriage ceremony contained the words,
"With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."
Now obviously, the spouses are not saying, in the presence of the Trinity, that they will now undertake idolatrous adoration of their marriage partner. "Worship" was a word that meant "highly honor."
The same was found in the Jewish marriage ceremony, which used the phrase, "Be unto me a wife, and I according to the word of God, will worship, honour and maintain thee," which is obviously not idolatry, but a pledge of high honor.
Similarly, people formerly closed their letters to employers or superior officers with the words, "Your worshipful servant," when they meant, basically, "At your service" --- they did not mean divine adoration --- and for that matter, Protestant clergy were commonly called "divines," which did not mean they were demigods.
So your point is simply mistaken here, since you did not recognize the applicable usage of the time and context.
Moreover, this statement of yours,
"Perhaps that is why Mary is the central figure in Catholicism"
is plainly and simply untrue. All Catholics would reject this as false, including of course Mary herself.
It may interest you to know that the name of Mary is not mentioned even once in the basic, central act of adoration, namely, the Mass as celebrated daily, everywhere, in every country, in the Catholic Church. These is one exception: on the occasions when the "Confiteor" prayer is used, Mary is at the head of the list of believers (including the people in the pews around us) we are asking for intercessory prayer, to wit:
"Therefore I ask Blessed Mary ever Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God."You can easily see the difference between asking a fellow believer for intercession, and the following,which is an act of true adoration, properly so called:
Glory to God in the highest,
and, peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
Note the difference: this is the lexicon of adoration: the bolded words are the type of thing that could never be addressed to any creature. Only God is offered the ultimate act of sacrifice, which is the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who offers Himself to His Father as the only acceptable, pure and perfect sacrifice, as was prophesied by Malachi 1:11:
"For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts."Malachi’s prediction (1:10–11) could be fulfilled only by the sacrifice of Christ, Who is the only pure and perfect, spotless and acceptable offering. And among the Gentiles from east to west? This clearly means that this would be a sacrifice made present everywhere amongst the non-Jewish, i.e. Gentile nations. The prediction is that instead of the Jewish animal sacrifices, the Lord would instead have "a pure offering" made to him by the Gentiles in every place: a prophecy of the Eucharist. The Didache, the earliest Church teaching manual we have,before 100 AD, applies the term thusia, or sacrifice, to the Eucharist. This can be offered to God alone.
So you can certainly apply other criticisms to Catholic teaching, go ahead! But for the sake of accuracy --- and therefore more credible, exact and telling criticism --- do not make the blunder of saying we adore Mary. And do not make the blunder of saying Blessed Mary is the most central figure in Catholicism. She is a handmaid, and God has done great things for her. Blessed Mary knew that and so do we.
OK, carry on! :o)
That's fine with me, I wasn't asking you about what "trips" you up.
I was posting about this:
"Loyola had made the Virgin the most important thing in his life.... The Worship of Mary was the base of his religious devotions and was handed down by him to his Order..... This worship developed so much that it was often said, and with good reason, that it was the Jesuits 'real religion'"Pretty plain, worship of Mary.
Your "correction" did not pertain to my statements at all.
I breezed past the rest of your "lesson" as it wasn't pertinent to our conversation, until I got to the "Malachi’s prediction" (1:10–11) apparent "tradition."
That is an amazing stretch from Malichi's scripture to worshiping a wafer as if it is actually Jesus Christ. Fine for you and your belief system, but other than that it means nothing verified by scripture, nor is it important to the body of Christ.
...do not make the blunder of saying we adore Mary
I will when I see it, and it will not be a blunder. What I did say was that many Catholics worship Mary. And that is true. You may not, but others do.
And do not make the blunder of saying Blessed Mary is the most central figure in Catholicism.
Blunder again LOL!
She is much more outwardly displayed and talked about than Jesus by Catholics. Therefore I will continue to make that observation. Nothing personal.
She is a handmaid
Then treat her like one. Instead of the Mother Of All Mankind and the Queen of Heaven etc etc.
God has done great things for her
Yes he has, and He went no further than what is in Scripture.
Jesus make it clear that those that listen to Him and follow Him are His mother and brothers. And he said that when he was told his mother was outside.
He didn't drop what he was doing and go outside to see her. (He knew she was outside there anyway, he didn't have to be told)
Perhaps you can start a movement to treat Mary as she should be, and go up against all those that see her as something she never was or ever will be.
She is simply a handmaid of the Lord.
She never wanted all of this attention.
Some ‘wife’ your church’s Mary turned out to be!
Our Lady of the Perpetual Headache!!!
Word games don't change the reality Mrs. Don-o. It has been shown time and time again in these threads how Catholics elevate Mary giving her status and abilities which are God's alone. There have been examples of Catholics dedicating their lives wholly to Mary rather than Christ. There are prayers to Mary for Catholics to consecrate themselves to Mary. The Catholic Church has put Mary in a position of usurping the rightful place of the Holy Spirit and Jesus.