As a Christian, do you consider the Blessed Virgin Mary as your Mother?

[rr1213]

And he included this private family anecdote right in the middle of Christ’s final teachings to the Church because … ?

…because Jesus loves his mother a WHOLE LOT. As Protestants, we no doubt forget this point at the same time that we advise Catholics that they are focused in excess on Mary (a contentious topic that we should save for another thread). Jesus also knew that he was close to death. If he was going to give Mary to John, he needed to do it.

 

[LilyM]

Yes, but why was it recorded for posterity if it was only applicable to John? Why done and said publicly from the Cross instead of privately on the way to Calvary if it was only for John and Mary’s ears?

 

[rr1213]

Then how do you justify Paul when he often call believers that we are brothers in Christ? Is he in error?

Of course not. We ARE brothers in Christ. The word “brother” has a broad meaning, doesn’t it? At least that is what Catholics tell us ( ) when we Protestants point to the word “brother” in Scripture to indicate that Jesus had brothers and sisters. When I was in a fraternity, we called ourselves “brothers” also to indicate our love and friendship for each other. Soldiers often refer to their 'brothers in arms".

Me thinks we may have mined this topic for all that its worth…I understand what you are saying and I think you understand what I am saying. We agree that Mary is the Mother of God. We are spending a lot of time over what, in any event, is a figurative description of Mary as also being our mother (or adopted mother, or symbolic mother, etc.).

 

[Mannyfit75]

Of course not. We ARE brothers in Christ. The word “brother” has a broad meaning, doesn’t it? At least that is what Catholics tell us ( ) when we Protestants point to the word “brother” in Scripture to indicate that Jesus had brothers and sisters. When I was in a fraternity, we called ourselves “brothers” also to indicate our love and friendship for each other. Soldiers often refer to their 'brothers in arms".

Me thinks we may have mined this topic for all that its worth…I understand what you are saying and I think you understand what I am saying. We agree that Mary is the Mother of God. We are spending a lot of time over what, in any event, is a figurative description of Mary as also being our mother (or adopted mother, or symbolic mother, etc.).

So you accept the fact that we are adapted children of God.

 

[mark_a]

Since we are all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, and Mary is his mother, do you consider Mary your mother as well? I like your view on this matter, Catholic or Non-Catholic Christians.

You can vote on this, and if you so desire, you can explain your position.

I am starting to realize the value of having another mother. I mostly pray for her intercession to help me understand my wife and most other women.

Well, maybe not understand, but deal with effectively.

Well maybe not deal with effectively, but learn to be more accepting.

Well, maybe not to be more accepting, but to help me keep my mouth shut and do whatever I’m told to do!

 

[st_lucy]

I’m thankful I’m able to discuss this with you all.

Happy Thankgiving and God Bless

Yes and the same to you.

I am thankful that this thread has stayed very civil and actually enjoyable to discuss.

 

[jmcrae]

I am starting to realize the value of having another mother. I mostly pray for her intercession to help me understand my wife and most other women.

Well, maybe not understand, but deal with effectively.

Well maybe not deal with effectively, but learn to be more accepting.

Well, maybe not to be more accepting, but to help me keep my mouth shut and do whatever I’m told to do!

Or, hey, how about this - you could ask her to help you to work as a team mate, side by side with your wife and with other women that you work with, sharing ideas and dream-building together, to accomplish mutually desirable goals.

 

[carol_marie]

I think you should read the Catechism of the Catholic Church because it teaches that Mary is Our Mother. I also read that you are a convert to Catholicism.

Did you not say yes when the priest asked you.

“Do you believe in the Catholic Church, and all Her Teachings?”

You said yes. In this forum, you say no. Are you lying to yourself?

I find your post very offensive.

I am NOT lying to myself… I am being totally honest. The question was… do you consider the Blessed Virgin Mary your Mother? I said no… “I don’t think of her in that way.”

Is she? Yes. As you so kindly (not) pointed out, that’s what the CCC says… and since I did say I believed in the Catholic Church and all Her Teachings… obviously she is.

But when I think of Mary, I don’t think of her as “my Mother.” I admited that it’s no doubt since I haven’t been Catholic that long. I DIDN’T disagree with anyone who said she was Our Mother. I just said that’s not how I think of her - when I think of her.

Tell me Mannyfit75, when I come across another question on the forums regarding where I’m at in my journey of faith, do you want me to be truthful… or should I just give the good Catholic answer you want to hear?

 

[Angelos]

Hi people

Happy Thanksgiving to my American brothers and sisters in faith. I am also very sorry about the murder of a Christian leader in Lebanon! May he repose in peace.

First, I do not believe that Jesus denied Mary’s spiritual motherhood when He referred to those doing God’s will as His mother, sister, and brethren:

Mark 3:35. For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

In this context Lord Jesus laid emphasis on the significance of faith for salvation solely because some people in the crowd mistakenly supposed that racial affiliations were primary in one’s relation to God. Remember that John the Baptist pointed at the same mistake when he rebuked the crowds relying on their race for salvation:

Matthew 3:7-9. And seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: Ye brood of vipers, who hath showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance.And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I tell you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

Obviously, John the Baptist did not mean that Abraham would not be believers’ spiritual father. If he had done so, he would have contradicted what our Lord said about Abraham’s spiritual fatherhood for believers’ by means of a parable:

Luke 16:22. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell.

Luke 16:24. And he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame.

Jesus the Lord had many sisters and brothers and mothers that got close to Him by doing the will of God to constitute the family of God based on spirituality and faith, but they were not identical with the woman that gave body and birth to the eternal Logos. Mary is different from other women of faith as I am different from Jesus the Lord although we both are brothers as the sons of God.

Peace to all

 

[Zooey]

**Mary was the *mother ***of his humanity or of the *man *Christ Jesus. This is why we *never *read in the Bible that she is the *mother of God, *but only that she is ***Jesus’ mother ***or the ***mother of Jesus, ***as identified in Scripture:

​

As kindly as possible, this really is **not **Biblically sound doctrine. The ghost of Nestorius is ever a danger to those of us Christians who are neither Catholic nor Eastern Orthodox…
You might like to read the article on Nestorius at Catholic Answers Home Page. (I have printed it out, & it has been a great help to me…
In brief: Unless we care to drift into believeing that Jesus Christ is not both 100% God & 100% man, at the same time, we need to seriously study the meaning of the Hypostatic Union.
​

Rather, I look at Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a real woman. I believe that she was a fine woman, because God chose her for a very special task which would bring her to prominence and cause her to be held up as an example. There is, however, no reason to believe that she was conceived without sin, because after the birth of Christ we find her in the temple offering a sacrifice for her purification (Luke 2:22-24). This is the same action that all the Hebrew women took after childbirth (Leviticus 12). In addition, in her prayer of thanksgiving for being chosen to be the mother of Christ, Mary calls God my Savior (Luke 1:47). Had she been born without sin, she would not have needed either an offering for purification, or a savior.

The Catholic Church

Ah, but you see, she was born without sin precisely because she had (& has!!) a Saviour!! It is simply a question of the time in whcih she was saved from sin. No one, I think, would argue that the Virgin Mary was saved apart from her Son. Everyone who is ever saved, is saved by the merits of Christ!!

Are you familiar with Nestorianism?

**read here: **catholic.com/thisrock/1994/9409hotm.asp Do, please, read! There is all together too much Nestorian thought going about, & it results in downgrading the Saviour to “just another great teacher”, rather than True God & True Man.

 

[kellie]

Here’s my take as a Catholic:

Mary is immaculate and blessed and a powerful intercessor for us. However as a human her powers are limited, whereas God’s are not. So God being a father is not the same as Mary being a mother. Mary is certainly like a spiritual mother, but she is not a mother in the same way God is a father. She is not required for our salvation.

We have like 3 parents. Our mom, our dad, and God.

I voted that she is my spiritual mother as I agree with RomanCrusader here.

My mother is right here mopping our floors (my silly son spilt some drink )

And Mary is my spiritual mother, and I turn to her sometimes for intercession, and sometimes I just reflect on her ability to accept so readily to being the mother of Jesus. I also reflect sometimes on the heartache she must have felt on seeing her son crucified.

Reflecting on her helps me become a better mother to my son as none of the issues I have with my own flesh and blood are near as bad as what Mary endured for her love of God.

 

[havemercy]

You do know that option one and three are one in the same within Catholicism, right?

I consider her my mommy, and Joseph my daddy. Spiritually, of course. I wasn’t begotten of either of them.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

I voted…I don’t know.

Honestly, I believe what the Church teaches about her, but how I “feel” is more uncertain. She doesn’t feel like my mom ?
I don’t pray asking for her intercession as my mother. I ask because she’s Jesus’ Mother. More her relationship to Jesus…how she influenced His decision at the wedding of Cana.

Jesus is our brother…well, I don’t “feel” like he’s my brother.
He’s so much more than that to me.

to that last sentence especially .​

I find her a remote, unfocussed, figure; a sort of “very holy blur” (almost). I don’t doubt she’s a Saint, but I can’t say she means anything to me beyond that - I can think of other Saints who mean more to me.

This may (or may not) be unusual for a Catholic - but I don’t think it’s wrong or sinful: to be attracted to a Saint is a gift of God, not something one can make oneself have. As long as we are all drawn to Jesus Christ, the “King of Saints”, does it matter very much which of His Saints we are attracted to & through ? ##

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Yes! but was God not around long before God CREATED Mar, and was Jesus not there when God created all things?

No ​

The eternal Word of God was always with the Father - but Jesus Christ, the man Who is God in the flesh, did not exist until the selfsame Word took flesh from the BVM “and was made man” in so doing - not by changing the Nature or Person of God the Word into mortal human nature, but by adding a mortal & human nature to the unchangeable Word of God. What the Word took is dignified: what was taken - & not the One Who took it - is changed. Jesus Christ as such did not exist before then - the Word, in contrast, did.

Obviously there is a certain unreality in using time-conditioned language like this, because God is not in time - we have to use it, because we live in time, unlike God, Who is Eternal ##

 

[TOP]

Yes. After talking to my parish Priest about my own mothers death, he suggested that I ask Mary to take me under her wing. So I asked for Mary to be my mother in prayer. Now the Lord has made it possible by a series of events to have a devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Not something I would have considered before that prayer. That prayer was a hard thing for me to do, to let go of my own mother and trust the Lords guidance to His mother. Tim

 

[Mannyfit75]

I find your post very offensive.

I am NOT lying to myself… I am being totally honest. The question was… do you consider the Blessed Virgin Mary your Mother? I said no… “I don’t think of her in that way.”

Is she? Yes. As you so kindly (not) pointed out, that’s what the CCC says… and since I did say I believed in the Catholic Church and all Her Teachings… obviously she is.

But when I think of Mary, I don’t think of her as “my Mother.” I admited that it’s no doubt since I haven’t been Catholic that long. I DIDN’T disagree with anyone who said she was Our Mother. I just said that’s not how I think of her - when I think of her.

Tell me Mannyfit75, when I come across another question on the forums regarding where I’m at in my journey of faith, do you want me to be truthful… or should I just give the good Catholic answer you want to hear?

I didn’t mean to offend you but you did come across about your doubts concerning Mary.

 

[Mr.Ex_Nihilo]

Rather, I look at Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a real woman. I believe that she was a fine woman, because God chose her for a very special task which would bring her to prominence and cause her to be held up as an example. There is, however, no reason to believe that she was conceived without sin, because after the birth of Christ we find her in the temple offering a sacrifice for her purification (Luke 2:22-24). This is the same action that all the Hebrew women took after childbirth (Leviticus 12). In addition, in her prayer of thanksgiving for being chosen to be the mother of Christ, Mary calls God my Savior (Luke 1:47). Had she been born without sin, she would not have needed either an offering for purification, or a savior.

The Catholic Church

But by that reasoning, Jesus would have had to have sinned in order to be baptized. And we know that Jesus did not sin.

 

[AlegreFe]

Yes, Mary is my mother because Jesus gave her over to us when He was on the Cross.

26 When Jesus therefore had seen his
mother and the disciple standing whom he
loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold
thy son.
27 After that, he saith to the disciple:
Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the
disciple took her to his own. John 19:26-27

And don’t get the wrong idea all you Protestants our there. Jesus calling His mother “woman” was not as a disrespect. That word/title “woman” is in the Protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15 and also from Revelation 12:1. Mary is thee “woman” that crushes the head of the serpent as she is carrying the seed and that seed of course is Jesus Christ. Now there are two different translations. The one of which I speak here is in the DR-V of the bible. It has been said … well I’ll just put the commentary here from the DR-V.

15 I will put enmities between thee and
the woman, and thy seed and her seed:
she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt
lie in wait for her heel. Gen 3:15

15 “She shall crush”… Ipsa, the woman; so divers
of the fathers read this place, conformably to the Latin:
others read it ipsum, viz., the seed. The sense is the
same: for it is by her seed, Jesus Christ, that the
woman crushes the serpent’s head.

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven:
A woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars: Rev 12:1

1 “A woman”… The church of God. It may also, by
allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady. The church
is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she hath
the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world,
under her feet: and the twelve stars with which she is
crowned, are the twelve apostles: she is in labour and
pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in
them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions.

The next verse says that she is in labor pains but it doesn’t mean that she was in pain when she gave birth to Jesus. She had a virgin birth, so no pain was involved. The pain mentioned is more of a pain that she feels for us as her children that she is bringing to her Son Jesus Christ. That is my understanding of this and from commentaries that I have read. It could also refer to the pain that women feel because of Eve’s sin. The pain of living to die so that we can live again in eternity.

Jesus also referred to His mother as “woman” at the Wedding feast at Cana.

3 And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus
saith to him: They have no wine.
4 And Jesus saith to her: Woman, what is
that to me and to thee? my hour is not yet
come.
5 His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever
he shall say to you, do ye. John 2:3-5

4 *“What is that to me”… These words of our Saviour,
spoken to his mother, have been understood by some
commentators as harsh, they not considering the next
following verse: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye,
which plainly shows that his mother knew of the miracle
that he was to perform, and that it was at her request he
wrought it; besides the manner of speaking the words as
to the tone, and the countenance shown at the same time,
which could only be known to those who were present, or
from what had followed: for words indicating anger in one
tone of voice, would be understood quite the reverse in
another. *

With Mary’s intercession at the Wedding Feast at Cana, you can relax and know that we can request that Mary pray for us. She knows what we need even before we ask for it. And one thing to always remember that is very important, she will always say to you, “do whatever He tells you.” Mary always leads you to her son Jesus Christ.

more in my next post…

 

[AlegreFe]

Here is Mary’s Magnificat straight from Scripture;

My soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his
handmaid; for behold from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed.
Because he that is mighty, hath done great
things to me; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is from generation unto
generations, to them that fear him.
He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath
scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat,
and hath exalted the humble.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath received Israel his servant, being
mindful of his mercy:
As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham
and to his seed for ever.

48 “Shall call me blessed”… These words are a
prediction of that honour which the church in all
ages should pay to the Blessed Virgin. Let
Protestants examine whether they are any way
concerned in this prophecy.

Mary magnifies God to us! And not only that, she magnifies our requests so that she can present them to God in a way that we can never present them to God. She makes them bigger for us, then presents them to God. That is one of many reasons why it is very important that you honor and respect your Mother in Heaven. She loves you very much. She wants you to get to know her Son better. She always leads us to her Son. And it is in scripture that all generations should call her Blessed!

more in my next post…

 

[AlegreFe]

Our Prayer, The Hail Mary comes right out of Scripture.

Hail Mary, full of Grace
the Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God
Pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

28 And the angel being come in, said unto her:
Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women. Luke 1:28

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant
leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the
holy Spirit,
42 cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb.
43 And how does this happen to me, that the mother
of my Lord should come to me?
44 For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached
my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
45 Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken
to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:41-45

Mary: The Mother of My Lord
Now it may be true that the Bible does not dogmatically teach
Mary as the Mother of God; however, inspired by the Holy Spirit,
Elizabeth refers to Mary as “the mother of my Lord”
The title, lord, is generally given to the main provider. After the
Babylonian captivity, Jews commonly referred to God as Lord,
especially since His name, YHWH, could not be uttered. Most
modern English translations of the Old Testament render the
Tetragrammaton, YHWH, as LORD. Even The American Heritage
Dictionary recognizes Lord (with a capital “L”) as God.

Mother of God, Mother of All Christians
In the same way as the woman who bore you is called your
mother and not the mother of your body only, Mary is the mother
of the whole person of Jesus Christ, who is God (cf. Colossians
2:9). The Church proclaimed this truth in the Council of Ephesus
in 431 A.D.:

Therefore, because the holy virgin bore in the flesh God who
was united hypostatically with the flesh, for that reason we
call her mother of God, not as though the nature of the Word
had the beginning of its existence from the flesh (for “the Word
was in the beginning and the Word was God and the Word was
with God”, and he made the ages and is coeternal with the Father
and craftsman of all things), but because, as we have said, he
united to himself hypostatically the human and underwent a birth
according to the flesh from her womb.

–Third letter of Cyril to Nestorius

Similarly, the body of believers, the Church, are Christ’s body
(cf. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31; Ephesians 4:1-6, 15-16; Colossians
1:18; etc.) and since Mary is the mother of Christ, she is also the
mother of all us believers. And, as if these facts would not be
enough, Jesus himself gave us Mary as our mother as he hung
dying on the cross (cf. John 19).

27 "But to you who hear I say, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you. Luke 6:27-28

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another
and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very
powerful. Jas 5:16

The prayer of the righteous is very powerful and what creature more righteous than Mary?
No one!

There… all right there in Scripture! Every part of that prayer is right there before your very eyes! :yup:

more in my next post…